Planning for High Technology Regions

Silicon Valley, California, and Route 128, Massachusettsremain today icons of high technology industrial development; onesbased largely on innovative ideas, people, and products. In theirsearch for economic betterment, planners and policy makers haveoften viewed regions such as these to be economic Holy Grails.Still, the successful recipe for creating an economy based oninnovative industries such as biotechnology, advanced materials,and microelectronics remains somewhat of a mystery to the twoparties. The purpose of my research is to aid in this regard byworking towards the creation of a public policy framework withwhich planners may help create the conditions that are necessary toorchestrate such a successful high technology economy. Using a casestudy method, I have analysed arguably the three most importantindicators of high technology health (venture capital availability,research and development activity, and educational attainment) tohelp illuminate their relative health in three Canadian cities. Thecase study is situated as a comparative study of Winnipeg,Manitoba, in relation to both Calgary, Alberta, and Saskatoon,Saskatchewan.