In early 2010, athletes, media, sponsors and spectators from around the world will gather in Vancouver, and at the nearby alpine resort of Whistler, for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. This event will take the Vancouver brand to more than 3 billion people around the world: as a world-class tourist and recreational destination, to be sure, but also as a place where innovative and resourceful residents, themselves from all over the world, collaborate to stage and host a global event.

The 2010 Games will showcase Vancouver as a place where leading international businesses work together to introduce new technologies in areas such as infrastructure, health, sustainability, information and communications. As a place where natural beauty and cosmopolitan living co-exist in a sustainable balance. As a place where the planet’s climate and the business climate are both respected. In short, as an emerging 21st century global business centre.

The economic activity generated by the 2010 Winter Games means that now is the ideal time to establish or expand a business presence in Vancouver - the 2010 Commerce Centre in downtown Vancouver is already busy generating deals. The economic impact of the Games, and of the infrastructure investments they have triggered, will last well beyond the lowering of the Olympic Flag. The Expo 86 world’s fair brought Vancouver global recognition and a sustained economic boom. The 2010 Games will have a similar effect, but on an exponential scale.

The Games will have other positive long-term effects as well. They will be the most sustainable Games ever. A variety of social, arts, amateur sports and other legacies are already well advanced. British Columbia has fashioned ground-breaking agreements on economic collaboration with other members in the elite fraternity of host cities, including Beijing and London. And Vancouver-area businesses are already advising the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics—Sochi, Russia—on how to maximize its opportunity.

Photo Credit: City of Vancouver