Business and Investment Match-Making at ICF Summit 2015 – You are invited, V2.0!
When: June 9, 2015 (12:30 PM)
Where: MaRS Discovery District; 101 College Street, Toronto
Last year was the inaugural event of ICF’s first B2B and B2G Matchmaking Session and it was quite a success! The room was full and we had a waiting list of appointments. See the photos below. It was quite exciting and there was a lot of buzz!
When you attend this year’s ICF Summit in Toronto there will be another fantastic opportunity for delegates to meet each other to pursue potential business opportunities on June 9. The concept is well known to economic developers – business and investment matchmaking among delegates at a conference to explore mutually beneficial business opportunities. For this gathering we are inviting all registered delegates, the Smart21 and Top 7 Intelligent Communities, the current Intelligent Community of the Year (2014- Toronto) as well as our sponsors and ICF friends to share their investment and business opportunities with each other and with other delegates at this gathering.
We will be inviting the Top7 Mayors, CIOs, CAOs and Economic Development Officials, but we are also inviting their local businesses, service providers and institutions to attend and participate in the match-making sessions. This will be a great ice-breaker for everyone- so bring lots of business cards. It’s a great first event for all the delegates who did not attend the Waterloo and Toronto Tours on June 8.
The match-making sessions are designed to be brief 20 minute meetings; ten altogether over a three hour segment. There will be an opportunity to schedule a meeting and it will be posted electronically after each delegate has registered. To register go to www.icfsummit2015.com. After each 20 minute session, the tables will be alerted to shift their meetings. Some call this business “speed-dating”. Whatever it is, there will certainly be a pile of business cards exchanged and the start to one heck of a Summit.
Why meet with the Smart21 and Top 7 Intelligent Communities at the Matchmaking Session? They are among the best of the breed of Intelligent Communities from around the world. Learn about the business and investment opportunities in each Intelligent Community; what incentives are there to locate a business or to partner with local businesses? Are the costs of power advantageous? What are the labor costs and how do they compare? What shovel-ready sites are available? Are there companies in these communities with whom you can partner? Are there start-ups that are looking for exit strategies? M&A anyone? Are there companies in these Top7 Intelligent Communities that are looking to export and expand into other regions? Why not into yours? If you don’t ask, you won’t get – is the old adage; similarly if you don’t attend, you will miss out on these obvious opportunities.
In addition to the tables offered first for the Top7 Cities, we will have additional tables available for our sponsors and others to take advantage of. These will be available on a first come first served basis. I recommend that you register and reserve your meeting times with the Top7 Intelligent Communities, their business partners and ICF’s sponsors before it fills up.
For more information or to receive a complementary ticket to the match-making session, please contact me at ICF: jjung@intelligentcommunity.org.
After you have registered as a delegate for June 9’s Matchmaking session, please contact Matt Owen to reserve your appointment with the cities and companies at the event: mowen@intelligentcommunity.org.
Registration is required for all match-making delegates: www.icfsummit2015.com