Defined by Talent

“Calgary is the place where bright minds and big ideas come together with an unmatched spirit to help solve global challenges.”
— Calgary in the New Economy

Historically, a city’s competitive advantage was anchored to its proximity to scarce natural resources ranging from lumber and iron ore to access to navigable waterways. Today, a city’s prosperity is driven by its ability to attract, retain, develop and mobilize talent. The future prosperity of Calgary starts with people.

The goal of the CItyXLab is to support Calgary transform into Canada’s leading destination for talent. We support this by facilitating rigorous research that blends the insights of Calgary-based scholars and professionals. Our research focuses on five areas central to Calgary’s future:

  1. LearningCITY: Driving prosperity by developing Canada’s most adaptive labour force.

  2. ActiveCITY: Driving prosperity by leveraging Calgary’s natural competitive advantage, its active economy.

  3. CreativeCITY: Driving prosperity by leveraging Calgary’s rich and rapidly growing creative economy.

  4. Prosperity Measurement: Driving prosperity through rigorous measurement.

  5. Drivers of Youth Mobility: Driving prosperity by becoming Canada’s magnet for young people.