Surrey EconomIQ Insights Invest Surrey & Partners

In our latest episode of Surrey EconomIQ Insights, we explore the need for sustainable and innovative food solutions in the age of crisis. Join us as we chat with Kevin Meier, the vice-preisdent and general manager of Argus Controls, a company that over the last 40 years has provided plant-centric control and automation systems for the world's most demanding commercial, horticulture, bioscience and specialty crop applications.

The "Big One" has been looming over the heads of British Columbians for decades, but what is the reality of ongoing and future natural disasters in our region? How can cities and residents prepare for these? What are the opportunities for businesses? We chat with Jeri Grant, the co-chair of Great BC ShakeOut; Naomi Yamamoto, president of BC Earthquake Alliance board; Teron Moore, founder of Northwest Seismic Consultants; and Shelley Morris, part of the City of Surrey's Emergency Support Services and assistant fire chief with Surrey Fire Service.

How do we position ourselves to secure permits and accelerate our development process? We sit down with Rémi Dubé, the City of Surrey's Building Division Manager to discuss some permit considerations to streamline approvals and pitfalls to avoid when choosing and developing a site for a business expansion or relocation. Plus, hear some of the unfortunate permitting stories of developments gone wrong.

Simon Fraser University's School of Sustainable Engineering made it's debut as a first-of-its-kind program in Western Canada in 2019 and, this fall, they will be graduating their first cohort. Join us as we sit down with Kevin Oldknow, Director of the program, to discuss the types of talent that are emerging from this program, their passions for tackling some of the world's most pressing sustainability problems, and how the program itself is evolving into the future.

South Korea is in the process of creating the world's first metaverse city, planting the seeds for a metaverse ecosystem called "Metaverse Seoul". Join us as we sit down with Jihyun Kim, Director of the Seoul Convention Bureau and a member of the Metaverse Seoul team to get some insights on their vision for how metaverse technologies can enhance the services the city can deliver to residents.

What is the metaverse? In which metaverse do business opportunities lie? How can businesses take advantage? Should they, or is the whole topic over-hyped? We sit down with Michael Gord, Co-Founder and COO of the Metaverse Group to get some answers to these questions, exploring the metaverse's current and potential impacts on inudstry with the first and leading vertically integrated real estate company fcocused on the metaverse economy.