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“Health & Wellness Sector:  Any individual, business, organization, facility or institution involved in providing services, care, products, research, devices, equipment or infrastructure that improve or enhance physical and mental wellbeing.”

Canmore - A leader in excellence & innovation in Health & Wellness

Introduction
It is the intention of the Canmore Economic Development Authority (CEDA) to strategically position the Town of Canmore as a community of healthy living and wellbeing, and to develop a strong health and wellness industry.

Invaluable in helping us achieve our goals, we received assistance and financial support from both the Rural Community Economic Development Fund and the Community Investment Support Program.

Background

As a community, Canmore has developed a Community Economic Development Strategy which identifies a number of sectors that would broaden our tax base, enhance our key strength, the tourism sector, but at the same time, diversify our economy and increase employment opportunities beyond service and hospitality.  These sectors include Health & Wellness, Art & Culture, Advanced Technologies (Environmental Technologies), Education and Research Institutes and Film.   

As a small community, we had to deliberately set a priority within our community economic development strategy and focus our resources in a way that would provide results and use our limited land base wisely.  We would support other opportunity areas as they came forward, but would focus our resources and energy on building & growing our Health & Wellness sector.    

Approach

A multi-staged approach has been established to reach these community goals.  Stage One,  which focused on developing a knowledge base and understanding of the industry as well as engaging the community and industry operators in the project.

The goal was to get Canmore ready to approach targets with the knowledge & resources necessary to initiate investment opportunities.  Identifying and approaching these targets will be part of Stage Two & Three of the project.

Stage One (work completed)

Health & Wellness Sector Profile:

 1.      A comprehensive Health & Wellness Study was conducted and a Health & Wellness Sector Profile developed out of this study that identified our current assets, advantages, weaknesses, infrastructure, potential gaps & opportunities.  This work provided businesses and individuals with a comprehensive overview of the sector’s strengths and identified emerging opportunities that may be available in the Valley.

2.       The scale & impact of the industry worldwide including international trends, existing scale compared to potential scale became apparent.

 Canmore Health & Wellness Summit 2007

1.       An event that engaged the industry and community in the project.  This coming together was successful in confirming preliminary targets and a strategic approach. There was overwhelming positive response to continue with willing participants wanting to become actively involved. 

 2.      Affirmed the need to to communicate our assets and showcase existing strengths and capacity. 

 3.     A process has begun to develop relationships within industry – who’s who, what’s what & how  business  conducted.  

Building Community Capacity

“HEALTHY CANMORE” Health & wellness industry alliance
• Network, Promote, Educate
• Introduced and enthusiastically received at Canmore Life Fest 2008
• Workshop in spring 2009 to gain industry input and support for organization models for structure, governance, membership, operations
• Formalized by end June 2009
Canmore Life Fest
• Sustainable revenue stream for HEALTHY CANMORE
• Destination awareness
• Investor Showcase
Healthy Canmore branding
Product Mobilization Project

Cluster Development

Product Mobilization Project
Encourage addition of wellness connections throughout the broader community
Identify niche opportunities from Sector Profile results:
1. Sport – rehab, athletic excellence, fitness, training, research
2. Spa & Lifestyle Resort Development
3. Integrative medicine

Health & Wellness Web Presence & Online Directory - Connect services, programs, events and professionals to each other, the public, visitors and potential new investors & practitioners
•Online directories
•Promotions / Packaging
•Communications – ex. blogs, e-blasts, expert columns
•Referrals / Concierge
•On-line shopping
•Community wellness branding
•Financial resource for “HEALTHY CANMORE”

Sector Growth

• Continue working with emerging opportunities out of Sector Profile
• Implementation of industry attraction strategy based on results of integration work.
• Using tools & matchmaking process out of integration work Ex: Build the process into the HEALTHY
CANMORE web presence