SURREY, BC: THE FUTURE LIVES HERE

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1 C O R P O R A T E S T R A T E G Y 1 SURREY, BC: THE FUTURE LIVES HERE P S D R E S E A R C H O n an annual basis, the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) releases its list of the world s most Intelligent Communities. In order to be selected for this list, communities must excel in specific critical areas including: broadband connectivity, knowledge workforce, innovation, digital inclusion, marketing, and advocacy. Once communities submit their applications to the ICF, they are analyzed and judged by a panel of academics. The ICF incrementally announces the winners, beginning first with a top 21 list, then a top 7 list, and finally a single winner. On January 22 nd, the top 7 list for 2015 was announced.

2 Only one Canadian city was selected for the 2015 Top 7, Surrey British Columbia. The City of Surrey is a member municipality of Metro Vancouver and is British Columbia s second largest city, encompassing a vast geographical area. Recently, Surrey has experienced tremendous population growth and has become focused on creating a dense and thriving downtown core. PSD Research had the opportunity to interview Geoff Samson, Manager of the IT Division in the Finance and Technology Department of the City of Surrey. Mr. Samson played an instrumental role in the City of Surrey s Intelligent Community strategy. I N T E R V I E W : G E O F F S A M S O N, M A N A G E R O F T H E I T D I V I S I O N I N T H E F I N A N C E A N D T E C H N O L O G Y D E P A R T M E N T O F T H E C I T Y O F S U R REY City of Surrey, British Columbia How did Surrey s journey to becoming a top 7 Intelligent Community start? Was there a single champion of the initiative, a strategic plan created, a team assembled? It was a remarkable journey that started back in 2008 when the city created its first sustainability charter. That was really the catalyst for moving the city forward with both growth and sustainable business. The charter was designed to assist with social, environmental and economic sustainability decisions. So, that kind of became the bookend for how the city would go forward with innovation. We took what we learned from the sustainability charter and began to learn about some of the evolving concepts of smarter cities, digital strategies and intelligent communities. IBM also selected Surrey for their Smarter Cities Challenge, so we learned a lot from that process. It was right around the time of the challenge that the mayor came forward and started to drive a really strong direction and leadership for what the city would like to be. So, it was directed from the mayor s vision and aspirations, which was complementary to the expanding of the sustainability charter. Were there other cities that you looked to try and emulate? Yes, I had an opportunity to get involved with i-canada, which I didn t know too much about at first. I connected with Bill Hutchison and some of the folks there, and we went to one of their summits that they had which was tied to the ICF program. At that summit, we

3 were introduced to what the rest of Canada was doing. They had some specifics about what the habits were for Intelligent Communities. We went through a learning experience there, and were introduced to a few other cities through that process. The city for me that really stood out was Waterloo, just because they were starting to become sort of like the next Silicon Valley through some of the things they were doing. The key thing that stood out was the collaborative approach they had with the universities and some of the businesses, really coming together as a community to strategize on how to become more involved with the knowledge workforce. How did Surrey make the Top 7? Describe some of the key programs and initiatives that got Surrey to this point. Innovation Boulevard is definitely one program that stands out. Being an Intelligent Community is not just about the technology, it is really about being a catalyst for the knowledge workforce. Before we started this process the city actually had the tagline of being The City of Parks. Our new tagline became The Future Lives Here. Innovation Boulevard is a partnership between higher education, innovative businesses, government and health groups. They work together to facilitate a one square mile of space that can help grow innovations related to health technologies. So that whole process of collaboration really stood out as being a major transformational item for the city. Another one that started a bit early on, back to the sustainability charter, was the city s organic waste biofuel processing facility. This happened through a two-stage process. The first stage was implementing a whole new method of waste management for the city, which would start preparing to enable a successful organic waste bio processing plant. What that meant was that we could repower our waste collection vehicles. That is something that is quite unique, and it takes a lot of strategy to put all those pieces together and end up with a closed loop system. It is one of the key examples of this process in North America, and as a result, we get a lot of recognition for this program. Another initiative involved the downtown core. Because of Surrey s remarkable population growth we had the opportunity to essentially remake the downtown. The city formulated the Surrey City Energy Group. That was established to implement and strategically operate a district energy system within the city. This is essentially a water-based system for heating facilities. When you are building a system like this, from the ground up, there is a huge opportunity to do that more effectively. This is being designed and implemented right in the downtown core as a starting point. So, with all the new high-rises and high-density buildings coming into play, there is a terrific opportunity for this to be successful. Our goal is that by 2045, we are going to have an integrated district energy system that is going to connect more than 25 million square feet of new development. Innovation Boulevard is definitely one program that stands out. Being an Intelligent Community is not just about the technology, it is really about being a catalyst for the knowledge workforce.

4 Did Surrey apply to be an Intelligent Community in the past? If so, what were the challenges faced and what changed about the current application that made it successful? Yes, prior to this round we did apply. We discovered that there were a few areas that we were not quite as focused on as we should have been. One area of difficulty was the overall broadband and connectivity strategy. One of the unique challenges Surrey faces is geographical size. We have over 317 square kilometers to contend with. Due to this, when we look at our fibre plans, and our Wi-Fi and wireless plans, we decided we had to move forward with a hybrid approach. We looked for telcos to be partners with us, ensuring successful connectivity throughout the city that would be seamless. So, we built out a strategy of how that was going to move forward and be implemented. What advice would you give to other Managers of IT Services? How can other cities learn from Surrey s example? Do a scan of the cities across the world. Really focus in on those specific differentiators that make an Intelligent Community. It is not just about the technology itself, it is about the social, economic, and cultural impacts that are absolutely critical for successfully becoming intelligent. What were the costs to make Surrey an Intelligent Community? What are the quantifiable benefits of being an Intelligent Community? I don t have the specifics on the costs, and each program area has separate funding associated with it. I haven t quite had the opportunity to aggregate all that. In terms of the benefits, it is about the efficiencies that are achieved in operating a system and delivering quality services. Surrey has the lowest tax base among the 17 other municipalities locally here, and to be able to deliver effective services with that type of tax base is very challenging. The quality of the services we are able to deliver is a good demonstration of successes coming out of the Intelligent Community thinking. Another benefit we are seeing is the whole experience of Innovation Boulevard. It is creating tremendous momentum to genuinely establish this new health technology sector. What kind of partnerships have you had with the private sector? How have these worked? We had a unique situation in Surrey where we actually were able to partner with Dr. Ryan D Arcy, who is a research chair at SFU and the head of health sciences and innovation at Fraser Health Authority. Through that partnership, we had a broad reach into other resources, and that created tremendous momentum to reach out and obtain further partnerships. The Mayor strategically created a health/tech working group and it had over 50 members from the universities, from Fraser Health Authority, from the business community and from industry associations, which was another key element. So, when you have a collaboration of that nature, that really demonstrates tremendous thought leadership and can be a catalyst for success in a knowledge economy. It is not just about the technology itself, it is about the social, economic, and cultural impacts that are absolutely critical for successfully becoming intelligent.

5 Dr. Ryan D'Arcy, SFU professor and B.C. Leadership Chair, outside Surrey Memorial Hospital. 2 How can Surrey continue to grow as an Intelligent Community? We have tremendous momentum in the particular areas I mentioned, but we still have work to do on connectivity. We are looking at creating momentum there, and working on more seamless connectivity. This is going to include a combination of laying more fibre, looking at Wi-Fi service options and partnering up with different telcos. The more we can leverage through the partnership approach, the better services and experiences businesses will receive. 1 Lead Image from 2 Photo Credit: Simon Fraser University University Communications