Let’s talk about “Cascadia”, that is, greater economic integration in the Pacific Northwest. I know, I know,
everyone seems to be
writing about it or holding conferences to
talk about it these days, but hear me out. While it’s extremely encouraging to see the sudden surge of interest in the topic, the discussion has been simmering for many years, particularly in the tech community. I’ve also just returned from trips to Victoria, Vancouver, and I’m heading to Portland next week. So it’s top of mind for everyone.
Just so we’re clear, I’m not talking about secessionist movements or soccer rivalries. I’d argue though that those both feed into an underlying “Cascadia” ethos, the basic tenets of which are roughly:
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The Pacific Northwest is culturally, politically, and geographically unique from the rest of North America, despite having an international border running through the middle of it;
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This perceived uniqueness has been a major factor in the economic successes of the region, from Boeing to Amazon and most in between. Not despite the fact that we’re way up here among the mist and the mountains, but because of it;
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Collectively, the Cascadia region is diverse enough that greater integration will make up for any shortcomings that one individual city may have such as talent, capital, infrastructure, employment opportunities;
The first two points should be taken with a grain of salt of course. It’s the third bullet I’d like to focus on. Let’s grab a broad brush and start painting: Seattle has the world-changing brands and deep technical talent; Vancouver has the cosmopolitan liveability with a more accommodating immigration regime; and Portland’s a little more indie, a little more hardware’y and has that funky weirdness that young people are drawn to. [And yes, I’m bringing Portland back into this picture — I’m not sure how or why they dropped out of the discussion]. I’d argue that, collectively, the region has as much going for it than any other on the planet. People and companies want to be here, and it’s reflected in home prices, wages, job numbers, and strained infrastructure. So how do we capitalize on this trend and encourage more regional integration?
At the recent
Emerging Cascadia Innovation Corridor Conference organized by Microsoft, the Business Council of BC and Washington Roundtable, some very influential people from government and industry proposed some fantastic ideas to create this “innovation corridor.” High speed rail lines; collaborative university R&D projects; more government funding for innovation; better coordination around emergency management, labor mobility, and affordable housing were all discussed.
These all have massive potential to reshape the region and facilitate the movement of people, money and goods up and down Cascadia. I won’t hold my breath to see progress on a few of these, but the fact that we’ve established a very public dialogue about them at a high level is certainly encouraging.
At a more grassroots level, I’ve worked with dozens of community partners, startups, angel investors, service providers, and economic development agencies to encourage greater collaboration over the past 5 years. At the heart of these activities, it’s all about bringing people together.
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We’ve filled four train cars full of entrepreneurs in Portland and Seattle and sent them (at a steady, if not high speed) up to Vancouver for conferences and meetups;
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We’ve hosted “Cascadia Showcases” to put interesting ventures in front of angels and VCs from around the region;
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We’ve partnered with SURF Incubator in downtown Seattle to give founders from BC a place to work, meet and network when they’re in town;
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We’ve helped US companies open up offices in Vancouver and connected Canadian startups to mentors in Portland;
And there’s a growing appetite to foster more of these types of events and develop new ones. A “Cascadia Venture Forum”, Cascadia tech membership discounts, Cascadia Accelerators, a Cascadia VR Hub: people are pushing these ideas forward as we speak. Have other ideas? Leave them in the comment section below!
Perhaps one of the most interesting developments is that the rest of the world finally seems to be noticing what’s going on in Cascadia. The two main drivers for this trend have been the mind-boggling growth of Amazon in Seattle (and Vancouver to a much lesser extent), along with the growing influx of Bay area companies setting up engineering offices here. This trend is most obvious in Seattle where Geekwire has been
tracking the migratory pattern for a while now, but Portland and Vancouver see it at a smaller scale.
All this attention has brought with it those eye roll-inducing questions about whether Seattle will be the next Silicon Valley or Portland the next Austin. Most people I talk to don’t want to be the next…whatever. They want to help build a stronger, more integrated Cascadia. High speed rail, affordable housing initiatives and cross-border higher ed R&D collaboration will help shape that in the long term. But how the individual tech communities (entrepreneurs, investors, corporates, accelerators, local governments, etc.) decide to band together will ultimately determine the future of Cascadia.
