CALGARY

Canada 3.0 2014 drew several international visitors to Calgary, to participate in the Canadian Energy Supply Chain Forum as well as pre-arranged business meetings.

Delegations from Finland, Mexico, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands were all on hand at the BMO Centre, exploring opportunities for international business relationships.

CDMN representatives participated in a “hybrid” meeting about digital innovation between a group of Canadian and Dutch business leaders at the University of Calgary and a similar group gathered in the Hague. The dialogue took place via teleconference, with more than 30 participants in all. It was hosted by the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service, prompted by the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (ETA) that was signed earlier this year.

Khawar Nasim, Head of the Trade Section of the Canadian Embassy to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, set the stage for the international dialogue, citing the longstanding, yet often underappreciated, relationship between Canada and the Netherlands.

“This friendship has endured and prospered since the Second World War,” said Nasim, “and our commercial relationship belies the size of our two nations. Holland is the second largest investor in Canada after the United States.”

Participants discussed opportunities for closer business collaboration between Canadian and Dutch companies, including CDMN’s Soft Landing program. Trevor Dirksen, of Calgary-based MobileView, explained that his company had taken advantage of the program to land in the UK, and that CDMN support “certainly de-risked” his activities there.

“Any help you can get on business development is good help to take,” Dirksen added. MobileView was referred to the Soft Landing program by TRTech, host of Canada 3.0 2014, and one CDMN’s partner hubs in Calgary.

Eric van Pelt of the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency highlighted the significant areas of capability in the Netherlands as an opportunity for Canadian business partnerships – telecommunications, cybersecurity, software, materials and systems, and nanotechnology.

He also explained the potential for greater intersection between the Canadian and Dutch economies lies in fact that most of the Internet’s physical infrastructure runs through the Netherlands, with huge amounts of fibre converging in Amsterdam. “We are the digital gateway to Europe.”