Why start your business in Markham?
The City of Markham is an award-winning community located within the Greater Toronto Area. With over 350,000 residents and over 10,400 businesses, there are more than 400 Canadian head offices and over 1,000 technology and life sciences companies based in Markham. Most of the tech organizations are located in the IBM Innovation Space – Markham Convergence Centre like Venture Lab and Markham Small Business Centre (MSBC).
Throughout Markham, residents, students and workers have the opportunity to enjoy an emerging downtown with urban amenities and cultural attractions such as award-winning community centers and libraries, top-performing schools, prestigious neighborhoods, festive celebration events, and charming heritage villages. The City supports a Group of Seven-inspired art galleries, a museum, a 500-seat theatre and extensive parklands.
The City of Markham is one of the fastest growing municipalities in Ontario and the most ethnically diverse community in Canada. The City has earned distinction for strong economic growth and enviable livable facilities and spaces.
Markham is maintaining its economic momentum in targeting specific growth sectors, the City continues to attract companies specializing in ICT, life sciences, financial services, design and engineering, professional scientific services, and information and cultural industries. Here, businesses find skilled workers from around the world who are drawn to Markham for its exceptional quality of life. Internationally, the City’s profile has benefited from several economic alliances and a frequent exchange of business missions to and from Asia, the USA and Europe – reaching out to global markets to bring investment into Markham as well as opening doors for Markham-based businesses to expand.
Markham has been identified as a growth center in the Greater Toronto Area by the Ontario Places to Grow Act, and their projections indicate Markham’s population will increase by 35 per cent in the next 16 years. The City of Markham is well prepared for this growth through our strategic plan. The plan’s four strategic priorities:
- Exceptional Services by Exceptional People
- Engaged, Diverse and Thriving City
- Safe and Sustainable Community
- Stewardship of Money and Resources
These will ensure a balanced and sustainable approach to the growth of our community.
Digital Markham is the city’s new digital strategy, the objective is to ignite sparks of innovation across the community, the strategy will become a foundation for digital advances, collaboration and partnerships among citizens, businesses and government.
The goal of the strategy is to transform Markham into a “frictionless city”, improving the quality of life in the community and making Markham a digital destination, leveraging opportunities in the new Future Urban Area and Markham Centre. The City will connect with partners including the new York University Markham campus, set to open in 2020. The campus will prepare tech-savvy graduates for the workforce in the City of Markham, York Region and the broader GTA, strengthening our economy.
Digital Strategy makes it easier to do business in Markham by implementing innovation and expedite decision-making. This will position Markham as the digital destination of choice for business.