Ottawa Ranks #1 in World for Creative Economy

There is a lot more creative talent in Ottawa than just within the walls of Shopify.

Last week the Martin Prosperity Institute announced the results of its Global Cities project on the creative economy and Canada’s capital came out on top.

Based on the three T’s of economic development (Talent, Technology, and Tolerance) along with the fourth dimension of quality of place as outlined in Rise of the Creative Class, the Institute analysed 61 cities.

For each of these four categories, individual Grades were assigned for numerous metrics within each category to provide a detailed breakdown of how each city is performing in regards to each Index and in relation to each other, followed by an overall grade for each category.

Out of the 61 global cities studied, Ottawa was found to be the number one city on their list.

Ottawa received high grades in each of the categories, and the highest Talent grade of any city. The Overall Talent Grade was made up of metrics such as Education Spending, Educational Institutions, Creative Class share, and Educated Population. Ottawa has one of the highest Creative Class shares at 45.9% and one of the highest human capital shares at 35.4%, contributing to the high Talent grade.

Calgary was the only other Canadian cities to crack the top ten at #9. Montreal was 12th, Quebec City was 15th, Vancouver was 17th, Edmonton was 19th, and Toronto was 26th. The complete rankings are available online.

Image: Flickr