Check out our latest article in the Lasting Impact section in Douglas magazine!
Every day, people in Greater Victoria criss-cross municipal boundaries. They may live in Sidney, work in Victoria, shop in Saanich, meet clients in Esquimalt and hike in Sooke. Investors see the region the same way, long before they see individual municipalities.
Greater Victoria’s economy may have always worked that way, but its economic development did not. A decade ago, no single organization championed and co-ordinated economic development on a regional level; instead, each municipality pursued its own path. But when our economy lagged behind the rest of Canada after the 2008/09 financial crisis, business and community leaders took action, forming an alliance to advance regional prosperity.
South Island Prosperity Partnership launched in 2016 with 29 founding partners: local governments, First Nations, major employers, post-secondaries and nonprofits.
Today, SIPP brings together more than 70 partners to sustainably grow the region’s economy, attract investment and create jobs. That collaborative model repeatedly proves its value.
When the pandemic hit, SIPP led Canada’s most comprehensive non-government economic coalition, transforming crisis into a regional recovery plan. This gave rise to COAST, SIPP’s ocean innovation and commercialization cluster, making Greater Victoria’s ocean economy a national leader. In the last year alone, COAST programs have generated $3.7 million in new sales and revenue, catalyzed by a $5-million seed investment from federal and provincial programs, helping create 526 jobs. COAST also launched Canada’s first dedicated ocean tech accelerator and partnered with UVic to launch the BC Marine Energy and Decarbonization Hub in North Saanich to test and commercialize marine energy technologies.
This impact extends to SIPP’s award-winning Victoria Rising digital platform, which markets the region to attract investors and talent, including doctors. SIPP is helping build an inclusive economy through the Indigenous Prosperity Centre, which hosts the Indigenous Youth Conference and Blue Economy Daycamp.
In 2025, SIPP’s model proved itself again as U.S. trade threats rattled markets. SIPP convened the Rising Economy Taskforce, creating an actionable blueprint for all levels of government and the region’s business and nonprofit sectors. This informed the creation of Rising Economy 2030, the new five-year economic plan to guide our region through turbulent times.
Every dollar municipalities invest in SIPP has been leveraged by an additional $1.63 in provincial, federal and private funding to benefit the region. This year, the International Economic Development Council ranked SIPP among the world’s top three leading economic development organizations. It’s proof that Greater Victoria’s biggest wins happen when we all work together.
