Kingston
Quick Facts
Province: Ontario
Population: 152,360
After a brief stint as a military fortress and the first capital of Canada (1841-1844), the historic city of Kingston has parlayed its traditions of military and academic excellence into an innovative R&D environment and a highly educated workforce. Kingston’s knowledge based economy is continuously expanding thanks to the presence of top-flight research and development infrastructure in the bustling university scene. Overall, Kingston offers a cost effective proposition for businesses looking to locate or expand.
Key Advantages
- Kingston is the hub of eastern Ontario, only two hours from major cities such as Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Syracuse and access to markets of more than 130 million people within a day’s drive
- 30 minutes away from a US border crossing at 1000 Islands—one of the least congested borders in Canada
- Location advantage has made Kingston a major distribution centre between Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, allowing businesses to consolidate their operations in Kingston while still having ready access to key markets
- Proclaimed “the smartest workforce in Canada” by Stats Canada in June 2007
- Queen’s University offers highly prestigious programs in law and medicine as well as an MBA ranked first in the world outside of the United States by Business Week magazine in October 2008
- A flourishing biotechnology cluster spawned by PARTEQ Innovations of Queen’s University, which links academic investigators with private sector partners and has resulted in more than 40 start-up companies
- Most intense level of R&D activity around fuel cell and hydrogen alternative energy technologies in Canada
- 4 business parks and 2 new technology parks to accommodate commercial and industrial growth
- Home to Queen’s University, Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) and St. Lawrence College
- 4rth best place to live in Canada- based on prosperity, weather, housing and lifestyles- Canada Business Magazine
Sector Strengths
- Manufacturing
- Logistics and Distribution
- Biotechnology
- Alternative Energy
- Information Technology
- Business Process Outsourcing
