USA/Canada Economic Summit Agenda

October 7, 2008
October 6, Pre-summit Event
Alerus Center & Canad Inns Destination Center
Grand Forks, North Dakota

 
 
 
   

Pre-summit event - October 6

3:00 – 5:00 Pre-Summit Tours

• UND Aerospace
• Research Enterprise and Commercialization Park (REAC)
• Canad Inns Destination Center
• Others TBD

5:00 Reception

6:00 Opening Ceremonies and Dinner

• Welcome & Overview of the Summit
  
  • Grand Forks Region EDC and Destination Winnipeg, Inc.

• Welcoming remarks
• Andrew Swan, Minister of Competitiveness, Training and Trade, Province of Manitoba
• City officials – Mayor Brown, City of Winnipeg Elected Representative, Mayor Stauss
• Mary Speer – Consul and Principal Officer, U.S. Consulate Winnipeg
• Canad Inns - Leo Ledohowski, President and Chair

• Recognition of national officials

• Video snapshot of the region

7:00 Keynote Address – Joel Garreau – The Nine Nations of North America

How the continent is behaving not so much like states and provinces or three countries, but nine separate and powerful civilizations or economies that pay scant attention to political boundaries in the course of forging their own destiny.

8:00 Evening Wrap Up and Overview of Day 2

AGENDA

CONNECT USA/Canada Economic Summit - October 7

7:00– 8:00 Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:00 – 8:45 Jim Phillips, President and CEO, Canadian/American Border Trade Alliance

8:45 – 9:15 Eric Benjaminson, Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs

U.S. Embassy in Ottawa

9:15 – 10:15 Cross-Border University Connections

• Dr. Michael Hawes, Executive Director, Canada-U.S. Fulbright Program (Moderator)
• Dr. Robert Kelley, President, University of North Dakota
• Dr. David T. Barnard, President, University of Manitoba

10:15 – 10:45 Networking Break

10:45 – 11:45 Building Regional Manufacturing Connections

• Ron Koslowsky, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association (Moderator)
• Jay Bender, Falcon Plastics Brookings, SD
• Kari Howe, Ingenuity Frontier (NW MN)
• Paul Soubry, Standard Aero, Winnipeg

12:00 – 1:30 Lunch and Keynote Speaker

• Remarks by US/Canada national officials
  • North Dakota Governor John Hoeven
• Robert E. Olson, Denver Regional Director, Economic Development Administration (Introduction of Keynote Speaker)

Future Forward: North America and this Region 2050

• Joel Kotkin – an internationally recognized authority on economic and social trends. He is the author of several books including The New Geography: How the Digital Revolution is Changing the American Landscape and The City: A Global History. He also recently authored a piece titled North America Needs an Energy Community and is currently writing a book about the United States and North America in the year 2050.

• Livio Di Matteo – author of the Centre of Continent Needs Economic Union piece that appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press. Livio Di Matteo is professor of economics at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay.

1:30 – 2:30 Life Sciences Collaboration

• John Langstaff, President Cangene Corporation, Winnipeg (Moderator)

• Dr. Gary B. Glavin, Deputy Director, National Microbiology Laboratory

• Center for Disease Control, Atlanta (invited)

2:30 – 3:45 Work Group Sessions

• Life sciences moderated by
  
  • Mike Goldstone, Praxis Strategy Group
• Manufacturing moderated by
  
  • Gordon Greaves, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association
• University of North Dakota and University of Manitoba moderated by
  
  • John Alho, University of Manitoba
  • Greg Weisenstein, University of North Dakota
• Positioning and branding the region in the global economy – moderated by
  
  • Joel Kotkin

3:45 – 4:00 Networking Break and Return to Plenary for Workgroup Reports

4:00 – 4:30 Reports of Work Groups to Identify Next Steps

4:30 Summit Wrap up