Kelowna Airport Aerotropolis & New Silicon Valley

Once known for its rural orchards, wine and as a summer tourist destination, Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley is now, according to Statistics Canada, the fastest-growing metro area in B.C. and fifth-fastest-growing in Canada. Kelowna is nicknamed, “Kelownafornia” due to its dry weather caused by the Sonoran Desert running up from Arizona into the Okanagan , producing mild winters and great California style a good 9 months of the year.

Leading the way has been the tech sector, with established companies such as QHR Technologies, Bananatag, Community Sift, Karoleena Homes, Piscine Energetics, Just Be Friends, Hyper Hippo, Vineyard Networks and Disney Canada (which arrived in 2005 after purchasing local game manufacturer Club Penguin for $350 million) joined by newer outfits such as Hyper Hippo and this new trend is turning Kelowna into a Mini-Silicon Valley.

The success of Accelerate Okanagan—an incubator that offers a broad range of support services for high tech start-ups is helping this sector grow. The tech sector in the Okanagan Valley has now become a $1 billion economic contributor, with technology business in the area by 13 since 2010. Add to that the large influence of UBC’s 10-year-old Okanagan University campus and a diverse real estate market that appeals as much to the young professional seeking opportunity coupled with a great lifestyle as it does to the established retiree, and you can see why more people are choosing to move to the Okanagan Valley.

As I have covered in previous articles about Aerotropolis’, where I talked about Dubai, Panama and Edmonton Airports and the development happening around them; Kelowna’s Airport (YLW) is being expanded too. Kelowna is Canada’s 22nd-largest city, but YLW has undergone a series of expansions that now make it the country’s 10th-busiest airport, moving 1.6 million passengers per year. On a recent weekday, 26 WestJet and Air Canada flights arrived on the 45-minute route from Vancouver, while 21 arrived from Calgary; major U.S. carriers have also taken to the airport, with direct service now offered to Seattle, Phoenix, Las Vegas and many sun destinations beyond. If the Coquihalla connected Kelowna with the rest of B.C., it is YLW that has connected Kelowna with the world.

The Kelowna Airport expansion plan includes lengthening the runway from 8,900 ft (2,700M) to 10,000 ft (3,000M) by 2025, in order to cater for wide-body aircraft in the Code E category slowly being introduced to YLW. Code E aircraft have wingspans exceeding 52m up to 65m, including the Airbus 330 and future Boeing 787 and Airbus 350 series aircraft. This will allow direct routes to Hawaii, New York and even to London, UK.

Kelowna’s Airport is also home to KF Aerospace, a large aircraft maintenance and cargo company employing just over 1,000 people.

Kelowna used to be a retirement town but more UBC graduates are now staying in the valley because of the many career opportunities in the region’s booming tech sector. Accelerate Okanagan is a multi-tasking incubator in downtown Kelowna, funded by governments and the private sector, that supports nascent technology businesses. Founded in 2010, it wouldn’t have advanced as far or as fast without the inter-relationships it enjoys with UBC Okanagan. “We connect on many levels with UBCO and Okanagan College,” says Brea Retzlaff, a 20-something OC business grad and community manager for Accelerate Okanagan. “Perhaps most importantly, we connect graduating students with employers and introduce them via co-op internships.”

Metabridge is a tech conference held every June (since 2008) in Kelowna! Metabridge is a non-profit organization powered by Accelerate Okanagan, designed to support and connect the Top Tech Start-ups with Silicon Valley mentors and investors, within a small intimate tech retreat. This is becoming more and more popular and putting Kelowna on the map of new tech entrepreneurs.

While the community’s biggest success stories—Club Penguin and Vineyard Networks, to name two—are well-known, Retzlaff says that a lot of today’s hope lies with the start-ups that “begin with an idea and a laptop. And that’s where we come in: forming the collaborative of ideas, development, the pitch to capital and marketing.” In two years’ time, Accelerate Okanagan—which has assisted 132 client companies that have raised a total of $16 million in seed capital—will move into a handsome new building nearby, the 100,000-square-foot Okanagan Centre for Innovation, where they will share space with companies such as WT Fast, which has monetized a niche by reducing lag times for online gamers.

With the airport expansion, nice weather and a booming tech sector could we see Kelowna become the Silicon Valley of 2025? 

Fabrizio Poli is an independent aviation consultant specialized in aircraft sales. He is also an accomplished Airline Transport Pilot having flown both private Jets and for the airlines. Fabrizio is also a bestselling author and inspirational speaker & has been featured on Russia Today (RT), TRT World, Social Media Examiner, Bloomberg, Channel 5, Chicago Tribune, Daily Telegraph, City Wealth Magazine, Billionaire.com, Wealth X, Financial Times, El Financiero and many other Media offering insight on the aviation world. Fabrizio is also regularly featured as an Aviation Analyst on Russia Today (RT) and TRT World. Fabrizio is also aviation special correspondent Most Magazine. Fabrizio is also considered one of the world's top 30 experts in using Linkedin for business. You can tune in weekly to Fabrizio's business Podcast Living Outside the Cube available both in video & audio. You can also follow Fabrizio's aviation videos on Biz Jet TV  Fabrizio's latest book "Health4Flyers", the first natural-health book for and frequent flyers is now available worldwide.

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