San Francisco, USA
 
CAPE BRETON ISLAND, Nova Scotia’s Masterpiece grabbed the headlines in San Francisco and around the world by completing the latest, longest and toughest leg of the 35,000 miles global race in first place, our second first place pennant to date! The yacht’s success once again boosted brand awareness and catapulted Cape Breton Island into race headlines around the world.

With this win as a backdrop, the delegation from Cape Breton was able to capitalize on its increased profile in this market as it showcased innovative hi-tech businesses, seafood, tourism, and student recruitment opportunities to an expat Canadian and innovation sector audience.

The San Francisco activation was an outstanding success, with the delegation of innovation sector organizations reporting very positive outcomes. Our promotion of the Island’s seafood and tourism assets at a traditional ‘Cape Breton kitchen party’ style reception at the Golden Gate Yacht Club was a huge success with almost 200 guests attending, comprised of business, media and expat Canadians from the San Francisco area.

The reception created business networking opportunities and featured Cape Breton Island musicians Howie MacDonald and Robbie Fraser, with a menu showcasing lobster, scallops and shrimp. Cape Breton held the event in partnership with East Coast Connected, Innovacorp and the Consulate General of Canada in San Francisco.

Speaking on behalf of the Consulate, Consul Ara Lotfijou congratulated Cape Breton for its success in participating in the Clipper Race and paid particular tribute to the Cape Breton Island crew for demonstrating the same qualities he had observed in the athletes participating in the recent Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Bob Pelley, Senior Advisor of Business Ventures at Innovacorp, www.innovacorp.ca, which has developed an enviable reputation as an internationally acclaimed business start-up incubator specialist, led a trio of hi-tech companies to San Francisco. Mr. Pelley said, “Everyone has been impressed with the quality of the contacts they have made. The enthusiasm and excitement created alongside the Clipper Race is something that a company could not achieve on its own. The extra profile helps put our companies and Cape Breton Island on the map.”

Health Outcomes Worldwide (HOW) offers health organizations technology to measure outcomes in order to improve care and decrease costs. www.healthoutcomesww.com.President, Corrine McIsaac, said, “We’ve had some great meetings with hospitals and long term care facilities, plus some really good advice from senior business people. What we’ve done here could just change the face of our business.”

Petroleum Applications of Wireless Systems (PAWS) Lab, at Cape Breton University (CBU) -PAWS is a multidisciplinary collaborative research project of Cape Breton University involving the investigation of the application of wireless technology and advanced control systems in petroleum industry settings consisting of Radio Harsh Environments (RHEs). www.paws.cbu.ca   PAWS Lab Director Cecil Smith met with Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, to explore potential collaboration and partnership in developing the project, indicating meetings went very well and they are looking at how they can work together to take it to the next stage.

 
Sales Manager Shirley Evely of Protocase, www.protocase.com, a company that sells its custom electronic enclosure systems to engineers at Apple, Intel, Microsoft, Boeing, RIM, Raytheon, etc. and have been recognized for its innovation and reliability in NASA journals and Extreme Computing, said, “We’re very excited to get to meet with some of our customers out here and describe what we can offer in more detail. It already looks like business is going to expand on the west coast as a result of this. It’s been totally invaluable.” 

The Commemoration of Friendship, marking the extension of friendship by the First Nation community of Membertou and all the people of Cape Breton Island, was again signed while in port, by Marcus Young, Commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, current holder of the America’s Cup. 

On top of this, our yacht was taken out twice on the San Francisco Bay with key business contacts on one sail, and key tourism industry representatives on the second, organized by the Canadian Tourism Commission in San Francisco. 

Overall, another great activation for Cape Breton Island that will bring both short and long term benefits to our island!