Markham's 1,920-acre high-tech exchange among largest in North America: mayor

'We want to see our vision take hold in this area'

Yorkregion.com
May 28, 2019
Tim Kelly

It’s no secret the city of Markham is a high-tech hub, but it’s ramped up its game in a big way with a massive investment in innovation and development.

Mayor Frank Scarpitti took advantage of the International Collision Conference in downtown Toronto on Wednesday to announce that the city has set aside a 1,920-acre plot of land for a new Markham Innovation Exchange (MIX), in the city’s northwest corner to encourage cutting-edge startups and innovators.

The location, which currently houses Honda Canada’s head office, will be roughly bordered by Highway 404 to the west, 19th Avenue to the north, Warden Avenue to the east, and Elgin Mills Road to the south.

Most crucially, from the city’s point of view, Markham has purchased a 410-acre plot in the 1,920-acre zone “because we want to see our vision take hold in this area,” said Scarpitti at the conference.

The mayor referenced U.S. high-tech hubs like San Francisco, New York City and Chicago as places which already have established innovation zones similar to what Markham is now designing.

And he said those cities have “done (established zones) so they can help innovators coming into the district see their projects come through.”

Scarpitti boasted that, at 1,920-acres, Markham’s MIX would be one of the largest innovation districts of its kind in all of North America and that it would have a global impact.

He said he believed the MIX would be an environment that would really generate innovation.

“It will be a community where people want to come to work, where they’ll rush to come to work, because of the urban design in the area, the internal spaces that will be created, and because of some of the amenities that will be in close proximity to this area.

“This is not a residential area, but it will look and feel very differently from the employment areas of the past. It will have the type of things that people who collaborate, who invent, who innovate, will want to have in very close proximity,” Scarpitti said.

Mark Cohon, chair of Toronto Global, the organization that pitched for Amazon’s second headquarters to locate in Toronto -- it ended up going to Northern Virginia -- is excited about Markham’s MIX.

“When you create a new innovation hub like this it creates a great story for the entire region. Markham has so much going on already with 1,500 high-tech companies, 37,000 people working there, big companies like IBM and Qualcomm. When you leverage what is already happening there and create a new place for people to gather around, it’s another selling tool for us, as we’re talking to companies around the world,” Cohon said.

“When you create these innovation corridors, it allows these big companies to help these new startups and younger companies, it allows companies to attract talents, it builds communities. It allows you to create an innovative and creative economy in a city like Markham,” added Cohon.

Scarpitti told those at the conference that MIX will be located just off the 404, minutes away from Pearson International Airport, close to Highway 407 and that there will be 20-minute GO service that connects workers to the downtown area so that “when innovators are looking they don’t want that far to go.”

Scarpitti’s message to all who were at the International Collision Conference was simple:

“Come to the GTA, come to Markham and come to the Markham Innovation Exchange.”