Fredericton is capital of the maritime province of New Brunswick. In the Sixties and Seventies, as other sources of growth faded, public-sector employment powered its economy. Then crisis came when the Canadian government, running large deficits, pushed public costs down onto the provinces. By the 1990s, Fredericton was saddled with a government that was too large and a shrinking private sector too anemic to support it.
Local government responded with a series of plans and partnerships aiming to build a new economy based on its unique human and economic assets. They sought to tap the power of the city’s universities, the region’s telecom firms, real estate developers, a public utility and small group of software investors. The city and a university developed a Knowledge Park innovation district and new courses of study that engaged students in local companies and entrepreneurship. In the 10 years from 2010 to 2020, this city of 65,000 people created 12,000 new jobs, 75% of them in technology, and developed the largest engineering cluster in North America.
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