March 31, 2021
The City of Mississauga’s Economic Development Office (EDO) is pleased to share an update on how the life sciences sector has positively impacted Mississauga’s economy over the past four years and the strides it has made over the past year in particular, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Mississauga continues to be a place where businesses choose to invest,” said Bonnie Crombie, Mayor of Mississauga. “As a city, we’ve strengthened our position as a leading life sciences hub and have seen this sector really take off over the past few years and experience significant growth, both in employment and businesses investing in our city. If we continue on this path, we could see over 3,000 new, highly-skilled and high-paying jobs added to our local economy in the next four years, which is especially important to our economic recovery coming out of COVID-19.”
As noted in the corporate report presented to members of Council at General Committee today, the City’s work with sector leaders and world-renowned life sciences companies over the years has resulted in greater employment growth for highly-skilled and high-paying jobs in this sector. Mississauga represents a 27 per cent share of Ontario’s total life sciences employment. Individuals in the life sciences sector typically have a greater earning capacity, where wages are 24 per cent higher than the provincial average.
In 2017, recognizing the sector’s significant contributions and potential on Mississauga’s economic growth, Council endorsed EDO’s Life Sciences Cluster Strategy 2017-2021. The strategy, developed through extensive stakeholder consultation, focuses on establishing a leading, world-class life sciences hub in Mississauga. Mississauga remains the only Canadian municipality to have a strategy of this kind.
Key accomplishments include:
- The formation of the Mississauga Life Sciences Consortium, a distinguished group of sector leaders from world-renowned businesses, has provided the City with advice and direction to facilitate the local sector’s growth and development.
- A consortium meeting inspired the University of Toronto – Mississauga (UTM) to launch a new Executive Certificate Program focused on pharmaceutical challenges and opportunities to help address skills gaps identified by sector leaders.
- Led business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) connections that resulted in positive outcomes for the industry. Some recent examples include: solving critical personal protective equipment (PPE) procurement issues for Canadian companies during the COVID-19 pandemic and raising awareness of the sector’s economic contributions and importance to higher levels of government.
- Support for new life sciences investments over the past four years represent over $1.3 million in new and retained annual tax assessment and $173 million in direct gross domestic product. Despite the pandemic, notable investments made over the past year include:
- Roche Canada: grew its pharmaceutical headquarters in Mississauga with a recent investment of $500 million to establish a global operation, creating 500 new jobs over the next five years.
- Bora Pharmaceuticals: opened its North American flagship facility in Mississauga.
- Novo Nordisk: invested $20 million to establish the Novo Nordisk Network for Healthy Populations at the University of Toronto – Mississauga.
“The City is a big advocate of the life sciences sector. We know a lot of work has gone on behind-the-scenes to help bring new businesses to Mississauga and shine a bright light on our city,” said Paul Mitcham, City Manager and CAO, City of Mississauga. “Thank you to our award-winning EDO team for all the work they have done and continue to do, especially during these unprecedented times. As the City focuses its efforts on economic recovery, our City’s strategic initiatives will help build back better and continue to support our business community and growing industries.”
The City’s Life Sciences Strategy continues to be relevant today and the City remains focused on supporting this industry. A healthy life sciences sector brings increased economic growth, top talent, improved productivity and global competitiveness.
“The positive outcomes of our Cluster Strategy over the years has positioned Mississauga as a leading Canadian life sciences hub, where companies choose to invest and develop new technologies, products and services,” said Harold Dremin, Acting Director, Economic Development. “As a result of our efforts, the city is now viewed as a proven destination where diverse life science businesses grow and prosper. One of the benefits of investing here, is our ability to bring businesses together allowing companies the opportunity to network and learn from one another. As the City looks to the future, engaging the life sciences sector on initiatives focused on supporting the growth of equity, diversity and inclusion in our workforce will contribute to the City’s economic growth and recovery.”
To learn more about advancements in Mississauga’s life sciences sector, visit thefutureisunlimited.ca/industries/life-sciences/.