Calgary: Innovation in a Resource Center

Calgary is “Canada’s energy capital” with an overwhelming majority of oil and gas headquarters. This should not be taken to mean an economy of direct involvement in resource extraction. Rather, it is a knowledge economy encompassing the managerial, technical and financial knowledge required by projects in its Alberta hinterland, across Canada, and globally.  The result is an economy rated high in diversity according to standard statistical employment categories. This is misleading.  A very wide range of knowledge housed in firms in a variety of industrial categories is required for oil and gas activity. This diversity of inputs converges to support a common commodity market that responds to internationally set prices. There is no doubt that there is lively local knowledge flow, much of it tacit, supporting firm innovations. But, the knowledge flow is largely internal to the oil and gas knowledge platform.  The rich diversity of knowledge and firm type within the platform is not providing diversity of activity that cushions against the fluctuations in energy prices.    It is characterized as related knowledge diversity (RKD) despite spanning many professional knowledge bases. Resiliency for Calgary depends on spin-out of knowledge to grow industries addressing other markets. This is happening and encouraging it is a central policy concern. We suggest this may be a typical profile for a resource based centre as growth reaches the scale to support RKD.