Ruby Industries has launched a Regional Business Profile edition of Cityviz data platform for economic development to satisfy the need of regional organizations that support indigenous communities and local governments at regional district and municipal levels. This edition is a high-level picture of the state of the economy in the region and covers economic indicators such as population, labour force, industry, agriculture, and real estate. Ruby Industries partnered with Economic Trust of the Southern Interior (ETSI-BC) on deploying the first instance of Cityviz Regional Business Profile edition.

Ruby Industries is a data science company based in West Kelowna. Cityviz is an investment profile that supports communities in their economic development activities. Numerous communities in the Southern Interior are using Cityviz as their own data visualization tool, including Cranbrook, Merritt, Kootenay Boundary and Regional District of Central Okanagan. ETSI-BC regional data platform will complement those and provide a new layer of insight.

“We are delighted to be partnering with Cityviz on this Regional Data Platform,” noted Laurel Douglas, CEO of the Economic Trust of the Southern Interior. Regional data can assist elected officials and local government staff to make better decisions in other areas as well. Communities can use it for many purposes, such as:

• to validate their own investments
• in support of funding applications (e.g. growing population may justify a new pool)
• to provide relevant data to attract developers (e.g. seniors housing)
• to support private sector businesses seeking a new location with specific demographics.

“The mandate of ETSI-BC is to support the economy of the Southern Interior to grow and diversify,” said Douglas. “We hope our new Regional Data Platform is of value to you, our stakeholders, and we look forward to your feedback.”

Izabela Bogdanovic, the CEO of Ruby Industries, added, “We are excited for the opportunity to work with ETSI-BC in supporting our communities in the region. Ruby Industries developed the Cityviz regional business profile to capture the vibrancy of our region and use data visualizations to show how diverse its economy is. All visualizations are interactive, so users can see the high-level picture of the whole region, but if they click their area of interest on the map, they can drill down into more details for that area.”

For More Information, please contact:

Laurel Douglas, CEO, ETSI-BC | 236.420.3680 ext 1 | laurel@etsi-bc.ca

Sasha Bogdanovic, CTO, Ruby Industries Inc. | 250.317.5636 | sasha@rubyind.com