June 4-5, 2019
Ontario Investment Trade Centre
250 Yonge Street; 35th Floor
Toronto, ON

This 2 day session will be helping ‘experienced and new economic developers’ to:  

• evaluate the local/regional FDI attraction potential; 
• develop new strategies & programs;
• and measuring impacts.

It will also provide participants with a general overview of investment promotion, prospecting and services functions.

This session represent a great networking opportunity and a dynamic forum to discuss roles and responsibilities, while at the same time, consolidating local/regional, provincial and federal partnerships.

Course Outline:

• The importance of foreign direct investment (FDI)
• Overview of Provincial & Federal  FDI Strategies
• Roles and responsibilities
• Investment attraction process
• Partnerships and strategic planning
• FDI approaches – Promote and/or prospect
• Targeting potential investors
• Company visits fundamentals
• Service, monitoring and expansion
• Evaluation of FDI process and performance measurement

Learning Outcomes:

• Be able to evaluate the local/regional FDI attraction potential
• Identify the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders and your own investment network
• Learn factors motivating investors
• Develop a basic outcall program
• Prepare for the first meeting with a potential investor
• Understand the importance of investors services & aftercare
• Have a better understanding of investment attraction practices

Presenter:  Bernard Lemay, PhD

Bernard Lemay is a Canadian expert on foreign investment attraction.

He holds a PhD in geography from the University of Montréal – Theses titled: "Development of foreign investment programs and the economic and spatial organization the territory: a comparative study of the regions of Montreal, Paris and Atlanta"; a Master of urban and regional planning from University of Ottawa; and a Bachelor of social sciences from University of Ottawa.

From 2000 to 2016, he worked for Global Affairs Canada developing a series of training courses on the foreign direct investment attraction and providing advice to senior management. He gave more than a hundred training sessions and workshops to over 2,350 Federal, Provincial and Local economic development employees across Canada and at Canadian trade missions abroad.

He started his career as Industrial Commissioner Assistant in Sorel-Tracy in 1984, from which it originates. From 1988 to 2000, he worked in the field of foreign direct investment attraction, for different government departments, such as Global Affairs, Industry Canada and Agriculture Canada.