Rather than beginning with a list of initiatives, the process started by establishing the strategy’s underlying logic: what leadership in agritech could realistically mean for Surrey; where the City could exert meaningful influence; how its existing assets could support both innovation and technology adoption; and what additional inputs would be required. This work was informed by a deeply researched agricultural sector intelligence report.

The approach included:

• Using established technology ecosystem frameworks to diagnose Surrey’s current position. Startup Genome’s Ecosystem Lifecycle Model helped assess the maturity of Surrey’s innovation ecosystem, identify its next logical stage of development, and focus on the capabilities and inputs appropriate to that stage, rather than pursuing initiatives designed for a more mature ecosystem.

• Learning from successful agritech ecosystems without assuming there was a single model to replicate. Comparative profiles were developed for leading agritech ecosystems, including the Canadian Prairies, Israel and North Carolina’s Research Triangle. These profiles examined their innovation drivers, ecosystem models, government roles, sector strengths, market orientations and successful practices. This analysis identified the characteristics most relevant to Surrey’s assets and competitive position, and therefore most transferable to its local context.

• Developing distinct but complementary approaches to innovation and adoption. Because innovators and producers face different barriers, the strategy treated ecosystem development and technology adoption as separate systems rather than forcing both into a single model. It then identified areas where the two could reinforce one another, including applied research, testing and demonstration, stronger grower-innovator relationships, and shared infrastructure.

• Defining an appropriate municipal role. A separate framework, adapted from the Boulder Thesis of startup ecosystem development, examined where local government could play a catalytic role, including convening, infrastructure development, research partnerships, testing, investment attraction and connections to markets, without overstating the City’s ability to direct an innovation ecosystem. The City’s role was grounded in a central premise: entrepreneurs build ecosystems; governments create conditions that can help them succeed.

• Creating a structured strategy-development process. A comprehensive worksheet and facilitated workshop guided the Economic Development team systematically through the strategy’s vision, underlying theory, assets, needs, capabilities, actions and intended outcomes. This process surfaced gaps, tested assumptions, sharpened priorities and established a credible link between Surrey’s existing strengths, the actions available to the City and the outcomes those actions could reasonably support.

The result was a strategy grounded in an explicit theory of how Surrey’s agritech ecosystem could develop. Rather than selecting initiatives in isolation, the process connected the ecosystem’s current maturity, Surrey’s distinctive assets and competitive position, the City’s capabilities, and producers’ needs to a coordinated set of actions designed to advance innovation and adoption in a credible, mutually reinforcing way.