Our Programs
Changing
the Region
for Good
CGLR’s policy research and programs address regional concerns and strive to encourage regional collaboration, provide evidence to be used in regional decision-making, and offer concrete and practical solutions. CGLR works to integrate the economic and environmental agendas of the region. Research and programs are undertaken by working groups and are led by CGLR members.
Great Lakes Ready
The Information You Need
to Scale and Win
In today’s climate of global trade and investment, companies that scale, innovate, export and attract investment are proven to be more successful. However, it’s not easy for small and medium-sized companies to understand where the business opportunities are, the risks involved with exporting, or how to get help with their growth and investment strategies.
Explore the Portal
Use intelligent matching technology to navigate and identify relevant funding, events, trade missions and resources that can help you export your products or services.
Not exporting yet? Become a member of the Council and then create a Great Lakes Ready account to begin your export readiness journey.
You'll receive customized updates on export-related services, learn about newly launched export opportunities and trade missions that match your business right to your inbox.
Great Lakes Higher Education Consortium
Future Now: Building Tomorrow's Workforce, Innovations, and Businesses Today
The Great Lakes Higher Education Consortium (GLHEC) was launched in 2020 to facilitate a new era of cross-border, institutional collaboration in the bi-national Great Lakes region with a focus on three overarching priorities for strengthening the region’s long-term competitiveness and sustainability – skills and talent development, research and innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Business & Sustainability Programs
The sustainability of the region’s economic systems and sectors has never been in sharper focus for consumers, government decision-makers, and environmental NGOs. CGLR’s overarching Business & Sustainability Program is convening industry stakeholders and building business support for a healthy Great Lakes ecosystem and regional economy by providing a platform that enables trusting relationships to be formed, knowledge and experience to be shared, and collaborative solutions and actions to be fostered.
Under the Business & Sustainability Program umbrella, CGLR develops and implements issue-specific programming and projects, such as those listed below, that support business engagement to inform the socioeconomic and environmental strategies, policies, and solutions that strengthen the region’s sustainability and competitiveness.
Forging a Future Without Waste and Litter
Valuable materials are lost to landfills and the environment, especially plastics. In fact, it is estimated that 22 million pounds of plastics enter the Great Lakes every year. Creating a binational Great Lakes circular economy and cleaning up marine litter is one way to close the loop and keep critical materials cycling through the regional economy.
Great Lakes Carbon Collaborative
Decarbonizing our Future
The bi-national Great Lakes region is North America’s economic engine and the main driver of the United States – Canada economic partnership. As both countries seek collaborations and projects between business, government, academia and the non-profit sector to achieve a low-carbon future as part of the Roadmap for a Renewed U.S.-Canada Partnership, the region can lead the way in designing decarbonization strategies and techniques on a regional, cross-border scale.
Safeguarding our Freshwater Resources
The Great Lakes freshwater system is not an infinite source of water, and resources must be used wisely and protected from contamination, pollution, and misuse. The Great Lakes business community is recognizing they must be stewards of these waters, and supporting them is Great Lakes WISE. Great Lakes WISE (Water Innovation and Stewardship Exchange) is a platform that convenes business leaders committed to advancing their water stewardship and corporate sustainability, providing peer-to-peer networking, knowledge sharing, and information exchange.
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If you are a corporate or institutional funder interested in creating a lasting impact, let's work together to create a program that benefits the Great Lakes Region.