Legacy & impact

A conference may last a week, its legacy lasts far longer

When you bring your sector’s international conference to Toronto, its impact reaches well beyond the event itself, advancing research, strengthening professional communities, generating economic impact, expanding access, and leave a lasting legacy.

Delegates walking together down a long, colourful convention centre hallway

What a conference creates

The impact of hosting reaches well past the closing session.

Bringing your international conference to Toronto will:

  • put your institution on the world stage,
  • draw knowledge and investment into the city,
  • strengthen your sector at home, in fields from life sciences to technology,
  • create opportunities for global collaboration and future research,
  • and create something lasting for the community and the generations who follow.
An audience under bright, colourful stage lights at a conference

The economic impact

International conferences bring thousands of delegates to Toronto, and with them the spending that fills hotels, restaurants, and the wider visitor economy.
$510M+

in estimated economic impact has been generated for Toronto and the surrounding region through conferences supported by the program.

40,528

international attendees came to Toronto last year.

The research grant: a legacy you can fund

Impact is not only economic. After a bid is won, the Leaders Circle Research Grant supports a project tied to your conference’s focus, up to $50,000, so the conference creates new knowledge that lasts. To date, $345,000 has been awarded across 11 projects, in life sciences, technology, finance, sustainability, and student access. Recent examples:

Past
2025

16th International Congress on Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

International Congress on Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, the grant funded a lupus treatment database.

Past
2026

25th Congress of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing

25th Congress of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, the grant funded registration for students.

Upcoming
2030

24th World Congress of Soil Science

At the 24th World Congress of Soil Science, the grant supported the digitization of the Canadian Soil Thin Section database.

Ambassadors: Prof. Richard Heck, Dr. Jacynthe Masse

Leaders Circle operates within the standards of the international meetings community, and its partners are members of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), the global body for international congresses.

Widening who gets to take part

A full conference hall facing a stage with large screens

A legacy is also about access. When Toronto won the 25th Congress of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, the grant covered registration for 65 students, widening access to a sector that needs more voices in it. Increasingly, international conferences are measured not only by who attends, but by who they open the door to, and the lasting good they create in the community.

Keep exploring

The ambassador role

What taking part involves, and the recognition along the way.

The research grant

Up to $50,000 to build the legacy of your conference.

Success stories

Watch ambassadors share what their meeting left behind.