At the beginning of the year, we made a bold prediction: 2016 would belong to tech.
The conditions were right. The year started with the inaugural #BCTECH Summit that brought together more than 3,500 tech enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, investors and corporate representatives. Orchestrated by the B.C. government and the BC Innovation Council and joined by a chorus of technology organizations, the summit epitomized the magic of community storytelling – engaging stories that demonstrate that we are all part of something bigger and part of something that matters to everyone.
Reinforcing this theme, the provincial government published the #BCTECH Strategy, a comprehensive framework for growing the tech sector in British Columbia. It marked a crucial step in orienting policies and programs in support of a fast-growing, technology-based economy.
Throughout the year, Vancouver and B.C.’s tech community gained prominence on the world stage. From breakthroughs in regenerative medicine to quantum computing, machine learning and virtual reality, the province notched some great successes in 2016. Major financings for some of B.C.’s fastest-growing tech companies – Slack, Zymeworks, Indochino, D-Wave and MSI – combined with large-scale mergers and acquisitions of PMC, Point Grey Research, QHR, Bit Stew and Delta-Q – heighten the prominence of B.C. tech at a global level. Captured on the BC Tech Association’s newest resource site, www.bctechbase.com, the momentum for the B.C. tech industry has never been greater.
The BC Tech Association together with its partners at KPMG further showed this in the 2016 instalment of the BC Technology Report Card. The analysis showed that the B.C. tech sector has continued to outperform other sectors in the province, posting an impressive 14.4% growth rate since the last report card. On a national basis, B.C.’s tech sector grew faster than its counterparts in Ontario and Quebec, and impressively outperformed the U.S. national average. The tech industry now accounts for:
•$26 billion in revenue – growing in excess of 6% per year;
•$15 billion in gross domestic product – the third-largest contributor to the provincial economy;
•92,700 employees – more than all of those in B.C. resource industries combined; and
•$8 billion in wages – with jobs earning 76% more than the B.C. average.
This momentum is what created the opportunity to host the Emerging Cascadia Innovation Corridor Conference – a two-day summit that explored the potential for joint partnerships in the Vancouver-Seattle corridor. It brought together sector leaders from across B.C. and Washington state including Bill Gates, Satya Nadella and the entire board of directors at Microsoft to consider the art of the possible.
After all, B.C. is still a relatively small tech jurisdiction that’s powered to a large extent by enthusiasm and entrepreneurial spirit. Every city and region in the world is vying to become a global tech hub. Competing at this level and capitalizing on the bigger opportunity require much more than voicing our desire. It’s about harnessing strong partnerships that will lift our collective fortunes and make B.C. truly one of the best places to develop a tech company.
Looking ahead to 2017, the challenge for the B.C. tech industry is to move even faster. The power law of tech ecosystems suggests that the top 10 tech cities/regions will capture more than 80% of the opportunity. To be in the top 10 requires that B.C. tech companies grow even faster, that we attract more than our fair share of global capital and global talent and that the tech community pulls together in a way that’s not been done before.
As the year draws to a close, we can confidently declare that tech was indeed the talk of 2016. British Columbia can and will be a leading technology ecosystem, not just in Canada, but as the global player it deserves to be.
Bill Tam is president and CEO of the BC Tech Association.
