Soruce: Globe and Mail
In the wake of BlackBerry Ltd.’s recent travails, which seem to threaten a replay of the end of Nortel Networks Corp., it’s easy to overlook the fact that Canada still has a few cards to play.
Ottawa and Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., have been home to some of Canada’s brightest stars, but little-recognized York Region may be taking a run at restoring some of the tech limelight to the country’s $155-billion industry.
This region of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) recorded the most accelerated revenue growth among Canada’s seven tech hubs, at 23 per cent in 2012, vaulting it past Ottawa to No. 4, behind Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Data was compiled by Ottawa-based Branham Group, authors of the Branham annual ranking of the country’s top 250 information and communications technology (ICT) firms.
Statistics Canada data indicate ICT employs 9.2 per cent of York residents, leading all GTA regions. Observers chalk its success up to a number of factors.
- Proximity to Toronto but with slightly lower taxes and more space.
- Big anchor tenants such as IBM and CGI that serve to attract small businesses as suppliers and partners.
- A high concentration of the talent these businesses need.
- Relatively strong links to the growing east Asia market.
- Increasingly active engagement between business, government and educational institutions.
York Region may finally be getting its due after toiling for years in the shadow of Toronto. But there’s a clear distinction between the two: Where Toronto is a hotbed of edgy startups in make it or break it mode, the average age of the York companies on Branham’s top 250 list is 21 years.
Andrew Bisson, a vice-president at Branham Group, characterizes York as a “mature region,” saying “it’s very much an enterprise solutions base for the ICT sector.”
Karna Gupta, head of the Information Technology Association of Canada, credits the region’s success to its diverse population and the way its nine municipalities, schools including York University and Seneca College, and incubator ventureLAB have made explicit efforts to work together. He likens it to a process that Kitchener-Waterloo went through with its Communitech business incubator.
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The Regional Municipality of York is located in the heart of the Greater Toronto Area and is home to 1.1 million residents and 42,000 business establishments, making it one of Canada’s largest municipalities and the second largest business centre in the Province of Ontario.
Comprised of nine local municipalities, York Region is a premier business location in Canada. The Region is home to operations of 14 Fortune 100 companies, four of Canada’s top 10 corporate R&D investors, Canada’s second largest Information & Communications Technology (ICT) cluster and global industry leaders in Life Sciences, CleanTech, Financial Services and Advanced Manufacturing.
As Canada’s fastest growing large municipality, York Region has one of the most educated and diverse workforces in North America, the lowest commercial property taxes in greater Toronto and an exceptional quality of life attracting top global talent.
York Region’s local municipalities include the City of Markham, the City of Vaughan, the Town of Richmond Hill, the Town of Newmarket, the Town of Aurora, the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville, the Town of East Gwillimbury, the Town of Georgina and the Township of King.