Region’s tech industry cracks top Canadian list

Rapid growth has landed Victoria in the top-10 list of the top tech talent markets in the country.

It’s the first time Victoria has cracked the annual tech survey from commercial real estate firm CBRE, which expanded its survey to include 20 Canadian cities this year.

“It’s a good entry into the conversation, and it’s better to enter the conversation being underestimated than overestimated,” said Dan Gunn, chief executive of the Victoria Innovation, Advanced Technology and Entrepreneurship Council. “We will continue to climb that list over the coming years.”

Victoria’s high-tech industry has grown significantly in the past five years — 30 per cent since 2014 — and now boasts a $5.22-billion annual economic impact on the region, with combined annual revenue of its 955 companies of $4.06 billion, and employing 16,775 people directly.

A recent economic impact study commissioned by VIATEC predicted there will be in excess of 1,000 tech firms in the region by 2020, and the sector is on track to meet its goal of combined annual revenues of $10 billion by 2030.

The CBRE study gave Victoria a total score of 46.4 out of 100 based on measurements of 13 different metrics.

Toronto, which was ranked No. 1, had a score of 87.3, and Vancouver, which was ranked No. 4, had a score of 67.3.

Victoria was ranked 14th for its tech talent, 10th for its educated workforce and sixth for its combined tech industry.

Gunn, who said VIATEC provided information to CBRE for the study, noted it’s always difficult to compare cities given the data available is often incomplete.

“But this comparative data does serve a purpose,” he said. “It doesn’t tell the entire story and it never could, but it gives us another benchmark and another way to review our performance and our priorities and see if there are changes we can make.”