CANADA URGED TO SCALE UP TECH
drawing more investment to cities like Toronto and Montreal, but the country could lose momentum if it doesn’t do more to encourage industries to scale up, according to CBRE Ltd. The country lacks “tech clusters,” dense areas of activity that contain critical mass for firms and educational and research institutions, the Toronto-based brokerage said in a report Thursday. Tech clusters like those in San Francisco and Seattle have helped propel those cities to global success but Toronto is the only Canadian city competitive enough to rank among powerhouses in North America. All of Canada’s big cities are “tech talent” markets but each of them needs to expand their academic and research centres, talent pools, access to capital and infrastructure, CBRE said. Paul Morassutti of CBRE Canada, says, for example, that Toronto needs more public transit.