WATERLOO REGION — Waterloo Region’s technology sector just keeps on growing.
The number of high technology companies in the region has jumped to about 700 from 550 in 2008, according to a new report from Communitech, the association representing tech companies in the area.
That represents a growth rate of 21 per cent during one of the worst economic downturns of the past 20 years.
This sector, which includes digital media, information technology and software companies, computer hardware firms and advanced manufacturing businesses, employs roughly 30,000 people with 2,000 job openings waiting to be filled, Communitech said in a news release Wednesday.
The figures are based on a survey and inventory of technology firms in Waterloo Region and area conducted by Communitech in January and February.
Results are published in the 2010 edition of the Waterloo Region Tech Directory, which will be released at a tech leadership conference sponsored by Communitech on July 14.
Featured speakers at the conference, to be held at Bingemans in Kitchener, include Clayton Christensen, author of the Innovators Dilemma, Bill Taylor, co-founder of Fast Company magazine, and Noel Biderman, president of Avid Life Media.
Among other findings, the report notes that 51 per cent of technology firms in the area are small businesses of between one and five employees. The region is also home to 25 publicly traded tech companies, of which 15 have their headquarters here. They include Research In Motion, Open Text, ATS Automation Tooling Systems and Com Dev.
Venture capital invested in area tech companies exceeds $300 million and the sector accounts for $18 billion in annual revenues, the report notes.
Iain Klugman, chief executive officer of Communitech, said the latest inventory underscores the strength of the local tech sector. “We’re thrilled because so much has changed in the past five years,” he said in an interview. “We’ve really got the momentum going.”
The region has been home to roughly 350 startups in the last 30 months, he noted. “Not all of them make it, but at the end of the day you’ve got to have startups if you want to have successful medium-sized companies.”
One of the key drivers of recent growth, Klugman said, has been digital media, broadly defined as computer gaming, social networking software and digital tools to advance research in areas such as health care, finance and mineral exploration.
The region has benefitted greatly in this regard through its designation as the headquarters of the Canadian Digital Media Network, a joint venture of all three levels of government, Communitech and industry partners. The network will set up shop in the Tannery building in downtown Kitchener this summer along with a Communitech digital media incubator called the Hub.
Apart from digital media, the local sector has shown its resilience during the recession by maintaining strong balance sheets and focusing its research on “solving significant problems,” Klugman said.
chowitt@therecord.com
No comments:
Post a Comment