Toronto remains the leader in tech talent. However, a new study has shown that cities across Canada are becoming more competitive.
The 2018 Scoring Canadian Tech Talent Report ranked Hamilton, Quebec City, and Halifax among Canada’s top 10 tech talent markets. Ottawa and Waterloo were ranked in the top five.
"Technology has become a force in city building," states the report published by CBRE Canada. "Technology is woven into every component of a region’s economy, and many Canadian cities' future seems inextricably tied to the possibility of becoming a tech hub."
This report examines 20 Canadian cities and follows CBRE's 2018 Scoring Tech Talent In North America study. It was published earlier in the year.
Toronto, Canada's tech capital, is still ranked first in a report that was similar to the one before. It ranks first on 13 metrics, which are grouped under three key indicators: tech talent, education attainment, and the high-tech sector.
This survey uncovered major investments made in Toronto by tech companies such as Uber, Etsy, and Samsung, as well as major office deals that were signed this year by Shopify and Microsoft as well as Touch Bistro and OpenText.
Ottawa, Canada's capital and the home of Shopify, was second. Montreal, Vancouver, and Waterloo were the other top five Canadian tech talent markets.
The report states that these locations have the best combination of attributes needed for the technology sector to thrive, particularly when it comes to high concentrations of tech employment.
Montreal, Canada's second-largest city, displaced Vancouver as third in this year's report. This was due to Montreal's "overall talent and high tech concentration" surpassing Vancouver for the second consecutive year.
Top cities to find tech jobs
The report states that 63.1 percent of Canada's high-tech job growth was attributable to Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa, Ontario, which are all cities with high-tech sectors.
CBRE reports that Toronto saw a total of 82,100 tech jobs created in this time frame, representing a 51.5 percent growth rate.
Canada has added 178,800 jobs in tech between 2012 and 2017, including 57,600 in 2017.
Notable was Canada's small and mid-sized markets' job growth rates. Hamilton, Ontario was the most populous mid-sized Canadian city with 10,000 to 50,000 tech workers. It posted a 64.8 percent growth rate between 2012 and 2017.
Oshawa, Ontario was the leader of small markets with less than 10,000 tech workers. It posted a 5-year job growth rate of 71.4 percent, making it the fastest-growing tech talent market between 2012-17.
Quebec City and Victoria, the capital of British Columbia also did well and were ranked in the top 10.
According to the report, Quebec City boasts a high concentration of tech talent, which is above the national average. Meanwhile, Victoria and Hamilton offer a well-educated labor force at a moderate cost to employers.
Paul Morassutti, Vice-Chairman of CBRE Canada, said that these smaller markets are close to major markets such as Toronto and Montreal. This is helping them prosper.
He said that "these neighboring cities have policies that encourage interconnectivity via economic partnerships, and they are putting in transit infrastructure to expand their tech networks as well as the reach of venture capitalist financing."
Ottawa is the North American leader in tech labor concentration
Canada's tech workforce is 60.9 percent. Toronto, Montreal, Montreal, and Ottawa are all home to 60.9 percent of Canada's total.
Ottawa is the leader in North America and the country with its 11.2 percent tech labor concentration. This refers to tech's percentage of total employment within the city. This indicator was deemed to be an important determinant for growth potential and the "tech-centricity" of a market.
Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto ranked first and second, respectively, in terms of the concentration of high-tech companies within their respective cities. Waterloo was fourth, thanks to its proximity to Toronto, and the University of Waterloo's efforts to make the city a tech hub.
The concentration of tech companies in all four cities was higher than the Canadian average of 2.6%.
The report states that these markets are home to companies that specialize in artificial intelligence (autonomous vehicles), robotics, financial tech (fintech), as well as software development.
CBRE believes Canada could benefit more from the promotion and development of tech clusters. These are formed when large and small businesses in related areas combine with post-secondary institutions in a concentrated geographical area.
Morassutti stated that "tech clusters don’t form overnight but are crucial to attracting large investments from global technology leaders."
He noted that the Canadian federal government is trying to fix this problem with its $950 million Innovation Superclusters Initiative.
The funding will be used to develop five superclusters in Canada, including the Digital Technology Supercluster, Protein Industries Canada Supercluster, Next Generation Manufacturing Supercluster, (NGen), in Ontario, and the AI-Powered Supply Chains Supercluster, (SCALE.AI), in Quebec.
The Government of Canada says that the superclusters include more than 450 companies, 60 post-secondary institutions, and 180 other participants in the sectors that make up 78 percent of Canada’s economy.