British Columbia Innovation Council

With one of the largest digital media and wireless labour pools in Canada (22,000 employees) BC is home to one of the most robust digital media and wireless sectors in the world. Digital media is unique among areas in BC's technology industry as it unites arts with science. In order to create visually stimulating and user-friendly digital applications, there must be an underlying expertise that stems from the science and technological know-how that exists in BC, complimented by an incredibly diverse foundation of digital media post secondary education and research institutions throughout the province.

BC's digital media and wireless sector is comprised of over 1,300 companies generating revenues in excess of $3 billion per year. The sector is made up of a number of subsectors including:

• Mobile and wireless
• Web 2.0 and social networking applications
• Video games
• Animation and visual effects
• Interactive marketing and e-Learning

Industry Snapshot

• Vancouver has one of the top video game clusters in the world with the presence of major publishers, including EA, Nintendo, THQ, Vivendi/Activision, Disney and Microsoft. More recently, Motion Picture Company, Pixar, and Digital Domain have announced major investments in new studios in the region.
• The EA studio in Vancouver is among the largest and most successful game development studios in the world and home to EA's Worldwide Motion Capture Studio.
• The Centre for Digital Media offers a 20-month Masters of Digital Media Program - the first of its kind globally - for creators, practitioners and senior management.
• Vancouver's roots in mobile communications run deep, beginning with satellite data technologies developed by MacDonald, Dettweiler and Associates Ltd. and continuing with the GIS systems developed by MDI.

Stakeholders

• Industry Organizations
  
  • Digital Media & Wireless Association of BC (DigiBC)
    
  • SIGGRAPH Vancouver
    

• Accelerators
  • Bootup Labs
  • Wavefront Wireless Accelerator
    

Post-Secondary Programs

• Art Institute of Vancouver
• British Columbia Institute of Technology: Digital Arts
• Capilano University: School of Media Arts; School of Motion Picture Arts
• Centre for Arts and Technology Kelowna
• The Centre for Digital Media: offers a 20-month Masters of Digital Media Program for creators, practitioners and senior management
• Emily Carr University of Art + Design: Intersections Digital Studios
• Selkirk College: Digital Arts and New Media program
• Simon Fraser University: School of Interactive Arts and Technology
• University of British Columbia: Media and Graphics Interdisciplinary Centre Lab, Multimedia Ethnographic Research lab, Imager laboratory
• University of British Columbia Okanagan: Creative and Critical Studies (Kelowna)
• Vancouver Film School: one of the top international postsecondary animation schools, with recruitment offices in Mumbai, Mexico City, Taipei and Seoul