Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

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Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

In the highly competitive information and communications technology (ICT) industry, innovation, research and speed-to-market are crucial. British Columbia has the world-class research facilities, the spirited technology entrepreneurship culture and the brilliant minds to make BC-based ICT businesses global success stories.

British Columbia's ICT and wireless industry includes leaders in every sector: content management, customer relationship management, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), hosted solutions, e-commerce, security, wireless, digital video, Web 2.0 and the list goes on. Our companies leverage strong relationships with platform technology vendors such as Microsoft, Research in Motion (RIM), and Google and benefit from excellent facilities and infrastructure, including highly successful research and development centres.

The sector enjoys a steady stream of technical talent from three university engineering schools and five computer science schools, which produce more than 1,000 highly skilled ICT and wireless graduates annually. In addition, it offers attractive opportunities for investors.

BC's location on the Pacific West Coast also makes it a desirable and strategic choice for international companies looking to establish a presence in Canada for the purposes of operations or developing alliances with world-class local firms.

Industry Snapshot

6,000+ innovative ICT and wireless companies employing 66,000+ employees.
More than 11,240 people are employed in BC's telecommunications sector, including more than 5,000 employees within the wireless sector specifically.
BC has in excess of 20 multinational corporations earning more than $9 billion in revenue annually, many of which grew out of small local companies that have developed unique ICT and wireless approaches.
We have homegrown leaders like MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd., PMC-Sierra, NGRAIN, Sierra Wireless, TELUS Communications Inc. and VTech Telecommunications.
Vancouver is a location of choice for major global companies such as Microsoft Corporation, Intel, Broadcom, Honeywell, 3M, Kodak, Cisco and Oracle.
BC is also home to IBM's largest international innovation centre and the North American head office of Nokia's new N-Gage division.
TELUS, the largest player in our ICT and wireless industry, is one of Canada's leading telecommunication companies with annual revenues in excess of $8 billion and 11.8 million customer connections.