Toronto is giving Silicon Valley a run for the money, attracting innovative companies, talent and new investments to North America’s third largest technology hub. Click here to discover more about Toronto’s booming startup ecosystem and how to establish or expand your business in Toronto,
Canada and the Province of Ontario are attracting tech newcomers by investing mega-millions in advanced research, most recently funding Toronto’s Vector Institute, through public and corporate funding, including sponsorships from Google and Air Canada. The Institute’s goal is to retain, repatriate and attract AI talent worldwide and to create more trained experts to supply AI expertise into existing Canadian companies and startups.
Last year Cisco opened a CAD$100m innovation center in Toronto, one of nine such centers it operates worldwide. It was the culmination of several years of Cisco’s investment in the country, including its Canada Innovation Program which targets Canadian companies and venture capital funds. Google has also established 12 university research chairs across Canada as part of an R&D job creation initiative with the Province of Ontario.
The region claims to have 100 percent access to high-quality broadband, with its tech sector generating CAD$52 billion in revenues annually from 15,000 companies in 3,362 tech facilities, many in the financial tech, biotech, and clean tech fields.
Canada claims to offer the most generous R&D credits in the G7, reducing the cost of CAD$100 in R&D to CAD$52 or less for smaller firms. The country also claims to have the G7’s lowest costs in R&D-intensive sectors (up to 15.8% lower than the US average).
Highly competitive, diverse, and rich in skilled workers, Toronto is especially interested in attracting companies in the broadband, satellite, mobile, wireless communications and next generation e-devices markets and is aided by the Province’s CAD$13.6 billion investments in regional industrial and university-based research.
Learn more about starting or expanding your business in Toronto, and the city’s booming startup ecosystem, click here.
