Toronto is slowly emerging as a financial hub in North America, with all the sectors thriving. The city is blossoming in technology, green energy, fashion and design, and film and television production. Other industries that are thriving include music, digital media, and food and beverage industry. The online casino industry is also doing well in Canada with world-renowned JackpotCity online casino being a leading example.
Toronto is now known to be a host of the global tech industry that generates enormous revenues each year.
Reports suggest that in 2017, tech firms created over 30,000 jobs in 2017, which was more than Washington DC, Seattle, and San Francisco Bay area combined. The city’s tech ecosystem is thriving, and the increasing startup and entrepreneurs’ landscape is inclined towards driving the city’s future growth.
Its thriving tech economy has seen the city attract huge investments from global venture capitalists. Some of the major companies that have invested in the city include Microsoft, Samsung, Uber, Intel, and Shopify.
Here are some of the factors that have made the city move towards becoming the new Silicon Valley.
Public Policy
The Canadian government policy plays a significant role in making the city a global tech hub. The government supports technology developments with several programs that boost innovation and commercialization of tech projects. For instance, the government has a 1.26 billion USD Strategic Innovation Fund designed to support business investments in tech development, transfer, and commercialization.
Also, the academia and business sectors collaborate to help boost the tech development environment. An example is the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), a seed-stage program run by the University of Toronto to help science-driven startups scale up.
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Race to AI Superiority
Canada has also become a formidable force in the international Artificial Intelligence race. The country attracts highly skilled workers from around the world, hosts international conferences for tech startups, and puts colossal sums of money into AI research. In 2017, Canada initiated a national five-year strategic plan called the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy. It allocated 125 million USD from the federal budget to be invested in AI talent and research.
Toronto is known to be the country’s economic and research hub and has made significant steps in innovations in AI and biotechnology. Search engine Google has also invested heavily in the city by putting 5 million USD into the Vector Institute in Toronto and announced opening an AI lab in the city. Uber also announced plans to invest over 20 million USD in the city spread over five years. Other companies that have tapped into the city’s potential with huge investments include NVIDIA, who also made public their intention to open an AI research facility to explore fresh approaches to deep learning. Etsy, an American e-commerce site specializing in handmade items, also chose Toronto as the site for its latest Machine Learning Center of Excellence.
Besides, Toronto has been in the headlines for several tech accomplishments in the recent past. Reports also suggest that the city was a top contender for Amazon’s new headquarters. All these accomplishments by the city indicate that it is positioning itself as a global tech center of excellence.
