23 Feb Growing Tech Industry in Canada & Start-up Visa for trailblazers: Key Facts
Industry size and growth: Forming part of the top sectors in Canada, the Information, Communication & Technology (ICT) sector accounts for more than 5% of overall Canadian economy. The rapid growth in ICT sector is evident from the increase in revenue of nearly 26.7 % in a five-year period, making the total industry size to $210 billion in 2019.
Over the last few years, ICT industries witnessed shift from the manufacturing side to the services side, with the software and computer services growing by nearly 50% in the five-year period before the pandemic.
Export to US: Interestingly, of the total ICT goods exported worldwide by Canadian companies, more than 70% attributed to USA in 2019. Thus, making Canada as one of the ICT goods outsourcing hub for USA.
On the other side, the full potential of ICT export to USA is yet to be explored by the Canadian ICT service segment.
In the year 2018, overall export of ICT services aggregated to $11.5 billion, with a yearly growth of more than 11% in Software and Computer Services.
R&D spent: ICT remains the substantial contributor towards the total R&D spent in Canada. In 2019, the ICT R&D share was more than 40% of the total R&D spent with an expense of $7.5 billion.
Top Cyber Cities for workforce: Ontario (44%), Quebec (24%), British Columbia (12%) and Alberta (10%), remain the top four cities by attracting highest number of tech employees with more than 15 lac jobs.
Average Annual Salary: The 2019 stats published by the Canadian government shows that the average annual salary of a Canadian tech employee was CAD 80,000 (approx.), being 50% more than the Canadian average.
Covid-19 impact: Although the pandemic’s impact on the Canadian ICT sector will not be fully ascertained until the Canadian government releases its complete 2020 market data; the Canadian tech sector continues to post strong job growth, demonstrated by the nearly 135,000 job postings in 2020. Also, many economists believe that the tech industry in Canada would continue to have a strong outlook despite of the uncertainties created by the pandemic.
Government Priority: IT and BMP form part of the top three priority sectors of the Canadian government, thereby making it easy for the tech companies and their founders to clear the regulatory and immigration hurdle.
With the continuous development of the startup ecosystem and tech industry in Canada, the Start-up Visa Program offering Permanent Residency- remains the top choice for founders to launch their business in Canada. This is also working as an encouragement for the entrepreneurs looking at the large North American market, especially when the path to the US immigration remains unpredictable.
References: Data published by Canadian government & Comptia
