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>we as citizens have tremendously high standards of living and that is largely as a result of multiple other sectors—namely mining, foresty, and oil and gas ...
by mcantelon 14y ago
>we as citizens have tremendously high standards of living and that is largely as a result of multiple other sectors—namely mining, foresty, and oil and gas ... Our population is but a fraction of America's, which places at an instant, permanent, and steep disadvantage
Interesting article. Canada has been made complacent by its existence as a resource colony. There are countries with small populations (Finland, for example) that manage to compete globally by using their brains and its great to see Canadian companies and VCs that aspire to that.
In addition to private tech startup funding in the US, the state funds a lot of tech through the "defense" industry. Canada's current government seems more interested in investing in prisons, however, than the tech sector.
- jmspring 14y agoHistorically, Canada has never really swung wildly in any sector. Housing, tech, business, natural resources, etc. the only "dominant" is natural resources and it provides a nice base. But, the economic swings have been minor compared to here in the US. Sure they have had RIM and Nortel which have both, basically, gone bust. Beyond that, I can't really think of any big Canadian tech company. A number of companies have/have had satellite offices in Canada -- Microsoft (Richmond/Surrey) and Nokia (Kanata) come to mind. But, the country, it's resources, and culture are pretty diverse -- BC differs from Ontario which differs from Quebec. In some ways, I feel the US is much more homogenous than Canada. That said, I've known a few startups in Canada (mainly Vancouver) over the years. However, there hasn't been a critical mass. From my observation, Vancouver has more ties with LA (business-wise) than Silicon Valley -- more media heavy than tech. I'm not sure complacence has anything to do with it, there just hasn't been a critical mass in any one area.
- pearle 14y agoATI would be another example. Of course, they merged with AMD.
- cipherprime 14y agoBought by AMD is not quite the same thing as "merged".
- nekojima 14y agoThere was (and supposedly still is) Corel, which in the mid-late 1990s, was one of the few companies to rival Microsoft & others for office & digital design/drawing/photo software.
- cipherprime 14y agoMatrox essentially created all the technology at SGI and eventually ATI. And the first company to do Yahoo Search (what was that called? OpenSearch?) ... but you are right. We can count the companies without taking off our socks.
- pyre 14y agoThree years ago I queried Microsoft about working for them in Canada, and they said that all software dev happened in Richmond, and the people in Canada were just part of marketing. Maybe that's changed, or I talked to someone mis-informed, but if they are trying to hire Canadians, then they aren't publicizing it well.
- edwinnathaniel 14y agoMicrosoft Vancouver (no longer in Richmond for whatever reason) seems to be a "parking" space for people that are waiting to get H1-B. Amazon Vancouver, on the other hand, seems to be here "for real".
- pyre 14y agoRichmond was a 'typo' on my part. I meant Redmond. I was basically told that all Microsoft software development happened inside of the US.
- Tiktaalik 14y agoThis has changed. Microsoft has expanded their operations in BC quite a bit but I'm not actually sure if their Richmond office even exists anymore. In 2007 Microsoft hired Don Mattrick, a British Columbian who long ago founded Distinctive Software, the company bought by EA which became EA Canada (Situated in Burnaby, develops FIFA, NHL and other games) and bought Big Park, a company founded by Mattrick. Microsoft's Xbox division then created Microsoft Game Studios Vancouver and expanded again just recently to create Microsoft Games Studios Victoria. Since 2010 Mattrick has been president of the Interactive Entertainment Business and lives in Victoria I think and so he's a booster for the area. Being so close to Redmond surely helps.
- edwinnathaniel 14y agoVancouver is known as Hollywood North :). This happens probably due to tax-benefit/break and government support for the film industry (correct me if I'm wrong) that makes movie production cheaper in Vancouver. And yes, there aren't many big hi-tech companies in Canada. Most of them are at most a few hundreds employees, which I supposed is big enough considering the ratio of population compare to US (roughly 1:10). I can't imagine there's a hi-tech company with 1k employees in Vancouver. Very very hard. I don't think there's even a 1K (Canadian) company in Vancouver regardless of the sector.
- eps 14y agoEA Canada employs over 2000 people.
- edwinnathaniel 14y agoWhat's the % between FTE and contractors?
- allertonm 14y agoSAP has 1200 employees in Vancouver, at the former Crystal/Business Objects site on Mainland St.
- dgudkov 14y ago>Beyond that, I can't really think of any big Canadian tech company Cognos (Ottawa). Acquired by IBM in 2008 for almost $5bln.
- astrodust 14y agoThis whole "fraction of America's" crap is really uncalled for. Canada as a country is more populous than many European states that have been very successful on the international stage. Also America is completely eclipsed by countries like China and India that have far larger populations. Does that mean America's at a "steep disadvantage" to China? For the last century America has done pretty well despite being so far behind in terms of numbers.
- gopi 14y agoActually China and India are approximately 4 times the US population while US is almost 10 times the population of Canada!