Overview of the Technology Industry

BC’s technology sector hosts nearly 11,000 companies representing a broad range of sectors, with five subsectors including interactive and digital media, clean technology, life sciences, information and communication technology, and IT and engineering services.

A majority of those businesses are small to medium-sized enterprises employing fewer than 50 employees, with nearly 80% employing less than 10. There are only 22 companies in the BC tech community that employ at least 500 people.

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BC’s high tech sector revenue rose 4.0% in 2019, to $34.9 billion, the highest level ever recorded.  Overall the growth was in the service sector, where revenues increased 4.8%.  Within the service sector, the highest growth was in engineering services, where revenues jumped 13.5% while high tech manufacturing revenues fell 0.7%.

From 2018 to 2019 British Columbia’s high technology sector GDP increased 4.2%, to around $18.3 billion. This is higher than that of the overall provincial GDP, which climbed 2.8%.  The tech sector has outperformed the economy as a whole in every year in the last decade with the exception of 2015.  The BC tech sector contributes more to the economy than traditional BC industries (e.g., forestry, mining, oil & gas). BC’s high tech GDP represented over 12% of the Canadian total, ranking B.C. third in the country, following Quebec and Ontario.

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B.C.’s exports of high tech services climbed 5.1% in 2019 to $6.08 billion. There was growth of 2.5% in exports of computer-related services (total $1.78 billion) and 3.8% in exports of professional, scientific and technical services (total $2.28 billion). The largest growth was in exports of other high tech services (telecommunications, film production, etc.), which jumped 9.0% from 2018 to 2019 (total $2.02 billion).

High tech goods exports increased in 2019:

The value of B.C.’s exports of high technology goods edged up 0.5% in 2019, to just under $1.5 billion. The value of BC’s high tech goods exports ranked the province third in the country behind Quebec and Ontario.

Source: Profile of the British Columbia Technology Sector: 2020 Edition

BC has a thriving startup tech sector, but small startups have struggled to scale up into medium sized companies. The 2020 Tech Report Card found no growth at all in the number of medium-size tech companies with between 50-100 employees. Of the 11,000 tech companies in BC, 220 employ at least 100 people and only 22 employ at least 500 people.   Companies with fewer than 50 employees can produce new ideas, products and solutions, and employment, but they cannot provide long-term economic strength and stability. They are not yet the anchor companies with 200+ employees that are vital to an economy.  BC lacks a sustained, multi-year federal and provincial investment to provide the kinds of programs that help companies grow from small to medium-sized and from medium-sized to large.
Source: BC Tech Association | ScaleUp BC

Virtually all of the firms (92%) that employ more than 100 employees are located in the Mainland and Vancouver Island. Most Tech Industry firms are located in:

• Mainland/Southwest region – 68+% of total BC firms
• Vancouver Island and Coast – 15% of total BC firms
• Thompson & Okanagan region – 8% of total BC firms

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Sources and Useful Websites:

For the eighth consecutive year, employment in B.C.’s high tech sector reached a new high in 2019, rising 4.7% to 131,220 – the fourth straight year that growth in employment in the high tech sector exceeded that of overall provincial employment growth.  The manufacturing and service sectors saw growth, with increases of 9.0% and 4.0% respectively.  One of the largest areas of employment in BC tech is ‘other computer and related services’, growing 46% since 2013 to employ 32,060 people in 2018.  In total, high tech employment has increased by close to 11% between 2015 and 2017, while graduate and undergraduate degrees in technology have increased by 12.6% over the same time period.

CBRE (Coldwell Banker) report, Scoring Canadian Tech Talent report, 2020 rankings, show that Vancouver is third highest ranked Canadian city for tech talent (based on talent availability, quality of labour and cost competitiveness).

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Salaries

Wages and salaries paid by British Columbia’s high tech sector climbed 7.6%, to $12.0 billion in 2019, the highest level ever recorded. The average weekly earnings of a tech worker in the province was $1,760 in 2019, compared to $1,000 per week for the average worker in the province as a whole.  For service sector workers, tech workers earned almost double the average service sector wage ($1,830 per week, compared to $950). Across the Tech Industry, the growth in employment contributed to the rise in wages and salaries; there was also a 2.8% increment in average weekly earnings.

The computer and related services industry group is the largest sector within B.C.’s high tech sector, making up 40% of the province’s high tech businesses. Other services (22%) and engineering (16%) are the next two largest high tech industry groups

Other key subsectors include

• Motion picture and video industries
• Digital Entertainment & Interactive (DE&I)
• Publishing industries

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Source: KPMG 2020 British Columbia technology report card

The ICT sector in BC includes more than 5,500 companies and supports 68,000+ jobs working in software, cloud computing, information technology, Internet of Things (IoT), telecommunications and electronics manufacturing, virtual reality and augmented reality, digital security and artificial intelligence.

Some of the largest ICT companies in British Columbia include:

Absolute Software, ACL, Amazon, Avigilon, Fortinet, Fujitsu, Global Relay, Hootsuite, IBM, and Intel.

Sources:

BC Crown Agency Innovate BC

• Delivers programs to help technology start-ups grow and create jobs in B.C.
• helps entrepreneurs accelerate the process of defining a proven business model based on a set methodology and best practices for growing technology companies; connects them with business experts and fellow entrepreneurs to speed up the growth of their company

BC Acceleration Network BCAN (Venture Acceleration Program)

• Support B.C. entrepreneurs and companies at all stages of growth, offering tools, resources and expert guidance
• Innovate BC works with a variety of venture acceleration, industry &  academic partners

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