Recently I have recorded a podcast and created a PowerPoint to sum up the info in the blog so far:

http://www.slideshare.net/mcarapic/toronto-ict-cluster

Here is a link to the podcast:

http://mcarapic.mypodcast.com/2008/04/Toronto_ICT_Cluster-97844.html

Till next time,

MC

I wanted to recap some of the things that have been mentioned earlier about my main cluster focus, which is Toronto’s ICT cluster. What Toronto, as a cluster, needs to do at this point in order to achieve the level of integration of world-class clusters such as Waterloo and Silicon Valley, is to foster and encourage closer collaboration between industry, government, and educational institutions. Another key point is the integration and convergence of previously separate clusters, such as ICT and media to form digital media (e.g. wireless gaming, social networking, etc.)

Here is a profile of the cluster:

Toronto’s Key Industry Clusters: Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

Toronto is the technological heart of Canada. The city’s vital Information and Communication Technology (ICT) cluster has been contributing more than $20 billion annually to the economy. Globally focused manufacturers and developers create software, hardware, New Media and communications solutions that permeate and act as catalysts in all areas of the economy. With its world-leading R&D, expert talent pool, renowned post-secondary education, supportive government initiatives and high-performance infrastructure, Toronto is a natural hub where information-oriented companies can invest and excel.Key factsToronto ICT Cluster the largest in Canada and 3rd largest in North America

Major playersToronto’s Competitive Advantage is its Depth and Diversity of its ICT Operations

N.C. = ‘Not Classified’ Source: 2004 E & B Data [2004 ICT Study (p. 4)]

 Alliance Technologies
 Allstream
 Bell Canada
 Celestica
 CGI Group
 IBM Canada
 IDC Canada
 Nortel
 Motorola
 Oracle Canada
 Radiant Core, Inc.
 Rogers
 Sprint Canada
 SAS Canada
 Xerox Canada

Success storiesMany world-leading high tech companies are drawn to Toronto to invest and grow their operations. SAS Canada, the world’s largest privately held software company, recently opened its $30 million new Canadian corporate headquarters on King Street East. The new 110,000 square foot facility stands eight storeys and features the latest advancements in environmental and architectural design, allowing it to become the first building in Toronto to be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified.

Many of our companies have a global focus. For example, Autodesk recently took a major step to expand its presence in Toronto. It is now one of the world’s top leading innovators of 3D graphics software for film, video, electronic games, interactive media, visualization, architecture and industrial design. Its programs have won numerous awards including an Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for scientific and technical achievement for their development of Maya software.

Cluster development strategy

Over the past few years, the City of Toronto together with other orders of government, has been working closely with ICT industry stakeholders to produce a Strategy for this strategic sector with the goal to become and be acknowledged globally, as one of the 5 most innovative, creative and productive locations in the world for ICT research, education, business, and investment by 2011. ICT Toronto, a multi-stakeholder partnership was created to serve as an advisory and reference group and potential ICT think tank to implement the ICT Strategy.

Support systems

 Association of Internet Marketing & Sales (AIMS)
 Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance
 Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS)
 Centennial College (Centre for Creative Communications)
 Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance (GTMA)
 Industry Canada
 Information Technology Association of Canada
 Innovation Synergy Centre in Markham (ISCM)
 Interactive Multimedia Arts and Technologies Association
 International Trade Canada
 MaRS Discovery District
 Mississauga Technology Association
 New Media Business Alliance
 Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade
 Rotman School of Business
 Toronto Board of Trade
 Toronto Regional Research Alliance (TRRA)
 Toronto Venture Group
 University of Toronto (Munk Centre)
 York Technology Association

Size of ICT cluster

Source: 2004 E & B Data [2004 ICT Study (p.4,10)]

IT Employment

In terms of employment, the service side of the ICT cluster is the largest, followed by development and manufacturing. However, most of the facilities are found in the development sector.

The City of Toronto has over 50% of all ICT companies located in the Greater Toronto region. This cluster accounts for about 5.5% of employment within the Toronto CMA (Statistics Canada 2001 Census). Over 300 foreign companies have subsidiary operations in the Toronto region. Annual sales for the ICT cluster amount to over $32.5 billion, while the annual exports for this cluster is over $6.2 billion.

New media sub-cluster

The New Media sub-cluster, while small with respect to the overall IT cluster, is a rapidly growing sector that is exerting a very strong influence on many clusters such as Film and Television. This industry is made up of those business establishments whose main activity consists of providing technology products and services to the media markets. Firms in this cluster specialize in some of the following: animation, post-production, special effects, website development, graphic design services and CD/DVD production.

Source: 2004 E & B Data [IDM Study p. 10-11] Within the GTA, approximately 60% of the firms are located within the City of Toronto. The typical company is small (median employment of 10) with estimated annual sales of $1 million. Overall sales for this sub-cluster are estimated at between $1.5 billion and $2 billion annually. The sales generated by New Media account for about 1% of the revenue produced by the IT sector.

ICT Technology Markets in the Toronto Region

Source: 2004 E & Data [ICT Executive Summary, p. 3]The IT and New Media cluster benefits from the success of other clusters in the city. The city’s film and television industry creates spin-off opportunities for New Media, especially in the areas of animation and special effects. One example of a company leading in this sub-cluster is Autodesk. Autodesk’s Maya software has gained the distinction of being the world’s largest 3D animation, modeling and rendering tool for the entertainment market. In 2003, Autodesk was honored with an Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for scientific and technical achievement for their development of Maya software.Here is the link to the site where the info was obtained:

I was just browsing the sites of the Waterloo ICT cluster and came across the Waterloo Technology Startup Network, WatStart, which is an association of different organizations which offer aid to new tech startups in the Waterloo region. Some examples of these organizations are Communitech, StartupCamp, Tech Capital Partners, and the Accelerator Centre at the University of Waterloo which offers many different services to startups from idea conception to well beyond maturity. Here are descriptions of some of these services from WatStart’s website:

WatStart: We hold various get-togethers through the year for startup entrepreneurs and people thinking about creating a startup. Meetings are always informal—a chance to meet with your peers and learn from each other in an interactive setting, usually with guest resources that have expertise in areas important to tech startups.

Communitech’s entrepreneur services: Provides free business advisory services, including referrals to other service providers, business plan reviews and other assistance with attracting investors, feedback on marketing and general business strategy, and information about other programs and organizations serving the startup market. Includes the executive-in-residence program, through which startup founders work with experienced tech company executives. Current executives are Carol Leaman, former CEO of RSS Solutions, and Ron Neumann, former CEO of SlipStream. For more information, contact Gary Will.

ViaTech: ViaTech is a group of people with experience working with startup and early-stage companies that get together once a month with one or two companies to provide whatever feedback they can. The group includes people from from IRAP, Tech Capital, RBC, Deloitte, Gowlings, Industry Canada, Communitech, a market research firm, and a communications company. For 90 minutes, they’re all yours to get as much feedback as you can on whatever issues you want to discuss. It’s free and confidential, and no one is allowed to solicit your business. You may get some ideas out of the meeting, and at the very least there would be another 10 or so well-placed people in the community who would come away knowing more about your company. You can discuss whatever business issues you want, or try out a presentation to potential investors. For more information, contact Gary Will.

StartupCampWaterloo: An unconference-style interactive event, scheduled to run three times a year, where you can meet other startup founders and get feedback from them on your business ideas. See the website for information on upcoming events.

Communitech: Outside of its entrepreneur services (see above), Communitech runs events through the year for a tech business audience. Includes Entrepreneur Week in the fall and the Tech Leadership Conference in the spring, where selected startups are showcased in a tradeshow-style exhibit.

Accelerator Centre: Home to nearly 20 startup and early-stage companies. Located on the University of Waterloo Research & Technology Park. Provides office space, mentoring, shared meeting rooms, and reception and bookkeeping services, along with networking opportunities and education programs. For more information, contact Tom Corr, CEO.

Here is a link to the site:

http://watstart.ca/pages/startup

Recently there was a BarCamp conference held at the University of Waterloo Accelerator Centre. It was held on Saturday, March 29, 2008 from 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM. One of the key features is that it is organized and run by the attendees instead of a central organizing committee and anyone can modify the event details through the Wiki-enabled, Web 2.0 interface. This is a dramatic shift from traditional conferences and shows a movement towards increasing collaboration in the tech sector, especially within the ICT cluster in the Waterloo region, as evidenced by the BarCamp conference.

Here are some highlights from the conference:

Presentations/Demos

Open Source for Fun and Profit, Drupal as a case study. Khalid of 2bits.com will do a presentation on how an individual or a company can participate in the Open Source community, and make money at the same time, using Drupal, the open source content management system (CMS).
1. Noter.ca – An online note-taking program for students that has some neat stuff that other people don’t (re: Yahoo tagging engine, auto-save AJAXness, note printing for courses, no restrictions open knowledge concept). Probably will also discuss CSRwire.ca w/ people and the cool model of building websites that feed off other websites in a really extensible way (how to roll out dozens of specialized services on different domains and have it make sense).
2. Rebuilt CastRoller Demonstrate the new, rebuilt CastRoller taking in feedback given at StartupCampWaterloo1
3. Avery Pennarun: I (heart) COBOL
4. websequencediagams.com — Going from 0 to 3000 diagrams a day in the casual UML market. (Steve Hanov)

Sponsors 

The follow organizations support BarCampWaterloo:

• Waterloo Accelerator Centre
• TechCapital
• WatStart
• Communitech

BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees.

http://barcamp.org/BarCampWaterloo

WATERLOO, ON, March 27 /CNW/ – Open Text(TM) Corporation (NASDAQ: OTEX,
TSX: OTC), a global leader in enterprise content management (ECM), today announced a partnership with the University of Waterloo to create one of the world’s largest centres dedicated to research and innovation in digital media and Web 2.0 for business, government and cultural applications.

Under the plan, Open Text will contribute funding, technology and services for the development of the Open Text Centre for Digital Media Research. As part of its commitment, Open Text will provide its executives and thought leaders as contributing faculty, sharing their experience in the classroom. The Centre will be dedicated to research projects and commercialization of ground-breaking software applications, giving students an opportunity to apply their ideas to real-world business opportunities.

Programs at the Centre will focus on creating graduates that combine business knowledge, with computer science and artistic content creation. The Centre will be part of graduate and undergraduate programs offered at the University’s Stratford Institute, a proposed new centre for education and research to be located in Stratford, Ontario, a well-known art, music and theatre community. The location provides a unique setting that will bring the worlds of business, art and the Internet together in an environment focused on
creating innovative new software applications.

“From Facebook to YouTube to Wikipedia, we are witnessing a revolution in the way consumers socialize, share knowledge and harness collective intelligence,” said Tom Jenkins, Executive Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer for Open Text. “But we’ve only just begun. There’s enormous potential to build on what’s been created so far, and apply these new technologies to business, government and culture in new and exciting ways. Through our partnership with the University of Waterloo, we’re planting the seeds of that innovation right here in the Waterloo Region.”

Jenkins adds, “The Open Text Centre will combine the experience and knowledge of academic and business leaders with the energy and creativity of a new generation. It gives Open Text a direct role in building a highly skilled workforce and R&D leadership right here in our community, and helps secure Waterloo’s position as one of the world’s top communities for technology innovation.”

“By collaborating with Open Text, we are hoping to create an institution that’s recognized worldwide for discoveries that meet the needs of the 21st century digital economy,” said David Johnston, President of the University of Waterloo. “Open Text’s contribution will help accelerate Ontario and Canada into a leadership position in digital media and Web technologies.”

Today’s news follows closely on the heels of Open Text’s March 3 announcement of a broad strategy to deliver new social computing solutions to customers. As part of its plan,
Open Text is extending its collaboration and Web solutions offerings to deliver 2.0 capabilities, including wikis, forums, blogs, tagging, moderation, communities and real-time collaboration, within an organization’s broader ECM strategy. Application of these new technologies creates more engaging Web experiences, improves knowledge sharing and collaboration, increases employee productivity and helps improve brand loyalty and interaction.

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2008/27/c7246.html

Apparently, the McGuinty government is investing in a new campus for the University of Waterloo, located in Stratford. The focus will be on emerging digital media sectors, such as mobile, wireless, sound, video, gaming, web design and animation. This is an exciting new move for the University of Waterloo in its recognition of where the convergence of clusters is headed next and also the government has been wise to support this transition and help all parties take advantage of the synergies which exist between the current ICT cluster in Waterloo and the arts/media community in Stratford. A strong Bohemian community will likely attract even more innovative high tech talent which is multidisciplinary in nature and understands both sides of the equation (such as computer animators). This is a logical next step for Ontario’s ICT and media clusters. 

TORONTO, March 27 /CNW/ – Ontario is investing $10 million to help the University of Waterloo to create a new Stratford campus focused on global business and digital media.

This campus will generate the next generation of digital media researchers, entrepreneurs, products and services by bringing together Stratford’s renowned strengths in arts and culture and the University of Waterloo’s strengths in technology.

Areas of digital media research and development at the new campus will include mobile, wireless, sound, video, gaming, web design and animation.

QUOTES

“Ontario’s entertainment and creative cluster is a cornerstone of Ontario’s new innovative economy,” said Minister of Research and Innovation John Wilkinson (http://www.mri.gov.on.ca/english/about/MinisterBio.asp).

“Today’s investment is about building on our strengths, forging synergies and supporting strategic partnerships to ensure that when the next Google is developed, jobs will be created in Ontario.”

“Few regions and countries have generated the creative and collaborative synergies necessary to capitalize on the unprecedented opportunities allowed by the Internet and the rapid development of digital technologies. Through the strategic leadership of the McGuinty government, the City of Stratford(http://www.city.stratford.on.ca/site_ourcitylife/uw_stratford_campus.asp),
and Open Text Corporation (http://www.opentext.com/corporate/our_history.html), the dream of the UW-Stratford Campus is today closer to reality.” – University of Waterloo
(http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infopres/HTML/president.html) President David
Johnston.

QUICK FACTS

    -  The new Stratford campus will be housed in a new, 6,500 square metre
       facility and the university anticipates that an initial class of
       125 students may commence as early as 2009.
    -  The campus will eventually grow to 500 students, 25 faculty and
       15 support staff.
    -  Ontario’s entertainment and creative cluster is the third largest in
       North America by employment after California and New York.

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2008/27/c7562.html

The IAIC will be housed at the Waterloo Research & Technology Park Accelerator Centre, a not-for-profit corporation that provides facilities and support services to technology entrepreneurs looking to accelerate the commercialization of their innovative product or service.

The IAIC will offer an advanced learning environment, providing students and local entrepreneurs with a variety of resources including open access to the latest technologies from sponsors Microsoft, Dell and Intel, and a comprehensive training curriculum on topics relating to technology, business and entrepreneurship.

“As a University of Waterloo graduate and someone who founded a company made up predominantly of UW Alumni, I know that UW produces many of Canada’s brightest, most innovative and entrepreneurial minds,” said Alim Somani, Partner of Infusion Angels. “Through the IAIC we want to support those people and enable them to turn their ideas into prototypes and their prototypes into thriving Canadian businesses.”

The IAIC offers Canadian entrepreneurs the opportunity to experiment first hand with next-generation Microsoft technologies running on top of the line Dell hardware with Intel quad-core processors. Entrepreneurs may book time through the center’s on-line reservation system or simply walk in to the Centre for a three hour exploration session. Visitors may work under the guidance of an onsite technical director or by leveraging official Microsoft training materials as their guide. Infusion Angels, Microsoft and other partners will staff the centre on a daily basis to assist users.

“I can’t think of a more appropriate place to locate Canada’s first entrepreneur-focused innovation centre than the Region of Waterloo and our own research and technology park,” said David Johnston, president of the University of Waterloo. “This centre will play a crucial role in further developing the region as a model of economic success, as one of the world’s top seven intelligent communities and, quite possibly, as the knowledge capital of Canada.”

Commentary:

The new innovation centre in Waterloo, housed at the University of Waterloo Research and Technology Park, will enable local tech startups to receive more support and financing so that they can take advantage of the vast resources of the university as well as Microsoft and venture capital firms such as Infusion Angels. This will further enhance the region’s reputation for leading edge innovations through collaboration among cluster members.

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.microsoft.com/canada/media/releases/2007_01_31.mspx

“Think of a world where computers are really, really pervasive and you have all these computing cycles available,” he said. “A cloud can plug into that.”

That could mean easier management for data centers at large corporations. Ohio State is working with the city of Columbus, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. and the school’s medical center for applications of the technology, Ramnath said.

Cloud computing could eliminate the middle man in basic user functions on a computer, he said. Rather than downloading and installing a word-processing program onto a desktop, for instance, the user could connect to a cloud that has the application available.

These massive connections of data centers couldn’t function at the command of humans alone, though, and that’s where Ohio State and Georgia Tech step in. The schools, linked to IBM (NYSE:IBM), are part of what is dubbed a Critical Enterprise Cloud Computing Services facility dedicated to developing so-called autonomic technology that makes computers function on their own in a cloud-computing environment and applying that software to the business world.

Through IBM’s Shared University Research awards, the company has provided Ohio State and Georgia Tech with servers and software to develop the facility. Ramnat declined to disclose the cost of the hardware, but said about 100 students a year in Ohio State’s computer science department would come in contact with the project.

Commentary:

This kind of technology is a good indication as to where the high-tech world is headed in the future, and how collaboration among cluster members, in this case IBM and Ohio State University, can contribute to the goal of eveolving technology to the next level through mutual support and innovation as well as providing the needed resources for R&D. Cloud computing is one of the many new and exciting innovations in the Information and Communication Technology sector of Silicon Valley and is sure to change the computing landscape for many years to come with impacts in many different fields.

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2008/03/24/daily30.html?ana=from_rss

Today I came across an article that brings up many interesting points about the similarities between the ICT clusters in Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv. Essentially, Tel Aviv’s ICT cluster is considered the second most important ICT cluster in the world and practically a clone of the first, which is Silicon Valley.

Both clusters despise traditional corporate hierarchies, reward risk-taking and tolerate failure. Israel has some elite universities that provide research and technology parks for high-tech startups, providing them with the resources and suport they need to grow and prosper. One such institution is Technion University in Haifa, and there are also many research centres run by big firms such as Cisco and Intel. Also, just like in California, there are plenty of well-funded venture-capital (VC) firms providing cash.

Yet there are many differences, too, starting with venture capital. In 2007 VC firms invested $1.76 billion in Israel. Although this was the highest figure since the dotcom bubble burst in 2001, and was up 8.5% on 2006, it is still less than a fifth of the $10 billion or so invested in Silicon Valley.

If Israeli entrepreneurs are more into hard-core technologies and innovation, it is in part because they have such a small market. Selling their wares abroad is more difficult in market segments in which firms must be close to the user, such as “Web 2.0” sites, which are as much a social and cultural phenomenon as a technological one. A more important reason is that many entrepreneurs cut their teeth in the Israeli army, which has always needed to compensate for the county’s lack of manpower and resources with cutting-edge technology, mainly in communications.

All of this means that hard-charging Israeli entrepreneurs can find it difficult stepping down as chief executive when a start-up reaches the stage at which marketing and management become more important. They often work around the clock as well as the globe.

Still, as things stand, Israel is mainly an exporter of start-ups, and thus an R&D centre for large technology firms. It is not such a bad role, but being confined to a small country and far removed from their markets, Israeli entrepreneurs do not always get the best price for their labours of love. And one day soon, Chinese engineers, in particular, will be as good at building start-ups and developing intellectual property, warns Zohar Zisapel, a serial entrepreneur and chairman of RAD, a group of telecoms-equipment firms. After all, he says, “the Chinese mother is like the Jewish mother—quite demanding.”

Commentary:

This article clearly shows that Tel Aviv’s ICT cluster is mostly focused on R&D and innovation, and not marketing and management. Therefore, their best bet at maintaining their status as the world’s second most important ICT cluster is to focus on what they do best through collaboration between the local government, educational institutions, and businesses in order to firmly establish the cluster as the leader when it comes to innovation and R&D on new and exciting products and concepts.

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10881264

Abstract