OTTAWA IS A TECH HUB: VALIDATION!
For the last few months, I’ve been perched on my soapbox about Canada’s capital and the local tech scene. A Recap:
First: A gauntlet was thrown down reminding the world that Ottawa is a tech hub.
Second: All the reaction; nice and not-so-nice.
Third: A myriad of exciting career possibilities and reasonable housing costs.
Finally: A sledgehammer of a statement, “Ottawa’s Not Boring. You’re Just Lazy”.
Ecosystem this, GDP that. I’ve been blah, blah, blah, to any human, animal or plant that would listen. I’m shocked my wife didn’t change the locks at home.
But just as the void began staring back…a timely email graced my inbox:
Whoa.
It’s a new dawn my friends.
The email was from Bobbi Brant of Expert Market. You may recall she crafted the “Top Tech Hub” list that was the impetus of these articles. The original intention of my posts was to simply have one of these organizations (which publish these lists year after year) give Ottawa a second look (at best).
I did not expect a re-ranking of all the Canadian tech cities. And I REALLY didn’t expect Ottawa to immediately come out on top! Here’s a fancy info-graphic provided by the fine people at Expert Market:
“BUT RYAN!?”
Yes?
“Last year, Expert Market looked at THE WORLD, grabbing a list of cities from the Startup Genome report. Ottawa wasn’t on that list — and this is just Canada.”
Glad you brought that up.
For the first time, Ottawa has finally graced the pages of the Global Ecosystem Report! (Or as I call it, the “Startup City Bible”). Ottawa didn’t crack the top 20 this year but it’s now standing alongside the globe’s other tech juggernauts. And check out this nugget:
Remember my original “thesis”:
“Is Ottawa king of the castle? Nope…But does Ottawa deserve a shout out when we are talking global tech hubs? AB-SO-LUTELY.”
Ottawa has been a B2B town for decades; developing complex solutions for some of the worlds biggest brands. So while other cities are in a race to build the next Snapchat clone, Ottawa entrepreneurs are busy helping other businesses pretty much control EVERYTHING.
Next, a nice reminder that Ottawa has tech in it’s bones with 8% of the city working in various sectors:
And finally, the City of Ottawa released new data highlighting the impact of tech on our local economy:
Nearly one-fifth of our GDP flows from the tech sector. THAT’S CRAZY GOOD. As our expertise in Saas, AI, Autonomous Vehicles, IoT, 5G and other verticals continues to grow, expect to see that number go up, up, up.
So for me, it’s mission accomplished. Thanks for your time. And remember:
Ottawa is a tech hub. Y’all are welcome to join us.
