With so many top technology companies calling Vancouver home, the city is well on its way to becoming a world-class leader in the high-tech sector. Yet many businesses still don’t have access to the best global talent resulting in missed opportunities and missed revenue. To address this issue, IEC-BC has partnered with PeaceGeeks, a Vancouver-based non-profit, the Vancouver Immigration Partnership, and the City of Vancouver to host a Tech Sector Networking Event for the new immigrants on July 18, 2016.
“Attracting global talent is of strategic importance if BC wants to become a world class productivity and innovation hub. We need to make sure BC businesses have access to the right people at the right time in order to succeed in the global marketplace,” said Kelly Pollack, IEC-BC CEO.
The event was designed to increase employers’ awareness about the skilled immigrant labour pool in BC while helping those who are new to our city learn about the growing technology sector. Some of Vancouver’s foremost tech companies, including Appnovation, Axiomzen, Electronic Arts, Hootsuite, Slack, Unbounce, and Urthecast met with skilled immigrants with technology sector background and experience. This speed-networking style event paired representatives from these cutting-edge companies with skilled immigrants seeking employment.
QUICK FACTS:
- According to some estimates, Canada will have to fill more than 180,000 information and communication technology positions by 2019, and homegrown talent will not be enough to fill these openings.
- The British Columbia (BC) Tech industry has nearly 101,000 tech professionals across BC, with approximately 75,000 working in Vancouver.
- The BC tech industry generates more than $23 billion in revenue and $15 billion in GDP.