Toronto a global ICT powerhouse: study

Toronto’s information and communication technology (ICT) cluster is the third largest in North America and is the undisputed global leader in digital media. A new report— Toronto'’s Competitive Positioning in the ICT Sector —examines seven of the world’s most successful ICT centres and finds that Toronto is a global ICT powerhouse with strengths in several areas.

Toronto was benchmarked against Bangalore, Boston, Frankfurt, Manchester, San Francisco and Washington DC in four specific sectors. In addition to digital media, the centres were ranked for shared profession services, next-generation electronics and specialist software development.

The study is intended to illustrate Toronto’s attractiveness as an investment location and was conducted by IBM’s Global Location Strategies Team, based in New Jersey. IBM Canada is arguably the largest of all ICT firms based in the Toronto region.

The study was commissioned by the Toronto Regional Research Alliance (TRRA) with support from International Trade Canada’s Community Investment Support Program, among others.

The criteria used to ranks the centres include: quality of business environment, potential to recruit skilled staff, presence of industry cluster, flexibility of labour and regulations, infrastructure, real estate, living environment and language skills and relative operating costs. The criteria were based on the collection and analysis of thousands of specific indicators.

In the area of digital media, Toronto emerged as the ideal location, scoring well for international recruits and a strong base of creative industries. It ranked first for quality, safety and had the second lowest operating costs. A key differentiator is the region’s access to computer programming and creative media talent.

Nearly as attractive is the area of shared professional services, where it ranked first in quality and the ability to recruit skilled staff. It was also the second lowest for operating costs. Toronto had the largest number of employees in accounting, finance, administrative and management service sectors.

For next-generation electronics, Toronto is clearly competitive, ranking third overall. It represents a 15% cost saving from any other North American locale. But it has fewer employees than its US rivals in R&D in physical, engineering and life sciences.

In the area of specialist software development, Bangalore is the clear frontrunner with strong quality and lowest cost. Toronto has a cost advantage to most other North American centres and stronger cost and quality rankings than either Frankfurt or Manchester.

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