WATERLOO ICT CLUSTERBy: Robert Lee

MRK 625

DEFINING CLUSTER

“A concentration of companies and industries in a geographic region, which are interconnected by the markets they serve, and the products they produce, as well as the suppliers, trade associations and educational institutions.”

- Michael Porter

MAJOR ICT CLUSTERS

WATERLOO SILICON VALLEY TORONTO NEW YORK BOSTON

WATERLOO

Population:500 000 people and up Population Growth Rate: 5.1% Ranking in Urban Region: Canada’s 10th

and Ontario’s 4th GDP: $20.9 million

One of Canada’s fastest growing communities

Voted among the “Top 7 Intelligent Communities” in the world by Intelligent Community Forum

“Commitment to fostering institutions that drive technology innovation and share its benefits with the community at large.”

MAIN CLUSTER STATISTICS

Sector Number of Firms

Employees

Companies within given sector.

High Tech (area of focus) 400 18 000 RIM, Open Text, Electrohome, Christie Digital, COM DEV International, AGFA HealthcareNCR

Automotive (second largest)

450 10 000 Toyota,A.G. Simpson, Automation Tooling Systems (ATS), Canadian General-Tower

Advance Manufacturing (largest)

1200 61 000 Babcock & Wilcox, Brock SolutionsCanadian General-Tower, COM DEV

Business/Financial 12 7 000 Sun Life Assurance of Canada, Manulife Financial, Equitable Life Insurance

Business Process Outsourcing

65 1 000 Nordia, IBM, Rogers, AT&T, World Access Canada

Biotech and Life Sciences 140 4 500 3L Filters, Agfa Healthcare, Agribiotics , ARISE Technologies, Conestoga Rovers

MAIN CLUSTER STRUCTURES

Waterloo Research and Technology Park Waterloo Accelerator Centre Waterloo Innovation Center Competitive ranking with similar clusters

COMPETITOR: SILICON VALLEY

Population: 2,520,000 people Population Growth Rate: 1.6% Jobs: 1,412,372

High-tech jobs: 386,000

Silicon Valley continues to be the leading high-tech hub because of its large number of engineers and venture capitalists.

From 2007 to 2008, California’s GDP increased 3%

DESCRIPTION OF SILICON VALLEY

The term Silicon Valley originally referred to the region's large number of silicon chip innovators and manufacturers, but eventually came to refer to all the high-tech businesses in the area One of the greatest sources of high-tech activity in the country

COMPETITOR: TORONTO

Size of ICT: 92,500 source: E&B Data

Employment: 148,000 and up of 3,300 companies source: ICT Toronto

High-tech jobs: 148,000 source: ICT Toronto

“Our vision is that the Toronto Region will become, and beacknowledged 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

CLUSTER RECOMMENDATION FOR WATERLOO

Determine the cluster’s focus and establish a route for direction of the actual cluster

Information guide to direct the cluster Offer bursaries, scholarships, and benefits to

regional institutions

SHORT TERM

LONG TERM

Establish joint ventures relationships with international companies in an attempt to have them open a office in Waterloo, and create a better name for themselves (benefits)

Cluster structures (more of, and elaborate on) (i.e. portals, incubators)

Create benefits or some incentive for existing cluster firms and individuals

CLUSTER RECOMMENDATION FOR WATERLOO

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME