Sea Change: Technology Overtakes Forestry as Alberta's Third Largest Industry

Alberta is known for its engery and agriculture, which are the province's two predominant industries. But technology is on the rise in the region and now information computing technology, or ICT, has surpassed foresty as Alberta's third-largest industry by sales.

Well over 5,000 ICT companies in Alberta produced more than $10 billion in combined revenue in 2010, the Alberta ICT Industry Association says. And up to 40% of those companies are in Edmonton, which has recently seen a modest startup boom thanks to impassioned organizations like Startup Edmonton.

And just last week, AccelerateAB was hosted in Edmonton. The ICT conference was a smashing success, with well over 500 excited attendees.

Of course, Calgary is also a shining star. Indeed, the city currently has our country's hottest ICT cluster. However, it does seem to be burdened with a rather significant money misallocation issue.

Is Alberta, particularly Edmonton, poised to become the next major technology hub of Canada?