Last week, EyeWeekly ran a feature titled Appetite for Disruption. This well crafted piece details, at length, Toronto's tech startup space. It also highlights "Toronto's Digital Demigods" - Amar Varma and Sundeep Madra of Extreme Labs; Mike McDerment of Freshbooks; Kunal Gupta of Polar Mobile; and Oz Solomon of Social Graph Studios.
The centrepiece of the article is an infographic highlighting five prominent technology hubs in Canada and rating them by "signal strength" - a five-star rating for their ability to be Silicon Valley North.
The infographic suggests that Waterloo, with a five signal rating, is the Canadian outpost of Silicon Valley, due to the University of Waterloo's many high-tech programs and the headquarters of such companies as RIM and OpenText.
In Second is Toronto, with a four signal rating, buoyed by being Canada's largest city and largest tech sector with 3,300 companies and 400 startups.
Tied for third with three signals each are Vancouver and Calgary, and in dead last with a very weak signal is Ottawa.
Do you agree with these ratings? Why or why not?
Knowlton Thomas
Knowlton is the Associate Editor of Techvibes.
A Vancouver-based writer and author, Knowlton has been published in national publications and has also appeared on television and radio. He has written two ebooks are more are in the works.
Previously, he was an editor for New Westminster weekly The Other Press and served on its board of directors....[more]
