The Canadian government has announced that British Columbia’s Digital Technology Supercluster will receive up to $153 million in funding.
Over a ten-year period, the BC-born consortium wants to invest more than $1.4 billion to fund over 100 projects involving with over 1,000 organizations across Canada. In early January, the consortium released its plan for building its cluster, which includes members like Telus, Microsoft, the University of British Columbia, and D-Wave. It is projected that the supercluster will create more than 13,500 jobs and add over $5 billion to Canada’s economy over 10 years.
The federal funding enabled the Supercluster to secure additional commitments of over $200 million from its initial cohort of 29 members, which represent 33 organizations. Members represent a broad spectrum of organizations across sectors including 14 SMEs, 13 large companies and six post-secondary institutions. There are over 500 organizations—including SMEs, colleges, research organizations and not-for-profits—that have become associates of the Digital Technology Supercluster.
“The Digital Technology Supercluster is set to unlock the potential of Canada’s digital industries to create thousands of good jobs and grow the Canadian economy,” said Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. “By teaming up with companies of all sizes, academic institutions and not-for-profit organizations, we’re building a crucial hub for this sector and developing a culture of openness and collaboration that leads to more innovation, successful commercialization and scale-up.”
The government announced funding for three superclusters this month for Atlantic Canada, the Prairies, and Ontario. Funding for Quebec’s SCALE.AI supercluster is yet to be officially announced.
“We are thrilled to officially launch Canada’s first-ever Digital Technology Supercluster and to join forces with employers in key industries throughout BC and across Canada,” said Sue Paish, CEO of the Digital Technology Supercluster. “Our agreement with the Government of Canada’s Innovation Superclusters Initiative, along with signed member agreements with our initial cohort of members, brings the total amount of committed funding to more than $360 million. Our leadership team and Board of Directors are excited to launch ambitious collaborative projects that will propel Canada to be a global leader in our digitally driven future.”
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