Southern Ontario’s Silicon Valley: Unleashing Waterloo’s tech-innovation sector

Photo courtesy of Matt Smith http://www.matthewsmithphoto.net/

Michael Litt, co-founder and CEO of Vidyard, recently contributed an article to the Globe and Mail, titled "Southern Ontario's Silicon Valley: Unleashing Waterloo's tech-innovation sector." Vidyard is a Waterloo region startup offering video platform services for organizations looking to create video for marketing, sales, customer service, employee training, and corporate communications. 

Litt explains that the Canadian federal government's recent 'innovation superclusters initiative (ISI)' places Waterloo region in the centre of the Southern Ontario innovation superclusters. Despite the region's technological abundance, it lacks the community resources that Litt argues will both attract workers to the area and keep students here after graduation. 

"We’re lucky to live in a region with an exciting opportunity before us to address our challenges and cement our legacy as an economic powerhouse."

Looking back on previous blog entries, it is clear that there is a lot of buzz about the amount of tech talent in the area and the region's status as a tech labour hub. Despite this, Litt suggests four areas that should be addressed in order for the region to continue to attract the workforce it requires to feed the growing industries:

1. Health Care: There are only two hospitals in KW and both are in Kitchener, making them difficult to access for some. Patients are also often referred to hospitals in Toronto or London for specialized care. Litt suggests a new, specialized teaching hospital be built in the region that is more accessible to those outside the region. 

2. Transportation: The new LRT system is well underway to address transportation issues within the region, but there is still little being done about transit between Waterloo and Toronto. Read more about it here.

3. Education: The primary- and secondary-school systems in the region underperform compared to the provincial average, which could discourage people looking to relocate in the area. 

4. Creative Economy: As has been noted in previous blog posts and by other classmates, there is a thriving cultural scene in the region, but Litt thinks that more needs to be done to improve the arts and culture scene, supported by industry partnerships and government initiatives.

Reflecting on Downtown Kitchener's Action Plan (2012-2016), and subsequent class discussions, do you agree with Litt's suggestions? Is there anything that you would add to his recommendations?






Comments

  1. Sarah Cumming15 April 2018 at 14:33

    I agree with Litt’s suggestion that these are four key areas that need to be addressed as Waterloo and Kitchener continue to grow alongside the tech industry. However, as mentioned in the Downtown Action Plan, with these communities continuing to grow, I feel that attention also needs to be directed towards housing and ensuring that urbanization does not push current residents elsewhere. There were concerns that the interests of the younger clientele that make up the majority of people being drawn to this tech sector would overshadow the needs of current residents. The action plan mentioned that investing in urban neighbourhoods, including restored loft buildings and modern condos, was a key part of the development plan, but this could have consequences for the surrounding neighbourhoods. I think there needs to be a focus on how the region can strike a balance that is beneficial for both new and current residents, as well as focus on ways to ensure that these diverse community needs are being met. Ultimately, adding a housing recommendation would be useful to better capture the complexity of addressing this growing tech sector.

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  2. Shinjni19 April 2018 at 20:03

    I think there are two KW's the old one and the new one. And with that, there is no solution suggested to bridge that gap. I agree with Sarah regarding the development projects and how there needs to be a link in the development. It's also important to address the new techies coming into the city and how they are transforming the space to become separated. I think the main priority should developing city culture. The suggestions Litt has offered are going to be the same across the board, hey improve health care and education, etc. These diplomatic answers actually don't add value to what needs to be done, and I don't have all the answers, but I know we need to look beyond just these main points and see the root causes.

    One part I agree is making efficient transportation. And I'm not going to lie, the idea of LRT is good but the implementation is so poorly done that I think it has already failed the community. So KW needs to re-think about the plans and make sure that they work on their implementation properly and not rush things.

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