Is Vancouver poised to be San Francisco 2.0?
British Columbia made an exciting announcement recently, aimed at bringing parts of the education system if not into the 21st Century, at least into the late 20th. In a laudable effort to improve Canada’s impact on the knowledge economy, BC schools will now create a curriculum that includes computer programming for all ages. With that announcement, BC’s premier acknowledged that, yes, Canada is changing, and yes, we should be prepared.
I imagine cheers went up around the Vancouver web design and technology scene. More programmers and tech savvy employees for future start ups mean that Vancouver can maybe, just maybe, start to truly compete with the cradle of technology, San Francisco. Vancouver is already home to some amazing innovations in web technology, web design, software development and app development. The problem so far has been that no one recognizes the strength of the sector.
So how can Canada change the way it looks at Vancouver web design and technology innovators? What does Vancouver need to get the jump on the tech behemoth to the south? Recognition. Money. Encouragement.
Requirement 1: Recognition
There’s somewhat of a stubborn resistance in Canada to see ourselves as other than hewers of wood and haulers of water. We’re a resource economy and we (used to) have a strong manufacturing sector. That’s it. We pay lip service to the so called knowledge economy. It’s time to stop that. Stop it now.
Canada is one of the most educated countries in the world and we have the muscle to compete on the world stage for knowledge based jobs. So let’s do that. Vancouver has always been a bit of an outlier, protected from the frigid winter that binds the rest of Canada together and on the other side of some seriously daunting mountain highways. That might just make it the perfect incubator for tech start ups. Vancouver attracts web designers and tech companies in droves, due to a lifestyle that suits the stereotypical millennial tech-preneur.
So when you are looking for web design services, software to help your business grow or a new app to push your business forward into the next decades, think Vancouver first! Let’s recognize that Vancouver web companies and tech geniuses are our home grown answer to Cupertino.
Next time, we’re talking cold hard cash and a little extra push from the rest of us.
Stay tuned to find out more!!
stealth