By Paul HunterAnyone with an interest or stake in the Canadian video game industry will want to take note of this. I received word early last week that the Ontario Technology Corridor (OTC), an economic development group that travels around the world presenting video game investment opportunities in the province, went to GDC 2010 along with Canadian heavyweights Digital Extremes, Ubisoft, FileCatalyst, and Frozen North Productions to convince developers that Ontario is the #1 place in North America to open up shop.
Prior to GDC 2010, I had a chance to catch up with Larry MacKinnon, Director of Business Development, Technology at the London Economic Development Corporation, to discuss the OTC's objectives.
I wrote a very in-depth article about what this means for Canada over on the Future Shop Tech Blog. From the article:
"For starters, MacKinnon pointed out that Ontario offers a highly educated workforce, with 55% of Ontario residents aged 25 to 64 possessing advanced education certificates, diplomas or degrees -- compared to 51% for Canada as a whole and 39% for the U.S. Ontario has also an ethnically diverse, loyal and motivated workforce, clustered around numerous technology hubs ranging from Toronto, London, Ottawa, Waterloo and the Niagara Region. Each hub has a unique make-up, ranging from large metropolitan to mid-size to smaller communities, giving developers wishing to settle in Ontario plenty of variety to suit their particular business interests."
For the full write-up, check out the post here.