Resource towns and data-driven technology outfits are a closer fit than you might think. Vanhack CEO and cyber-pundit Ilya Brotzky has discovered some surprising stats about the digital workforce in what many think of as a hard-hat city.
Delve deeper into the intersection of commodities and technology with Ilya Brotzky.
“Calgary has the highest concentration of high-tech workers in all Canadian cities. 26 percent of Calgary’s private technology companies have more than $1 million in annual revenue...
Honestly, that last figure surprised me, and I run a tech recruiting company. But here’s what [Calgary Economic Development, a government agency] told me:
“Calgary also has a large share of high-tech workers, presumably the result of a large number of engineers working in the region’s resource sectors.” And 66 percent of Calgary’s workforce has a post-secondary education. Clearly, Calgary’s innovative tech sector is brimming with talent.”
Calgary’s always suffered from the large, complicated and cyclical nature of the oil and gas market. Brotzky intimates here that the city’s prosperity could be better stabilized with the aid of a healthy tech sector - which in fact it already has.