The Cascadia Gateway Overview

Centuries ago the parrot on the shoulder of a sea captain may have been the most notable habit of a ship’s commander....but in a bid to reduce emissions and fuel costs ahead of new maritime regulations, artificial intelligence developed in Vancouver is increasingly taking on the role of trusted companion on the high seas. The digital division of Norwegian maritime services provider Kongsberg Gruppen AS (OTCMKTS:NSKFF) announced a partnership this past spring with Fujitsu Ltd. (TYO:6702) on AI-powered software that can optimize routes by learning the habits of captains and the history of their ships. This comes as International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations – dubbed IMO 2020 – go into effect next year.
They will reduce the cap on ship bunker fuel sulphur content to 0.5% from 3.5%. While the shipping industry is responsible for about 5% of global oil consumption, high sulphur levels in residual marine fuels mean the industry is responsible for roughly 40% of global oil-based sulphur emissions. IMO 2020 leaves the industry with the option to install or retrofit scrubber systems onto vessels or switch to more expensive low-sulphur fuels. The Vessel Fuel Optimization software, developed at Fujitsu’s new AI headquarters in Vancouver, can reduce annual fuel costs by $1.3 million per vessel, according to the Japanese company. READ MORE...

In just a matter of one year, Vancouver’s market for tech talent has made huge strides, rising from 25th in 2018 to 12th in 2019 in North America, according to CBRE’s latest Scoring Tech Talent report. The 13 spot increase was the greatest year-over-year improvement of any North American market, propelled by the city’s 42.6% growth in tech jobs — 11,160 positions from 2013 to 2018, with Amazon accounting for much of this increase and its significant presence attracting other tech companies to the city. Tech-centric post-secondary schools such as BCIT and UBC influenced the ranking too, with 11,140 tech degrees added from 2012 to 2017. READ MORE...

When Amazon announced its expansion into Vancouver in April 2018, an almost imperceptible shift happened in the local tech ecosystem. With the exclusion of Microsoft’s move into the city in 2016 to establish a two-floor, 750-person office, the technology landscape has been dominated almost entirely by small, 50-employee-or-less startups. While breakout local successes like Hootsuite, Avigilon, and Slack have made a name for themselves in Silicon Valley, few Bay Area companies and Seattle giants would have considered the locale to be a noteworthy tech hub. Over the past year and a half, that perception has changed. Amazon may have been one of the first to look northwards for a new Canadian expansion, locking down a residency in the Canada Post building and bringing 4,000 new technical jobs to the city, but it’s far from the last. In less than 12 months, a concentration of Bay Area businesses have turned to Vancouver to set up new headquarters or hire new employees. READ MORE...

No city has added more tech jobs in the last two years than Seattle, according to a new report, as companies from San Francisco and other hubs continue to flock to the Pacific Northwest to take advantage of its top-tier talent. The report from real estate company CBRE measures how the tech industry has transformed office markets around the country. The Seattle area added a combined 33,803 tech jobs in 2017 and 2016, for a growth rate of 25.7 percent. Seattle outpaced all other markets in terms of jobs added, with Silicon Valley ranked second at 24,971 jobs added, and growth percentage, where St. Louis came in second with a rise in tech jobs of 23.3 percent. The report ranks the nation’s top 30 tech markets as well as the “next 10” markets to watch. Access to tech talent is a huge part of Amazon’s decision-making process for HQ2, and Columbus, Ohio, was the only finalist city not to appear in the report. The Seattle area supports 165,264 high tech software and services jobs, a figure that accounts for 42 percent of all office jobs in the area. With wages of $130,915, Seattle software engineers command more than counterparts in all other markets in the report except San Francisco and Silicon Valley. READ MORE...

Today, the Cascadia Innovation Corridor announced the formation of a binational steering committee composed of the region's top business, research and community leaders. The Committee marks a step forward in growing the Cascadia Innovation Corridor into a cohesive, globally recognized hub of innovation and commerce. The newly-formed binational steering committee brings together regional experts from diverse backgrounds who share common vision: maturing the Cascadia Innovation Corridor into a single sustainable region, with a shared sense of identity, growth, employment and connectivity. Together, the Cascadia region boasts world-renowned post-secondary and research organizations, global leaders and companies in a diverse array of existing and emerging technology disciplines and powerful new opportunities for citizens of both countries to positively impact our region and the world. READ MORE...

... the regions have a lot in common. Both hosting thriving tech sectors—particularly in the cleantech and life sciences industries—there is more that unites than divides the areas. It comes as little surprise, then, that tech, research, and investment partners are moving to integrate the territories. Today, nearly 50 stakeholders from B.C. and the Pacific Northwest launched the Cascadia Venture Acceleration Network, which aims to match tech startups with funding and collaboration opportunities across both borders. 48 signatories endorsed a document that recognizes the new association, and each pledged to work collaboratively and in support of entrepreneurs and researchers across the region. “B.C.’s tech sector is firing on all cylinders, with businesses and researchers increasingly looking to work together on a larger scale,” said Bruce Ralston, Minister of Jobs, Trade and Technology, who was in Seattle to commemorate the signing between partners. “The Cascadia Venture Acceleration Network will help B.C.’s home-grown talent connect with partners across the Pacific Northwest region to boost our economy and create new jobs here in B.C.” READ MORE...