Ontario is home to the second-largest IT cluster in North America, where industry giants like Amazon, IBM, Google, Cisco and Shopify invest in major R&D operations.

In addition to the investment potential of the province, international buyers have discovered that Ontario IT companies can provide high-value, highly advanced technologies and services at very competitive prices.

Our new engineering office in Toronto will help Pinterest access world-class engineering and machine learning talent while contributing to the technology community in [Ontario].

Rahim Daya
Pinterest International Product Lead

Ontario’s IT Industry by the Numbers

$65B
GDP annually
in the IT sector
320,000+
IT workers
$7.4B
in IT-related exports
in 2019
24,000
tech businesses
70%
of our working-age adults
have completed
post-secondary education
63,500
annual STEM grads
$9.21B
in R&D business expenditures

An R&D powerhouse

Ontario’s rich R&D ecosystem is fuelled by $9.21 billion in business expenditures in research & development in 2018. We’re the site of global R&D centres for homegrown IT leaders like OpenText, BlackBerry and Shopify and foreign-based titans like LG, Cisco and Ericsson.

Unparalleled talent

  • 48% of Canada’s IT workers are in Ontario
  • Graduates from the University of Waterloo are the 2nd most frequently hired by Silicon Valley companies
  • Toronto is North America’s fastest-growing tech market

A concentration of world-renowned research institutes

Ontario has access to top researchers and institutes who work collaboratively with businesses to create innovative game-changing solutions.

Skip This Map - IT research centres and institutes

Select Ontario IT research centres and institutes

Ontario’s Circuit Board: IoT, Smart Cities and 5G

The Internet of Things (IoT) extends internet connectivity into physical devices and everyday objects, allowing them to be monitored and controlled over the internet, communicating real-time data without human interaction.

IoT can enhance sectors like automotive, health care, and cybersecurity – and with the implementation of 5G, the wait isn’t far off. Ontario is at the forefront of this transformative tech and the perfect location for the industry’s most exciting IoT companies to scale their business. Such companies already include ATS Automation Tooling Systems, Teledyne Dalsa and Prodomax.

Next-generation networks and 5G are presenting new opportunities for innovations like Smart Cities. Ontario is actively investing in the development of Smart Cities with three tech hubs in Toronto, Kitchener, and Mississauga, each focusing on a different facet to make Smart Cities a reality in the near future. 5G is the stepping stone that will revolutionize IoT and Smart Cities to our digital landscape.

Who’s Here

  • AMD
  • Apple
  • BlackBerry
  • Cisco
  • Ericsson
  • Fujitsu
  • Google
  • IBM
  • Intel
  • LG
  • Microsoft
  • Nokia
  • NVIDIA
  • OpenText
  • Oracle
  • Qualcomm
  • Samsung
  • SAP
  • Shopify
  • Xerox

Ontario’s IT industry: a map of the leading tech hotspots

  • Ontario’s IT industry is clustered in three key cities: Ottawa, Toronto and Waterloo.
  • Use the map to explore our thriving IT industry clusters.

Shape AI into a force for good – from Ontario

In Ontario, we understand that only by embracing the larger trend can we steer these technologies toward a path to a brighter future. It’s our responsibility as pioneers of machine learning −and besides, it’s the perfectly Canadian thing to do.

Modern artificial intelligence (AI) was pioneered in Ontario, beginning more than 30 years ago. It’s where Geoffrey Hinton, the godfather of deep learning, first discovered "neural nets." Since then, Canada became the first country in the world to adopt a national strategy for artificial intelligence, while cities across the country, including Ontario’s own Toronto, Waterloo and Ottawa, have attracted global attention and major investments to our AI ecosystem. In fact, in September 2018 alone, Ontario attracted over $1 billion dollars in investment into its AI sector by tech giants that include Intel, Microsoft and Uber, all while tech job creation in Toronto continues to outpace the Bay Area, Seattle and New York City combined.

Learn why the world’s largest companies are coming here to solve real-world problems with artificial intelligence.