There couldn’t be a bigger difference between the famed, historical trade of fishing in NL, and the modern day technology industry. The ways we can make money here are ever-changing, and our people are now responsible for a provincial tech industry valued at $1.6 Billion. That’s more than the fishery is reeling in these days; more than tourism too.

That figure, $1.6 BILLION bucks, proves the broad-ranging ingenuity, adaptability, and creative spirit of our people. When paired with, say, the $424 Million per year the Arts industry generates, one can’t help wonder what kind of revenues we could be earning with the right forward-looking investments and innovative thinking at the helms of NL.

It was the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Technology Industries (Nati) who brought this figure to the public’s attention, alongside the fact that the local technology sector employs 4,000 people at 165 companies, specializing in things like data security and sonar technology.

Thanks to these 165 companies, we can now lay claim to facts like these:

♦ More than 1,000 financial institutions in the Americas use software developed in NL to detect fraudulent financial crimes.
♦ A local startup is emerging as a market leader in wireless power tech for both consumer and military applications.
♦ Sonar technology developed right here provides ultra-high resolution seabed mapping and imaging for marine, military, and oil industries.

Our broad “technology sector” includes sub-industries like information technology and ocean technology, as well as aspects of the energy sector, from Green energy to the servicing the oil and gas industry.

These people are quite literally valuable to the tune of $400,000. Each tech sector employee represents an economic gain of $400,000 for Newfoundland and Labrador, and our local high-tech companies attract and retain grads from MUN to further strengthen the local labour pool and drive the growth of their industry.

Nati sees itself as “an essential component in the prosperity of the technology industry in Newfoundland and Labrador” and plan to continue advocating and “ensuring the sector’s voice is heard by government at all levels.”

If the oil bust that busted our economy has taught us one thing, it’s taught us to diversify our economy by focussing on revenue potential from industries other than oil & gas. We live in the era of technology, and now is the time to capitalize on the bright-minded locals at the forefront of this clearly profitable industry.

Nati is currently ramping up the sector’s earning potential thanks to $513,000 it received from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA). Their long-term vision is to double the sector’s size by 2025, to 8,000 employees, which they estimate would generate $4 Billion a year in annual revenue.