Domestic technology companies play a key role in OCIF funding

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Not everyone in the Calgary tech community has announced that IBM will receive up to $ 5 million in funding from Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund.

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Last week’s announcement raised new questions from the sector about the structure and decision-making of the $ 100-million fund.

“OCIF does not need public money to support a multi-billion dollar organization to come to Calgary,” said Jay Gohl, president and CEO of Calgary, a Calgary-based technology company.

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“They can do it themselves. They don’t need any help from the city or the government in any way. The companies here in Calgary need and need to talk about it.

Gohil said he received several calls from other angry technology founders following Wednesday’s announcement.

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The final round of questions was the decision to finance one of the world’s largest technology companies. IBM It had a global revenue of $ 58 billion in 2021-22 and already has a well-established presence in Calgary Downtown Core – 25,000 square feet of office space for the new Customer Innovation Center.

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Premier Jason Kenny said the district will contribute another $ 5 million to IBM’s current program at Alberta Works. IBM is part of the plan, but financial support is more than $ 25,000 for new employees with a 25 percent training and salary.

According to the program, companies are assigned 50 employees through three admissions. Under the agreement with the state, IBM is eligible for up to 60 positions, totaling $ 1.5 million.

“The 10 additional jobs for IBM are a good deal for Alberta because it has helped bring in more investment from a cattle national company to our state,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Doug Schweizer, press secretary Trichia Velthuyzen. .

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With the new Customer Innovation Center, IBM has at least 250 new employees over the next five years and plans to hire up to 430. The goal is to help companies across Western Canada and the United States improve their sustainability through digital transformation.

According to Gohl, Calgary-based companies in this ecosystem, including IBM’s promising technology and software development and skills training center, will be involved.

Mayor Gioti Gondek said during his campaign that a change to OCIF would be needed and that it would be reorganized in October.

“I am changing OCIF’s terms to focus on local companies that are doing well to help them do better,” she said.

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On Thursday, the mayor defended investment in IBM in a statement: “Opening the Calgary Opportunity is important for both the OIF and IBM in this expansion of sustainable development and climate risk management. It will improve our ecology.

Gonck pointed to the number of potential employees and the number of unrepresented populations, and the IBM Talent Recruitment and Certification Program contributes to the growth of the pool in Calgary.

“Creating critical professionals requires OCIF to grow and transition to beginners,” she said.

Calgary Economic Development estimates that there were about 4,300 tech jobs in Calgary prior to IBM’s announcement.

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“The modern innovation economy is driven by companies that store and promote large amounts of intangible assets, such as information and intellectual property,” Brente Valk, manager of government affairs for the Alberta Canadian Innovators Council, told E-mail.

Considering the ‘winner-of-all’ nature of technological advancement, the government must be smart when entering into agreements with large and international technology companies, as these agreements have a negative impact on the growth of local companies in Alberta, especially labor. A market with zero percent unemployment among trained workers.

CED Director General Brad Perry said in a statement on Wednesday that the investment will hit a critical population and drive the entire technology sector. When companies compete with each other, there are more people in the ecosystem, more jobs and more companies.

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Earlier this year, the OICF invested $ 4 million in the Calgary-based Slim Air Labs – $ 100-million Venture Fund for innovations and technology-led start-ups.

James Locke, co-founder of Thin Labs, said in an email that he supported IBM’s investment in OSF.

“The potential of the innovation sector (B) in our city and state is another vote of confidence,” he said. “This kind of thing underscores how strong the potential for sustainable investment by large technology companies in Calgary is.”

OICF has distributed $ 68 million for 22 projects since 2018. The Fund’s six investments include funding for local companies by 2021 – $ 1 million for Endowor Canada, which will support entrepreneurs from across the country. $ 7 million to Saka and Alberta play; $ 3 Million for Innovation Laboratories – Rocks at the Calcine University Hascaine Business School to support early startups; And $ 333,000 to Movement51, Local Venture The51 Nonprofit.

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OSIF allocates up to $ 1 million for SVG Ventures | Develop a global urgency to support Canadian agricultural startups in Calgary. And $ 3 million to accelerate Fund III as a seed fund for local entrepreneurs, based in Vancouver, funded by Yaleta Partners.

According to OCIF’s first quarterly report for 2022, only 1,008 of the 1,920 jobs estimated by the fund have been created since 2018, although most projects have expanded over several years.

The commitment of the first 20 projects will support a total project investment of $ 335 million to $ 680 million.

jaldrich@postmedia.com

Twitter @ JoshAldrich03