The organization charged with promoting and advocating on behalf of the Victoria high-tech sector turns 25 today.
And age seems to suit the Victoria Innovation, Advanced Technology and Entrepreneurship Council, the oldest tech association in the province, which may look more vibrant now than when it formed in 1989.
These days, the organization boasts more than 400 members and speaks on behalf of a sector that has seen incredible growth — 900 companies, employing 22,000 people with revenue of $3.2 billion annually and an economic impact that group estimates at $4 billion.
Chief executive officer Dan Gunn, who has been with VIATEC for 15 years, said the Vancouver Island Advanced Technology Centre, as it was then known, worked closely with government, delivering programs to the industry.
“It did have memberships and there was a mandate to be an industry association, but a lot of the budget came from program funding from the province, and that shaped priorities for the organization,” he said.
The current model prides itself on getting the word out about Victoria’s largest and fastest-growing private industry — helping it attract new companies, investment and potential employees to the city — while establishing programs to help small and medium-sized companies grow.
Those new incubator programs were built on some of the early mentorship programs VIATEC established in the 1990s under Bob Skene, Bill Cook and Colin Lennox.
Eric Jordan, the chief executive officer at video game developer Codename Entertainment, agreed, noting VIATEC’s work with young companies over the entire 25 years has been a boon to the industry.
He recalls plenty of support from Lennox and Cook when he was starting software firm PureEdge Solutions in 1993.
“Now they are building on it, now they do so much more for the whole spectrum of companies,” he said.
VIATEC evolved again when government funding for programs all but dried up about the same time of the dot-com bubble around 2000-2001.
Gunn said the organization took some time to find its feet and determine what it was going to look like. In 2005, it decided to dedicate itself to the industry, making the priorities and interests of the tech sector its sole purpose.
“We spent five years re-establishing our connection with industry, and then in 2010 we got more ambitious and, I think, came into our own,” he said.
In the past five years, VIATEC has expanded its footprint with its own downtown base at Fort Tectoria (777 Fort St.) and reached out to the arts and hospitality communities to partner in festivals and conferences.
“VIATEC has played an important role in the community by bringing together programs that facilitate and encourage technology, entrepreneurship and innovation,” said Alex Mendelev, co-founder of design studio Tiny Mob Games. “With VIATEC, every technology venture in Victoria not only has access to resources, but an opportunity to engage and connect with a rich network of professionals.”
Gunn said VIATEC’s growth and that of the local tech sector is a product of timing as much as anything else. “I’m confident in saying VIATEC has played a key role in raising awareness of the importance, impact and vibrancy of the sector and that has led to more investors looking at the region, more employers and potential employees looking at the region,” he said.
Gunn believes the city has also played a big role.
“I feel in the last eight to 10 years, Victoria itself has become more entrepreneurial, exciting and innovative,” he said. “That’s partly because of demographic shift and definitely due to industry shift, and that plays into the hands of a growing innovation sector.”
