Opening and reopening of offices downtown
By Tania Arora, Staff Writer
Seems like some big tech companies have decided to create a new hub on the west coast of Canada. In the past few years, Vancouver has seen a rise in both new and well-established companies setting up their headquarters or offices downtown. On October 18 and 19, it was announced that two other major tech companies—Slack and Microsoft, respectively—are opening new offices in downtown Vancouver.
Microsoft is all set to open 75,000 sq. ft. of office space at 155 Water street. The new space is roughly half the size of the current office at the CF Pacific Centre at 1111 West Georgia Street. Its two other offices include the one above the Nordstrom departmental store and other at 858 Beatty Street, near BC Place Stadium.
Another company ready to set its foot in Vancouver is Slack. Founded in this city in 2009, the company relocated its headquarters to San Francisco. It has satellite offices running in Toronto, New York City, Dublin, Denver, London, Tokyo, Pune, Paris, Istanbul, and Melbourne. The location of the office will be in the Bentall 5 office tower at 550 Burrard Street in downtown.
Next up on the list is Amazon, who has plans of coming up with its first purpose-built office at 402 Dunsmuir Street. It will be a workspace to nearly 1,000 employees.
These office buildings will cater to the booming tech industry in Canada. According to the statistics of Government of Canada, “The Information and Communications technologies (ICT) sector makes a substantial contribution to Canada’s GDP. In 2018, the sector’s GDP was $86.6 billion (in 2012 constant dollars) and accounted for 4.5 percent of the national GDP.” It goes onto say that, “Since 2012, the ICT sector has posted a stronger annual growth than the total economy. On average, annual growth in this sector has been 2.7 percent, compared to 2.2 percent for the overall economy.”
The ICT industry is at its peak in Canada and all over the world. It shall continue to hold that spot as the entire world shifts towards technology.
To cater to the industry requirements, Douglas College offers a wide range of programs that complies with multiple areas of the sector. They are a blend of theoretical and practical application of the skills essential to succeed. Option of co-op is available with many diplomas which will help students get hands on experience.
This week from October 28 to 30, Douglas College campuses will also be hosting “Tech Week”—a three-day event that allows students to learn about the technologies and services available at the college.
