SOME COMPANIES HAVE DECIDED TO OPEN INTERNATIONAL OFFICES TO STEM THE BRAIN-DRAIN FROM THEIR OWN COUNTRIES. “We’re building the next generation of software products with AI (artificial intelligence), data science, chatbot and facial recognition,” says Mario Zimmer, Daitan’s country manager for Canada. Daitan first set its sights on Vancouver as a possible location from which it could service its U.S.-based clientele, many of whom are located in California’s costly and labour-starved Silicon Valley. Victoria wasn’t on the company’s radar until a side trip to Victoria and a meeting with Gislason highlighted the many advantages of Vancouver Island. Not only is Victoria in the same time zone and just a quick flight from California, but as
a smaller city, it offered many of the lifestyle advantages the Brazil-based company sought for its employees. “South American culture is very familyoriented,” says Gislason, who recently travelled on behalf of SIPP to the Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Campinas in March to explore further areas of synergy between Victoria and Brazil. “The questions they ask about setting up business in a city have less to do with hardcore business than with schools and neighbourhoods and community.” For Daitan, in the choice between Victoria and Vancouver, Victoria won the day. Significantly, the company opened its first development lab beyond South America’s borders in Victoria in October 2018. With 700 employees in Brazil, it also plans to add 100 employees in Victoria. CLOSE TO WHAT MATTERS Another artificial intelligence (AI) company that chose Victoria is London-based CrowdEmotion, which recently opened Element Human, its global AI research centre and North American headquarters, in Victoria. Element Human observes and quantifies human behaviour through sensors that can detect body language and capture how consenting users interact with their devices,
sizing up how people are using and reacting to the things to which they pay attention. “We put that into a cloud on a deep-tech platform, which companies and the individuals themselves can access, to be able to understand how emotions drive thoughts and behaviours,” says CEO Matt Celuszak. This helps companies derive insights into their customers. Even more than the tech brains that surround us, Celuszak appreciates B.C.’s provincial government for its affinity to innovation. “The chief digital officer, Jaimie Boyd, she’s very tech-forward, very open-government driven and understands the digital landscape and how to use it for economic gain at a governance level. That’s encouraging,” he says. He also acknowledges the benefit that Victoria offers in terms of the proximity of academia to government. “We want government and academia next to each other for what we do,” he says. “You’ve got this micro-ecosystem that’s actually incredibly global-thinking, but stuck on the edge of an island.” AN INNOVATIVE MINDSET The expansion to Victoria wasn’t an international one for Proof, a company whose workflow and analytics software empowers governments to increase transparency and make
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