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Calgary Economic Development, RBC seeks to create a “technology ecosystem” in Calgary through work-integrated learning
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Brittany Gervais Pedestrians walk the Stephen Avenue Mall in downtown Calgary on October 20, 2020. Photo by Gavin Young / Postmedia
Calgarys’ tech sector is set to grow by around 300 jobs this fall as the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) expands its investments in the city.
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On Wednesday, RBC announced plans for 300 technology hires over the next three years at the company’s new Calgary Innovation Hub, which will launch in September. The hub will be located at RBC’s current location in downtown Bankers Hall, and vacancies have already been posted online.
Positions include jobs in areas of high demand, such as artificial intelligence, data engineering, full stack agile software delivery, site reliability engineering, machine learning, and data analytics, among other skills.
Jeff Boyd, CBR regional president for Alberta and the Territories, said that Calgary’s combination of rising in the ranks of North American technology hotspots, the city’s strong post-secondary institutions, and existing RBC infrastructure have skewed the scale in favor of Calgarys.
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The kind of entrepreneurial approach and spirit we all know and love in Calgary, plus it’s a great place to live and a great place to attract talent, Boyd said.
The Calgary hub will join RBC’s global technology and operations team, with offices in locations including Toronto, Minneapolis, London, Hong Kong and Singapore.
The recent $ 1 billion valuations of companies like Shareworks, Benevity, RS Energy Group and Parvus Therapeutics are all examples of success stories in Calgary, Boyd said.
The announcement comes as Calgarys’ tech sector is garnering more recognition. A recent CBRE report found that Calgary is the second fastest city in this study this year, climbing six places to 28th. It now ranks behind Philadelphia and Charlotte, and just ahead of Pittsburgh and Kansas City.
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The report also noted that Calgary has seen its tech workforce grow 18% over the past five years to over 46,000 employees, with an average annual wage of nearly $ 96,000.
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Brad Parry, interim president and CEO of Calgary Economic Development, said the agency has been working with RBC in recent years for Calgary’s growing tech sector.
We knew this was going to be a problem, and we were thrilled that they were committed to our community, Parry said.
Having a large company like RBC make this investment in Calgary helps solidify the positioning we’ve been talking about for so long, he said.
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RBC is a global brand and has a fantastic technology team working on global challenges. So for them recognizing that Calgary is a hub really helps solidify the positioning we’ve been talking about for so long, that Calgary is a place you should come and open a shop.
RBC is also looking to help grow the city’s next generation of tech workers by pursuing partnerships with companies and institutions. The company has already initiated conversations about potential integrated learning programs in working with SAIT and Mount Royal, Boyd said.
How do you cultivate these kinds of programs that create the skills and abilities in individuals that will be important to these roles? He said. These are the types of partnerships where we can work collaboratively to help continue building the tech ecosystem.
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Creating such an ecosystem could help foster greater interest in technology sectors, especially while a shortage of skilled labor remains a concern. The CBRE report found that the total number of computer engineering degrees completed in Calgary was 298, up 63% between 2015-19, but other technological engineering degrees fell 10% during that period.
Calgary Economic Development is also currently working on integrated work programs in partnership with post-secondary institutions and technology companies, Parry said, with details to come.
We believe everyone in our education system should have the opportunity to do hands-on learning, and we’ve created this plan to build a platform that will allow companies to more easily access students who want to get that experience, he said. RBC, in making this commitment to work-integrated learning, is huge.
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