Innovator Insights from the BC Tech Summit

Lots of amazing things happen when you pack 5,000 people in a conference hall to talk about technology innovation and entrepreneurship.

This week the #BCTech Summit took over Vancouver to celebrate the province’s exploding tech sector and the timing couldn’t have been better. The Global Startup Ecosystem Report named Vancouver Canada’s leading tech startup ecosystem — surpassing Toronto and Waterloo.

Why Summits Like This Matter

A regional tech summit isn’t just a trade show. It’s a chance for founders, investors, big companies, universities and government to see each other in one place, compare notes and spot where the sector is heading. For a province trying to grow its tech industry, that kind of density is hard to create any other way.

The 2017 event also showed how broad “tech” had become in B.C. Within a few hours, the conversation covered kids learning to code, a global handset maker’s research budget, clean technology, banking and health care.

Six Moments From the Summit

Here are some of the top trends and our favourite moments from innovators we spoke to:

Advice from a 13-year-old developer:

Baby steps, perseverance and play: tips for future #coders from honourary @IBMCloud adviser @TajyMany cc: @IBMCloudCA #BCTECH #BCTECHSummit pic.twitter.com/Boo0zbjxUg

— TechPortfolio (@TechPortfolio) March 16, 2017

How one of the largest mobile handset makers in the world is driving Canadian tech R&D:

Much of @Huawei_Canada‘s $100M R&D budget is focused on pure research —@ScottBradley_OC cc: @bcic #BCTECH #BCTECHSummit pic.twitter.com/gSWf0cCJiu

— TechPortfolio (@TechPortfolio) March 16, 2017

BC’s opportunity to become the #cleantech capital of the world:

DYK ★ #BC is a leading #cleantech ecosystem. @amrikvirkbc says this is a huge opportunity for #BCTECH #BCTECHSummit pic.twitter.com/BvXO28ujfQ

— TechPortfolio (@TechPortfolio) March 16, 2017

How blockchain is transforming banks:

Distributed ledger #technology could eliminate risk of error-prone manual processes —@RBC‘s @gabrielwoo cc: @bcic #BCTECH #BCTECHSummit pic.twitter.com/FPjtJ2PfYS

— TechPortfolio (@TechPortfolio) March 16, 2017

But for the blockchain ecosystem to be truly disruptive, it needs more developers:

.@wmougayar says there are not enough #blockchain developers…and that’s a big problem for the industry #BCTECH #BCTECHSummit pic.twitter.com/g9TUCEBYLL

— TechPortfolio (@TechPortfolio) March 16, 2017

And one of the most amazing stories we heard centered around IBM Watson’s role in cancer treatment:

.@IBMWatson helped oncologists diagnose cancer in 10 mins. @IBMCanada’s Caroline Ong on the power of cognitive #BCTECH #BCTechSummit pic.twitter.com/nFYie9I4to

— TechPortfolio (@TechPortfolio) March 16, 2017

What Happened Next

Several of these threads played out in ways nobody on stage could have predicted. The Watson story is the clearest example. Early results like the 10-minute diagnosis made AI in cancer care look close at hand, but turning that promise into a business proved much harder. In January 2022, IBM agreed to sell healthcare data and analytics assets from its Watson Health business to investment firm Francisco Partners. “IBM remains committed to Watson, our broader AI business,” Tom Rosamilia, senior vice president of IBM Software, said at the time.

The blockchain developer shortage that William Mougayar warned about also changed shape rather than disappearing. Venture firm Electric Capital, which tracked open-source crypto developers from 2018 to 2024, found in its 2024 report that total developers fell 7% that year, while developers with two or more years’ experience reached an all-time high.

Vancouver’s place on the conference calendar grew too. In June 2024, the federal government announced $6.6 million in funding through PacifiCan for Destination Vancouver to host the Web Summit tech conference for three years starting in May 2025. At the time, B.C.’s tech sector included more than 11,000 companies employing over 200,000 people.

What It Means for B.C. Founders

Looking back, the summit’s mix of topics was a fair preview of where B.C. tech went: AI, clean technology, fintech and a constant push to grow homegrown talent. The specific bets didn’t all pay off, but the underlying themes held.

For founders, the lesson is to treat events like this as a source of signals, not certainties. The ideas that get the most applause are worth tracking, but the useful question is always what has to be true for them to work, and who will build them. In 2017, the answer to that second question was often “more developers than we have,” and in many fields it still is.