The Cascadia Innovation Corridor: B.C. Tech’s Ecosystem Advantage

The tech sector is taking off on Canada’s West Coast and accumulating a growing number of accolades. Vancouver recently passed Toronto as Canada’s top startup ecosystem, according to Startup Genome, and the city’s global influence is growing.

The strength of B.C.’s tech sector is no accident. There are three big advantages of doing business in B.C., according to Ernst & Young’s B.C. technology sector leader Richard Mockett:

1) A ‘Really Strong’ Ecosystem

“[BC has] some of the world’s leading companies…spending a lot of time and money in B.C., establishing real, sizeable operations,” says Mockett.

Those companies introduce a lot of talent, money and innovation to the region.

That matters for startups as much as for the big players. When large companies set up real engineering and product teams in a region, they train people who later go on to found or join smaller companies. They also create a pool of experienced managers, and a steady flow of customers and partners close to home.

2) Socio-Economic Benefits

“There’s some favourable government initiatives and policies that enable new businesses,” says Mockett. “There’s a really strong focus on diversity and inclusiveness, which is so fundamental when you’re working in an industry that is based on new ways of thinking and doing things.

“There’s also world class education organizations and a deep talent pool which is just going to get deeper and broader in the short term.”

3) Collaborative Opportunities Between B.C. and Washington State

“There’s synergies between both province and state there to really grow a technology supercluster (The Cascadia Innovation Corridor) that could compete with the other big technology clusters around the world,” says Mockett.

Where the Corridor Idea Came From

The Cascadia Innovation Corridor was only a few months old when Mockett described it. It was launched at the Emerging Cascadia Innovation Corridor Conference in Vancouver in September 2016, which was jointly hosted by the Business Council of British Columbia, the Washington Roundtable and Microsoft. Speakers included Bill Gates, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Microsoft President Brad Smith, alongside political and university leaders from both sides of the border.

At that conference, B.C. Premier Christy Clark and Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed a memorandum of understanding affirming a shared interest in creating regional economic opportunities for innovation in the technology sector. According to the organizers, the agreement committed the two governments to work together on trade, research, transportation and education.

A Boston Consulting Group study released at the same event explained why the push was needed. Seattle and Vancouver are only about 190 kilometres apart, but the study found the level of connection between them was remarkably low, and that the two cities behaved more like places thousands of miles apart. It suggested steps such as an annual summit, closer ties between research universities, better links between investors and entrepreneurs, and faster transportation, from seaplanes in the near term to high-speed rail in the long term.

What Happened Next

The corridor became a regular fixture. The second annual conference was held in Seattle in September 2017, with the BC Tech Association, the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and the Washington Technology Industry Association joining the list of partners. A third conference in Vancouver in October 2018 highlighted a Seattle to Vancouver seaplane service, ongoing feasibility studies of high-speed rail connecting Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, and collaboration between polytechnic institutions. EY, Mockett’s firm, sponsored that event.

High-speed rail turned into one of the corridor’s signature causes. In November 2021, Washington Governor Jay Inslee, Oregon Governor Kate Brown and B.C. Premier John Horgan signed a memorandum of understanding on bringing high-speed rail to the region, and in December 2024 the Washington State Department of Transportation secured a $49.7 million federal grant to develop a service plan for it. A high-speed line is still a plan rather than a project under construction, though.

The group’s own focus has also widened beyond tech. The Cascadia Innovation Corridor now describes its goal as becoming the world’s first sustainable mega-region, with work on affordable housing, transportation congestion and climate targets. It says the mega-region, running from Portland to Vancouver, is home to nearly 10 million people and has a combined GDP of about $600 billion.

What It Means for B.C. Tech Companies

For a B.C. startup, the corridor idea is mostly about reach. Seattle is home to some of the world’s biggest tech buyers and investors, and it’s closer to Vancouver than Toronto is. Treating the two cities as one market, for hiring, for sales and for raising money, gives a young company a much bigger pool to draw from than either city on its own.

The catch is that the border and the distance haven’t gone away. Many of the ideas floated in 2016, like faster transport, are long-term projects. In the meantime, the advantages Mockett listed in 2017, from large companies putting down roots to a growing talent pool, are the ones founders can use today.