06-21-2016, 06:37 PM
(06-21-2016, 03:55 PM)IEFBR14 Wrote: Well "BlackBerry Polisher" if you read my post you would see that Root Data centre received 25M in Private Equity Financing and decided to locate in Quebec where Electricity Rates are lower as it made the business case dead simple for them. So yes for RoW to be successful in the Tech Startups Community there are some fundamental things that the government needs to address to make it more affordable for companies to locate here. I don't really care which provincial government does it but having us over pay for electricity is a major deterrent. Not having access to a skilled workforce is another deterrent. Once you have a startup get off the ground then you need good management that continues to innovate or you end with the fate of a RIM/Blackberry.
You correctly pointed out that many data centres won't locate in Ontario because electricity is expensive, but then made the leap to tech startups won't locate here? I don't see how that follows. Yes, tech startups need data centers, but they don't need to be near them. 99% of startups will never set foot in a datacenter, just interact with them in the form of AWS or Azure. I'm not even sure why we'd want to attract datacenters, they're large and provide little employment.
Tech startups also aren't particularly concerned about the cost of electricity. Offices really don't consume that much of it, and electricity is a trivial cost compared to the salaries they have to pay. It's heavy industry with cheap labour that worries about electricity prices, not tech companies.
You're right about skilled workforce though, that's absolutely the biggest factor in where tech companies locate. It just doesn't seem to have any connection to the rest of your points.