New horizons on Canada’s western frontier.
Eight years ago, an artificial intelligence startup founded in Saskatoon by graduates of the University of Saskatchewan was acquired for an undisclosed sum by Siemens, the storied and far-flung German technology giant. Less than a decade later, the burgeoning R&D facility that emerged from the sale is a Siemens “Center of Excellence” for electronic design automation, one of only three worldwide under Siemens’ expansive umbrella.
And that’s in … Saskatoon?
“Yeah, I think people are bemused about that,” says Aaron Genest, a senior manager at Siemens Electronic Design. “And I won’t lie, we kind of enjoy surprising people with it.”
As if to underline the point, Genest — a holdover from the original Solido Design Automation, founded in Saskatoon in 2005, 12 years before the Siemens acquisition — says he can gaze in any direction from Siemens’ five-story facility at Saskatoon’s Innovation Place technology park and see nothing but agriculture.
“It’s very flat here,” he says. “Very beautiful.”
It’s true that prairies, plains, wetlands and forests dominate the vast landscapes of Western Canada. It’s also true that agriculture, mining, energy and forestry continue to drive the western economies. But as the Siemens story suggests, the technology bug more closely associated with Canada’s eastern provinces has found places to burrow and thrive in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba and British Columbia. With concerted backing from provincial governments, new trails are being blazed along Canada’s western frontier across fields as complex as quantum computing, machine learning, AI, clean energy, aquaculture, aerospace and other vital technology sectors.
Saskatchewan: Dare to Dream
A study released in September by Innovation Saskatchewan, an arm of the provincial government, found that technology accounted for 10% of all job creation in the province from 2016 to 2023, higher than any sector other than mining. On average, the report states, the tech sector added 715 new jobs per year and is on track to exceed the province’s target of tripling the tech workforce by 2030. The study identified 347 technology companies province-wide, 14 of which were founded in the past five years. This in a province of give or take 1.2 million people.
“The report highlights how Saskatchewan has developed a business-friendly tech ecosystem that is accelerating new technologies, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and creating new employment opportunities,” said Minister for Innovation Jeremy Harrison. “This substantial growth in the province’s tech sector is a direct result of government and industry working collaboratively to support innovative technologies.”
The University Bridge in Saskatoon
Photo by sprokop: Getty Images
Solido, now Siemens, was instrumental in planting the flag. Founded as a two-person startup by USask grads Amit Gupta and Trent McConaghy, the company rapidly evolved into an indispensable partner to the world’s biggest producers of semiconductors, including NVIDIA, Intel and TSMC. Solido, Genest explains, “found a missing gap” in the emerging market of circuit verification. As the size of microchips continued to shrink, increasingly dense levels of computer modeling were needed to assess their viability during development. To accomplish that, Solido leveraged machine learning, an emerging technology that at the time, Genest says, was thought of as “smoke and mirrors.” The company’s daring paid dividends.
“Our competitors were able to do all kinds of statistical extrapolation, but they couldn’t tell their customers up front whether or not they had the right answer. So, the secret sauce was that we could tell our customers, ‘yep, it’s verifiably correct,’ or ‘no, you’re going to need to run some more simulations.’ It turned out,” Genest says, “to be worth a lot of money.”
Saskatoon Is Alive
When Siemens acquired Solido in 2018, the multinational conglomerate cited what it called a “technology-friendly environment” in Saskatoon and the engineering department at USask as strategic assets. Employment at Siemens Saskatoon now surpasses 300, up from 40 at the time of acquisition. The university, says Genest, is the company’s “primary labor source.” Transplants from Asia, Africa and Europe — admitted under Canada’s immigrant-friendly labor policies — add muscle to Saskatoon’s tech-focused workforce.
“Up until about 20 years ago,” says Genest, “we had been exporting our talent to the Bay Area and to other countries around the world. But we had an inflection point with the founding of a group of scale-ups that have since grown to employ hundreds of people. That really signaled the start of building here. It all seemed to stick at the same time, and once the ball gets rolling, it just keeps rolling.”
Innovation Place, home first to Solido and now Siemens Saskatoon, has emerged as a popular hub for startups, engineering firms and research facilities. It’s one of the two technology parks — the other in Regina — developed by the provincial government and managed by the university. Siemens’ neighbors include companies such as the employee scheduling company 7 Shifts and Vendesta, a marketing software startup. SkipTheDishes, an online food delivery service founded in Saskatoon, was acquired for $110 million in 2016 by a UK-based competitor.
“Saskatoon,” says Genest, “has awoken to become a very interesting place. It shows that ideas can come from rural communities as easily as they can come from major centers.” Siemens, for one, he says, is “committed to continue investing here.”
Alberta Sees Its Future
When Amazon Web Services announced plans for a $3.5 billion data center in Calgary in 2021, the company told provincial officials that it would need to develop a pipeline of data specialists for the hundreds of jobs the project would create. In response, the Alberta government funded a program through the University of Calgary that now trains engineers from the oil and gas industry to migrate into big data.
“Oil and gas has always been very technology driven, and those engineers are already highly skilled,” says Rick Christiaanse, CEO of Invest Alberta, the provincial business attraction arm. “It makes the transition relatively simple.”
The migration of energy workers into data sciences is emblematic of a larger shift that is occurring in Alberta, Canada’s fastest-growing province (population 4.8 million with a bullet) and a traditional energy powerhouse that is evolving into a significant player in the digital space. Nowhere is that more pronounced than in Alberta’s ambitions to build out a network of hyperscale data centers. The most recent victory came in October, with the announcement of a $750 million project just north of Calgary from eStruxture, Canada’s largest data center provider.
“We see Calgary as absolutely one of the key linchpins to Canada’s foray in driving AI demand north of the border,” said Todd Coleman, eStruxture founder and CEO. “We believe that the ultimate ecosystem of AI is going to find its way into Alberta in a rather significant way.”
Invest Alberta’s Christiaanse sees data centers as “easily another $75 billion to $100 billion opportunity” for Alberta. He spoke to Site Selection in November, ahead of meetings with potential investors in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea.
Of Alberta’s potential reach, he says, “It’s worldwide, OK?”
And he believes there’s reason for that.
“There’s really only three places in North America that have the energy, the land, the zoning and the fiber grid that supports hyperscale data centers. And that’s Texas, West Virginia and us.” Alberta’s cool climate is a valuable attraction, as well, and it’s earthquake safe.
Manitoba: Arctic Char is Coming to You
To comprehend the capacity of an aquaculture facility in the works just north of Winnipeg, consider that the project’s owner plans to produce some 5,000 metric tons of Artic char — a white-fleshed fish good for grilling, baking and broiling — each year. That’s enough to put fish on close to 60 million plates. Sapphire Springs, the venture behind the $145 million project, says the facility to open in 2026 has the potential to bolster the worldwide supply of Arctic char by an astonishing 50%.
The 140-acre complex is to rest upon a site formerly occupied by the Canadian Government’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans in the rural outpost of Rockwood. The site benefits from access to a glacial aquifer. As the project aligns with the Manitoba government’s efforts to support sustainable innovation, Sapphire Springs was awarded a $10.75 million repayable loan to get it going. The company says the facility is to create 104 full-time jobs, with an indirect projection of 120 more.
“With our Rockwood facility,” said CEO Ken Blair, “Sapphire Springs aims to become a leader in sustainable aquaculture, contributing to the long-term viability of Canada’s seafood industry and enhancing our province’s reputation as a a hub for innovation.”
Boeing Deal Bolsters B.C.
In August, Boeing announced investments totaling $61 million in two British Columbia aerospace enterprises, part of the company’s Industrial and Technological Benefits commitment to Canada for selecting Boeing’s P-8A Poseidon as its long-range, multi-mission aircraft. The deal, agreed to in late 2023, was valued at $5.9 billion for an initial 14 airplanes, with an option for Boeing to deliver two more.
While most of the investments are going toward Boeing Vancouver, whose downtown Boeing Vancouver Labs specializes in software and consulting services, Indigenous-owned COTA Aviation is receiving $13 million for indigenous skills training and equipment. The funding, said Boeing in a release, “will enable COTA to establish a dedicated hands-on aerospace manufacturing training facility.”
Founded in 2012 by aerospace entrepreneur Dorian Cota, who hails from a fishing family on Vancouver Island, COTA is committed to increasing Indigenous representation in the aerospace and defense industries. Having graduated from fleet maintenance to manufacturing, COTA operates from a 58,000-sq.-ft. facility it acquired in 2020.
Salvelinus alpinus, a cold-water fish in the family Salmonide, is native to the Arctic and subarctic.
Image by FedBul: Getty Images
