‘There is war for talent’: York Region gears up for big tech event Collision

About 25,000 people are expected to attend the 3-day event starting May 20

Dina Al-Shibeeb
May 16, 2019
Yorkregion.com

York Region is getting ready for Collision, a gigantic three-day tech event that attracts companies from more than 120 countries vying to scoop up some stellar talent or simply attract some much-coveted investment.

To make its impact and allow more than 25,000 expected visitors at the event get to know York Region -- “second largest tech hub in Canada” -- “there is a significant undertaking by the region” during the event starting May 20, said Doug Lindeblom, director of economic strategy at York Region.

“We want to convey that within that place that’s York Region, we have some of the most advanced tech companies with the most interesting technologies that you can find in the world,” Lindeblom said.

To promote York Region’s strength and minimize costs for these tech companies to show what they’ve got to the outside world in a big pavilion, a public-private collaboration went into play.

In addition to York Region, Markham, Richmond Hill, Vaughan as well as the region’s innovators such as York University, Seneca, Venture Lab, and about eight companies will be showcasing their technologies. They include Bluewrist, Book4time, CI@Net, ClearBridge, Daisy Intelligence, Laipac, Mircom and Unx.

“When we picked our companies, we made sure that they have a technology to be demonstrated that people actually want to see,” Lindeblom said.

Unx will be bringing a real-life coffee table for people to play Atari’s Pong. “They are going to Pong tournament,” he said, adding the idea is to “touch and feel.”

Liapac is going to give away some of its high-tech watches during the event.

The region is “setting up a startup island” to showcase nine “early stage” startup companies.

Lindeblom said “a lot of companies are there to meet the talent” and promote their businesses amid a sizeable international media presence.

“This conference is very big on people. There is a war for talent, there is a need for talent to grow these companies. It’s very difficult to attract and very difficult to keep since the world is a very small place, and people are very mobile.”

People attending will include 3,750 CEOs such as David Eun, chief innovation officer and president of Samsung Electronics.