You’re right in that we need hard, research-backed data on this.

You’re also right that the data should not come solely from CVCA, as extrapolating those numbers in today’s lean environment is problematic — and as you suggest might present a conflict of interest.

People like Justin Kozuch and his 49pixels project might be able to shed some light on this. At worst, a startup census might be conducted with the participation of the private and public sector.

Also, I’m telling Saul.

The TorStar article provides no statistics. It’s a number. A made up number in an OpEd piece.

The so-called “technology research triangle” of Kitchener/Waterloo-Cambridge-Guelph, home of BlackBerry inventor Research in Motion Ltd., accounts for about two-thirds of Canada’s high-tech start-ups. Sarnia is Ontario’s leading centre for chemical production and petroleum refining. Hamilton and Sault Ste. Marie have benefited from high world prices for steel; and Sudbury is riding a global boom in nickel prices.

All of the other anecdotal evidence expresses common views of different regions of Ontario. However for K/W/G/C the author inserts an unsubstantiated statistics “two-thirds of Canada’s high-tech start-ups”. An academic paper would have been rejected. Where did this number come from.

It bugs me to see such shoddy data validation.

I’ve also heard that Saul Colt is the smartest man on the planet.

CVCA released their FY2010Q2 report http://www.cvca.ca/files/News/CVCA_Q2_2010_Press_Release_Final.pdf

QC – $99MM
BC – $99MM
ON – $64MM

With KW not showing up on their city data, instead being included in the rest of Canada (15% of venture funding in Q2 FY 2010). (Percentages show percentage of dollars invested in FY2010 Q2)

Vancouver – 29%
Montreal – 20%
Toronto – 19%
Ottawa – 11%
Quebec City – 6%

My point isn’t to denegrate the great work by Communitech. Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge-Guelph is a great place to start, operate and grow a company. Communitech is the leading community organization in Canada for high tech startups and founders. The region is fantastic.

My concern is that we’ve accepted made up numbers as fact. We have CEOs that propogate the artifical statistics that are used to influence politicians and funding. We need to expect better of our policy makers, we need to expect more of our lobbyists, we need to expect more as Canadians. No one should be content to accept these numbers whether they are from the Conference Board of Canada, and even worse that they are printed in one of our leading papers.

http://www.thestar.com/OntarioElection/article/253998

It’s about half-way down the article.

In 2009 Quebec receieve $101MM invested in 42 companies accounting for 37% of the VC funding. http://www.cvca.ca/files/News/CVCA_Q1_2010_VC_Press_Release_FINAL.pdf

Crazy made up statistics. Did you know that 68% of the stats used in the above talk and this comment are made up on the spot?

I’d broaden that innovation culture from Waterloo-specific to Ontario-wide As we know, other cities have had their day in the sun as tech/innovation hubs (eg. Ottawa in the 90s).

I’d point to two facts as possible support for germinating an entrepreneurial culture in Ontario: historically, Ontario’s has had a heavy reliance on secondary (manufacturing) and tertiary (service) industries. I’d say Ontarians have the “maker mindset” as a byproduct of a service-based, technology-driven past. And second, the province is home to 70+ college/universities. That’s almost twice as many institutes dedicated to higher learning as the nearest province (See: http://www.uwaterloo.ca/canu/index.php).

I think government has realized that a proximity to higher learning is key; research commercialization partnerships between business and academia has been on the rise. Check out how many initiatives there are in Canada: http://www.nce-rce.gc.ca/NetworksCentres-CentresReseaux/CECR-CECR_eng.asp

Of course, this is a broad assumption informed by personal experience, so I welcome a response or correction.