 Thank you and welcome to the second annual BC Tech Summit we have 5,000 people here which is double the number that we had for our first summit last year and I think it shows that British Columbia's reputation as a place where tech companies can grow and thrive is really gaining momentum and thank you to the to the Coast Salish First Nations for welcoming us onto your traditional territory so warmly and thanks to them and thanks to all of you for coming welcome to what we think is the most beautiful place anywhere in the world we love living here we love that it's diverse in its population that our communities are clean and they're safe we love it that we are blessed with the most magnificent natural environment you'll find anywhere in the world this is a very beautiful place and it offers a great lifestyle but you know the thing is there are a lot of beautiful places in the world and there are a lot of places that have an interesting lifestyle great culture great outdoor opportunities and so in British Columbia we can't just be a great place to live we need to be a great place to do business we need to differentiate ourselves from other places around the world and what I want to talk about today is how in British Columbia we intend to differentiate ourselves how we intend to take what I think is an absolutely unique moment in history to make the tech industry the center of our economy around the world we all see it every day countries are looking inward and that is a terrible tragic trend but it is also for us as Canadians and us in British Columbia an opportunity it's an opportunity for us to do the opposite while other countries are looking in let's be a country and a province that is looking out that is reaching out to the world that is building bridges to the world that is welcoming people in the best and the brightest from every corner around the globe that's how we will be different so at this moment in history how will we seize it for our communities for jobs here for businesses here for imagining people who imagine and create well what you've told me is you need four things four fundamentals you need money you need markets you need ideas and you need talent most of all so let's start with money startups need better access to capital we heard you so last year we announced a hundred million dollar venture capital fund that's entirely government backed we have made our first two investments already and we are going to continue to grow that investment in startups that are going to create BC jobs companies that might not otherwise be able to find that capital but we want to be there because we know that access to money matters second you need globally competitive taxes we already have some of the lowest tax rates in North America here and this year we did more in our budget in February to lighten the burden for tech and one of those things that we did was grant an augmented reality and virtual reality tax credit for entertainment purposes that was a big change but wait for it today we're announcing that we're going to expand the augmented reality and virtual reality tax credit so that it's for more than just entertainment so that it is for all applications in technology and we know that this can become the world's center for AR and VR we know that it can so we intend to invest early with a tax regime that will invite that investment and help you grow right now as this industry really begins to take off and last on this point I am a firm believer that lightening your tax load is always a good idea because there's one thing that I know for sure it's that government cannot spend your money better than you can if we let you keep more of your money I know what you'll do with it you'll invest it in capital you'll invest it in jobs if we leave that money in your business and in your pockets you'll spend that growing jobs right here in British Columbia and you need ideas you need world-class universities that are going to produce the thinking and the creativity that you need to grow because every innovative enterprise starts with the seed of a great idea so yesterday I hope many of you heard from Dr. Santa Ono the president of UBC he was talking about how we can coordinate our post-secondary education planning and seats better with what the private sector needs you want well-trained people I want citizens that can go into jobs that they they will find fulfilling and that they will love going to every single day that's how Santa Ono is going to help us make it happen jobs for people workers for businesses Santa Ono was going to be BC's number one matchmaker we're creating a center for data-driven innovation a single safe platform for government data it's going to be protected by our very strict privacy laws here in Canada as it should be but it's going to allow you to get on that platform and help us spend our 51 billion dollar budget better and it'll also allow you to help us make sure that our services that we provide to citizens are always getting better and more efficient that progress our progress on the on the data platform will be going live within the year third students need places to learn and so this year we're investing 400 million dollars in STEM related physical infrastructure at our universities and colleges all across British Columbia fourth this year we are funding 10 new STEM research chairs at universities and colleges in our province these 10 new chairs will attract the best and the brightest thinkers from around the world where they will bring their ideas and their determination and their grad students to a place where they know they will be welcomed you need markets and in British Columbia we have a big market it's called government and we spend 51 billion dollars a year so we need to radically change the way we do procurement in BC that means starting up a startup in residents program that will give BC companies a chance to co-develop inside government ideas that are going to make government more efficient ideas for problems that government has identified but hasn't yet figured out how to fix we're also going to start an innovation ideas fund which is going to do a similar thing but it's going to invite small BC companies to come into government and help us fix problems that we don't know exist yet a chance for small companies to get a first crack at a big market in selling their product for the very first time we're going to open trade offices in Seattle and in Silicon Valley and in both of those offices we are going to work hard to attract new businesses to come to British Columbia we are going to sell the assets of this province down south like we never have before but we're also going to sell British Columbia products and companies to the Americans to help our companies get connected in the bigger world of technology down south and we're going to make that easier by supporting the Cascadia corridor an agreement that we've made with Washington state that will allow businesses and labor to flow more seamlessly across the border between us money ideas markets and most important of all the thing that every tech business needs talent and talent comes from two places it comes from at home and it comes from abroad so let's start with abroad Martha Salkedine is here Martha do you want to stand up for a second Martha Martha is the first female dean of mechanical engineering at University anywhere in Canada she's a World War two refugee from Romania she's 82 years old she's still taking on grad students she revel in her career she revolutionized the pulp and paper industry she also designed the cooling system that keeps the turbines on airplanes that we take from melting thanks Martha for that I really we all we all really appreciate that that was a good thing to do thank goodness Martha came here from Romania chose British Columbia in Canada all those years ago and on the other end of the spectrum Magna Lohia is with us is Magna is Magna nearby to Magna is 16 years old there she is she's sitting up there you go 16 years old she's shy she's a coder and she owns her own tech business she started it when she was 15 she designed by the way the snapchat filter for the summit here and that's what she's doing this year next year next year she's next year when Magna is going to come back she won't be designing the filter for a snapchat she's going to be designing the next snapchat I'm pretty sure about that abroad and at home so what are we going to do to support people at home what are we going to do to grow more homegrown talent for you well as we said in the introduction as I told you last year we have begun the program to make sure that every child in British Columbia when they graduate from a high school here speaks the you world universal language that is not English it is not French and it is not Mandarin the world's universal language is coding let's make sure that every British Columbia child speaks that when they graduate from a high school here and I should finish this by saying not just every child but every boy will be a coder and every girl will be a coder we want to make it a lot easier for tech companies in the world and in this country to be able to hire and make sure that your companies are entirely gender equal we need more STEM grads from post-secondary institutions so we're announcing today that we're increasing the number of STEM grads in BC by a thousand seats in our province per year those grads will be spread out at institutions all across the province they will be in diverse fields and you know from the work that dr. Ono and his group are doing we will be striving to make sure that the grads we produce are ones that meet the changing needs of the industry as you evolve in British Columbia third there are seven thousand co-op student placements today in BC we are going to double that there will be fourteen thousand co-op co-op students in British Columbia and we will be providing money to companies to help you hire more grads we'll be requiring all we will be requiring all tech programs at universities to allow and support co-op programs in their offerings and the thing about co-ops is it's a great way for you to be able to recruit new talent but it's also a great way for all that emerging new talent to find their way into a great first job fourth we're increasing our investment in my tax by two-thirds now if you haven't heard of my tax they're an organization that works all across western Canada based at UBC focused on finding grad students locally and from around the world and placing them in industries here in Canada where they will solve real-world problems at real-world businesses and the great thing about my tax is it helps you but it helps Canada because when those kids come from overseas and they get settled here so many of them most of them in fact find their way to becoming citizens they become Canadians and they contribute this country just like Martha has for the rest of their working lives and last we're investing in the First Nations Technology Council we need to help First Nations people find the skills that they need to get into technology as business owners and as employees the First Nations population is the fastest growing demographic in Canada today it is a vast and underutilized talent pool we want to support that because those communities deserve a fair shake at economic opportunity and you need more people to make sure that your businesses can grow so last on talent you know we can't grow it all here we can't produce enough megas on our own so we need to go and find some more marthas around the world and that means that Canada must open its doors wider to highly skilled immigrants in the tech field so that we can bring more marthas into this country to help us build this country together and I know there's lots of talk in the US about how Canada's immigration system is way better than America's and that is absolutely true but it's a low bar and it's getting lower we don't need to be better we need to be way better than the Americans are at immigration we need to be faster at processing and approving applications for highly skilled workers we need to be better at listening to your needs to make sure that we are bringing the right workers in when you need them so Ottawa needs to expand our PNP program let us invite as many people as we need in technology who are highly skilled as many as we need in this province who can come in and help us create Canadian jobs and why not throw out the process of application all together if somebody's earning a PhD at a Canadian University let's staple their citizenship onto their PhD certificate on the day they cross the stage so when Santa Ono gives them that certificate they'll can become a Canadian citizen the exact same day but we're working on these changes working hard federal government needs to make them and they are listening we are hopeful but in the meantime we know that we need to make some changes ourselves we need to double the number of tech specialists that we allow under our current PMP program today whether or not the program overall is expanded we need to create a concierge service to help businesses large and small find your way through this arcane and sometimes very frustratingly complex immigration system that we have in this country and we're going to do that and the reason we're going to do all of the things that I've talked about with money and ideas and markets and talent is because I really do believe that we are at a unique moment in British Columbia and Canada's history when others are turning inward we are going to turn outward when others are withdrawing from free trade we are going to reach out around the world and find new connections for business and for people when others are isolating themselves and closing their doors to immigrants we are going to invite people into our country and welcome them here to a place that is not tolerant but a place that is embracing them a place that says no matter where you are from your faith your creed your origin your language you are welcome in British Columbia you are welcome to come and help us build not just a thriving tech industry but to work shoulder and shoulder to shoulder with Canadians who came here before you to build what we think will become the greatest country in the world and that will be the difference for British Columbia we will invest in educating all of the Magnus and all of the Marthas and we will say to people from around the world and people here at home let's get to work let's get to work and let's build British Columbia together thank you