FILMING / CREATIVE

Goodwood, Ontario, Canada, June 2018: Bob’s Garage a fictional TV auto-shop featured on a television program.

G C anadian game development studios are behind one in every six top-selling console games, and the industry contributes $3.7 billion to the Canadian economy.

In recent years, Ontario has brought their A-game to this rapidly growing sector. One hundred and fifty game development teams currently call Toronto home, including industry leaders like Zynga and Ubisoft. At E3 2019, Ubisoft Toronto’s Watch Dogs: Legion, was named the ‘best action/ adventure’ videogame and was nominated for ‘best in show’. 2018’s Far Cry 5, codeveloped by Ubisoft Toronto, was nominated for 25 international game awards and was the best-selling video game of 2018.

On the really small screen, 2018 mobile game Alto’s Odyssey, from Torontobased studio Snowman earned a highly coveted Apple Design Award for Outstanding Design and Innovation. Alto’s Odyssey is a sequel to 2015 smash hit Alto’s Adventure. Programs like Ontario’s Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit helped bring projects such as these to life. This program provides employers with a refundable tax credit based on eligible Ontario labour expenditures and eligible marketing and distribution expenses.

C S

From forests to lakes, rural to small town to urban settings, and rivers to valleys, Ontario is a beautiful province–no visual effects required. But, for those on-screen moments where reality just won’t fit the part, top entertainment companies are turning to Ontario’s leading visual effects firms.

Ontario animators have brought legendary characters like The Incredible Hulk, new intellectual properties such as The Shape of Water, and storied franchises like The Magic School Bus to life for the enjoyment of audiences around the world. Nearly 7,000 people work in Ontario’s computer animation and visual effects sector, generating approximately $450 million.

Ontario is home to some of Canada’s leading animation and film schools and is one of Canada’s most educated provinces. Nearly 32 per cent of working age adults in Ontario have a bachelor’s degree or higher, while 25 per cent hold a college diploma. With 45 public post-secondary institutions located across Ontario, that number of skilled workers is rapidly growing. Elisabeth Moss at the Premiere “The Handmaid’s Tale” which is primarily filmed in Ontario Canada. Specifically, Cambridge, Hamilton and Toronto.

Couple this strong employment base with government programs such as the Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit, and you can understand why Allan Magled of Toronto-based Soho VFX says, “Canada as a whole has the best talent pool and tax incentives.”

T O C

As Canada’s second largest province, Ontario includes the diverse and stunning scenery Canada is known for: from the bustling urban environments of Toronto and southern Ontario, to the rugged natural beauty of the north, to the heritage features of Ottawa and eastern Ontario, and the many beautiful lakes, rivers, and bays. These natural features and amenities have helped cement Canada’s place as the number one country for quality of life, according to the 2019 U.S. News and World Report. However, as the numbers show, Ontario isn’t just a nice place to visit and to live–it’s also a great place to work, hire, and invest.

OPSTC The Ontario Production Services Tax Credit (OPSTC) is a refundable tax credit to eligible Ontario-based Canadian and foreign-controlled corporations of 21.5% of qualified Ontario production expenditures for eligible film and television productions.

OCASE The Ontario Computer Animation & Special Effects (OCASE) Tax Credit is a refundable tax credit to Ontario-based Canadian and foreign-controlled corporations of 18% of qualifying Ontario labour expenditures for digital animation and digital visual effects created in Ontario for film and television productions.

47% OF CANADIAN FINTECHS ARE SITUATED IN ONTARIO

FinTech is a burgeoning technology sector with a strong presence across Ontario. It comprises diverse segments such as artificial intelligence (AI), exchange technology, data analytics and visualization, market data and trading. Also, FinTech includes the blockchain platform for digital asset management and security. Essentially, FinTech is a convergence of information technology (IT) and financial services, and it has massive potential to change the way we do business and in our day to day lives.

The FinTech sector across Canada punches well above its weight, accounting for almost 850 out of 6000 FinTechs in the Americas. This is impressive, given that our country’s GDP is one tenth that of the United States, which has around 5000 FinTechs. Ontario has invested more than all other provinces in Canada, having 47% of the FinTech enterprises across the nation.

O ’ F T A

Canada’s robust banking system is one of the reasons FinTech start-ups are setting up shop here. Also, in Ontario they can source talent from a large pool of well-trained technology and financial services workers. We are already a leader in business for the country, and now Ontario is poised to become a world-leading hub for FinTech.

The Toronto-Kitchener-Waterloo corridor is a hotbed for FinTech growth, having seen quite significant investment in the past five years, according to a recent report from Toronto Finance International. FinTech start-up investments mushroomed to almost $221 million over 25 deals in 2018. The region aspires to develop a FinTech sector to rival those in other major financial centers such as New York, London, and San Francisco.

The Toronto to Waterloo corridor is, at present, among the 20 top start-up ecosystems in the world. Its strongest subsectors are FinTech, AI, manufacturing and robotics, life sciences and health. The city of Toronto is the second largest financial services hub in North America, with 12,000 companies and 360,000 workers.

According to KPMG’s Pulse of FinTech report, the Toronto area’s FinTech space consists of 194 FinTech companies, 19 VC firms, and more than 20 incubators and accelerators. Toronto has the largest FinTech ecosystem across Canada, accounting for around 43 percent of all FinTechs.

Ottawa is also beginning to gain traction in FinTech, with 51 start-ups as of July 2019. The capital city, home to the National Research Council, thrives on a sciencebased economy. With companies like Shopify and FINTRAC headquartered here, opportunities abound. Some of the diverse FinTech start-ups in Ottawa include:

Ario – providing banking as a service platform for small and medium-sized enterprises Zighra – a mobile security company that authenticates users based on their behavior and handling of their mobile device Salt Edge – provides financial data aggregation services that automatically imports financial transactions into third-party PFMs Raven – a smart and connected dashcam / infotainment system for cars developed by Klashwerks ChangeJar – a mobile payment platform offering merchants mobile cash payments without card fees Insurego – an AI-based insurance comparison platform

Punchtime – a SAAS application that helps businesses keep track of their employees’ time and location

Cryptonite – a fork of Bitcoin Core with added functionalities like microtransactions, withdrawal limits and transaction messages

CaseWare Analytics – a FinTech company providing solutions for finance professionals, auditors, and compliance officers

Bare Team – providing an online platform for invoice management

“Ottawa is primed to be a world-class tech ecosystem. To drive this forward, we need to close the gaps between industries and build a stronger community that supports start-ups and innovation on all levels.” Harley Finkelstein, COO at Shopify. Programs like Invest Ottawa’s pre-accelerator course are proving invaluable help to entrepreneurs looking to get their FinTech business off on the right foot. This 10-week crash course offers a series of workshops and classes about raising capital, product development, first sales and more. The regional economic development agency’s advisors also provide one-on-one consultation to participants. Not to be outdone by the larger tech centers, several smaller Ontario cities recently got a shout-out in an article by Slice, promoting promising tech start-up communities across Canada. These tech (and FinTech) friendly places include: • London • Barrie • Windsor • Oshawa • Hamilton,and • Cambridge

Entities like The Digital Finance Institute are working to promote FinTech in Ontario. They are a think tank for FinTech, AI and blockchain, espousing these three foundational pillars: • F inancial incl usion    • R esponsible innova tion, a nd • S upport forw omen inF inTech

The institute, run by millennials, focuses on issues related to the connection between financial innovation, digital finance regulation and policy, financial inclusion, and women in FinTech.

E F T Wor k O

Ontario already boasts a well-educated, skilled, multilingual, and multicultural financial services workforce of 365,000, almost half of Canada’s financial services workforce. Post-secondary institutions across Ontario are supporting the growth of FinTech with:

• A steady supply of career-minded graduates from our 44 universities and colleges, including 14 MBA programs at prominent institutions like Rotman, Schulich, Ivey and Queens

• Ontario’s 44 universities and colleges produce over 44,000 business graduates each year

Ontario’s colleges and universities have almost 800 cooperative education programs providing valuable experience and collaboration to students and businesses alike.

The University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Mathematics attracts talented students from across the globe and provides them an exceptional program combining finance, economics, business and accounting with Mathematics and computer science.

Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Management offers a certificate in FinTech, a four-course certification that focuses on segments of the banking ecosystem affected by emerging financial technologies. These include investment banking, lending, payments, wealth management, money transfers and settlements, trade finance, and compliance and security.

T F F T O

As an emerging sector across the world, we expect FinTech to experience phenomenal growth in the next few years. Ontario is well positioned to participate in that growth, as we are already the centre of Canada’s financial services industry and at the nexus of technology innovation. Seated in the stable Canadian banking sector, and with access to a large pool of financial professionals and entrepreneurs, Ontario is poised to become an international hub for FinTech.