IBM Has a Strong Long-Term Commitment to Canada
Canada has for a long time played an important role with IBM's global operations.
Forty years ago, the IBM Company established the Toronto Software Lab, employing just over 50 people. Today, IBM Canada has similar facilities across the country and employs over 5,000 highly skilled people with world mandates for several flagship products. The size, scale and scope of the IBM Canada Lab, makes it the largest software development center in the IBM Company outside of the United States. Moreover, IBM's annual Research and development (R&D) spending in Canada has grown by over 60 percent since 1998.
IBM Canada employs 22,000 Canadians and is one of the country's largest investors in R&D. Over the last decade, IBM Canada has invested over $2 billion in R&D in Canada ($297 million in 2008). Partnerships with Canada's innovation system and universities, are extensive.
The past decade saw considerable expansion of operations in Canada with North American responsibilities. Some of this growth has been organic - hiring highly qualified graduates into existing labs- but also much of it has been through the acquisition of leading-edge firms such as: Pure Edge, File Net, and Watchfire, and the integration of this talent pool into the company. More recently IBM's Canadian operations grew significantly through the acquisition of Cognos, a global leader in business intelligence and performance management solutions, with customers in 125 countries.
"IBM's growth in Canada has been built on a strong reputation for excellence - benefiting from a stable yet competitive business environment and a solid telecommunications and digital infrastructure," says Pat Horgan, Vice President, Manufacturing, Development and Operations, IBM Canada. "However, it is access to Canada's world-class talent that clearly stands out as the most significant contributing factor."
What's next for IBM Canada?
Current global problems, including the financial crisis, climate disruption, energy geopolitics, and security issues show clearly that we are all increasingly interconnected economically, socially and technically.
The IBM Company is striving to make the world's infrastructure smarter, cleaner and greener. The intelligence that will enable this transformation will be driven by advanced software. The IBM Canada Lab - the software that it produces and the Canadian skills that make it has the opportunity to play a central role in the company's global strategy for delivering the Smart Planet. IBM believes that some of the most important parts of the Smart Planet can be made in Canada.
Why Canada?
It is no surprise that an industry leader such as IBM would consider Canada as a favourable business location given the leading position of Canada in the world regarding innovation and R&D (the ICT sector is Canada's largest private investor in R&D), availability and cost of skilled labour, presence of relevant clusters, (particularly in Toronto and Montréal) protection of intellectual property rights, world-class transportation and communications infrastructure and conducive business environment.
About IBM Canada
IBM Canada opened its first office in 1917 and is now headquartered in Markham, Ontario. It is one of Canada's leading providers of advanced information technology products, services and business consulting expertise. It is a global centre for DB2, WebSphere, Rational Lotus and Tivoli enterprise software R&D. IBM's November 12, 2007 acquisition of Cognos makes Ottawa its global centre for enterprise business intelligence and corporate performance management software R&D.
About IBM Corporation
IBM is one of the world's leading technology solutions companies, employing almost 400,000 people in 75 countries. IBM Corporation serves clients in 174 countries speaking more than 165 languages, invests approximately US$5 billion annually in R&D, has 2,200 researchers around the globe and has been a patent leader for the last 15 years.
To learn more about investment opportunities in Canada, consult: www.investincanada.com
Prepared by the Invest in Canada Bureau, Spring 2009
