Prince Edward Island
Sustainable. Scalable. Beautiful.
Prince Edward Island …
Where rush hour doesn’t exist
... and the beaches are everywhere
Where almost 1 million tourists come every year
to get away
... a place voted Canada’s #1 golf destination
A place that Royal LePage calls Canada’s
most affordable housing location...
Location
Within a 3-hour drive of Prince Edward Island:
•2
Million People
•18 Cities
•19 Universities
•27 Community Colleges
Access
Destination
Halifax
Montreal
Ottawa
Toronto
New York
TOTAL
Carrier
Air Canada
Air Canada
Air Canada
Air Canada
Westjet
Delta
Flight/Week Seats/Week
27
850
16
773
5
236
10
483
7
919
1
38
66
3,463
Vibrant Sector
• There
are
more
than
professionals in the province
2200
ICT
• More than 100 companies in a diverse
sector ranging from multinationals to startups, in all stages from emerging to
established.
• Growing verticals include ehealth, gaming,
IT consultancy and shared services
A Diversified Sector
Game Development
Yodoki games
Made in PEI
Why Prince Edward Island?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Low operating costs
Skilled and available workforce
World-class infrastructure
Government support
1. Cost Competitiveness
The KPMG 2010 Competitive Index compared business costs in more then
100 cities:
Prince Edward Island ranked as one of the most cost effective locations in
North America for Advanced Software and Shared Services.
KPMG Competitiveness Index
Advanced Software
www.competitivealternatives.com
Study completed with Can-US dollars at par
1. Cost Competitiveness
•
Favourable commercial real estate prices and new construction
offer grade “A” office facilities and amenities at lower costs.
•
•
$14-$25/ sq ft
Dramatically lower residential real estate prices (1/3 of major U.S.
metropolitan areas), translate directly to lower costs to hire and
retain more highly skilled employees.
•
$200,000 = 2,000 sq ft
1. Cost Competitiveness
 Average ICT salary in PEI is $52,000
 Junior coders =$40K
 Intermediate = $50K
 Senior = $75K
2. Workforce
- Average job tenure in Prince Edward Island is
8.5 years
- 43% of workers have been with the same
employer for more than 6 years
- Days lost per worker in Prince Edward Island is
the lowest in Canada
2. Workforce
-Many of the companies in PEI have been able to
attract staff to PEI from the US, the UK, India ,
Brazil , etc
-Great place to raise a family
-The Province has a program to allow for
permanent residency by-passing some of the
Federal limitations
- 200+ resumes on hand for game development
2. Workforce
 -UPEI offers specialization in Video Game Programming
 -Holland College offers a 2 yr program in Video Game
Art & Design
 -GameForce: Government offers introductory sessions
to teach Jr. high school students how to make their own
game
2. Scalable Workforce
- CGI located in PEI in 2006 and ramped up to 50
people within 6 months. They surpassed 100
within a year.
- Invesco (Trimark) located in PEI in 2007 and
ramped up to more than 100 people within a year
and now have more than 200 people in their
Charlottetown location.
- Other Ocean Interactive (game developer)
started with 9 people and now have more than 70
in development and testing.
3. World-Class Infrastructure
 Bell Aliant is investing $20 million to roll out Fibre Optic
network to 30,000 homes and businesses in
Charlottetown and Summerside by end of 2011.
 Basic services such as Telephony, Internet and
Entertainment Television, but also has the potential to
support advanced applications such as Tele-medicine,
Tele-working, Security, Power Monitoring, Remote
Home Control, Network Storage, Video on Demand,
Video Gaming, Video Conferencing and e-Learning
3. World-Class Infrastructure
 The University of Prince Edward Island features a Usability
Lab for video games, networking and ehealth technologies.
 Software & Game testing is available in PEI through Sculpin
QA, who specializes in iPhone, Android, PC and Dsi testing
 Data Center services are available through the Atlantic
Technology Centre, a 136,000 sq ft smart building
 Audio support is available through Taris Studios and others
4. Government Partner
- 30% Video Game Labour Rebate Program , rebated
quarterly. This is not tied to taxes, and therefore ideal
to help cash flow projects. It is also available to
middleware companies in the game space.
- Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency ‐ ACOA
Business Development Program provides
interest‐free unsecured loans
- Access to Federal Programs ; IRAP, NRC, SRED
- Levels of government work together seamlessly - an
agile business environment without red tape
The Government of Prince Edward Island initiated an Innovation and Prosperity Strategy in late 2008
for specific sectors including ICT. Part of the Strategy included grants to company’s who presented
innovative, next generation projects to assist with the development of proof of concepts, development
and commercialization.
-23 projects have been funded to date in the ICT Sector to 18 different companies with a total
contribution of $929,342
-The projects include: data security, smartphone embedded technology toolkits, medical
technologies, new improved means of data management, cognitive assessments of video games,
remote education tools, and others
-Pilot Fund provides up to $25,000 to explore a concept
-Development Fund provides up to $100,000 for Development and Commercialization
-Research Chair provides up to $1M for high level leadership and guidance
Why Prince Edward Island?
Support, R & D, PM, Game Dev
Companies that have located in PEI have done so for various reasons but most have
found it to be one of their lowest cost locations in their organization.
• We are a near shore solution for back end support
• Like many parts of Canada is an ideal location for R and D work.
• Project Management. Other companies who have clients in the Pacific Time Zone and
Europe have used PEI as their mid point to locate their project management.
• Game teams have come together and stayed together. Reducing ongoing retraining
costs and creating team concept.
• Most West Coast Game Studios – have to be twice as productive to
match location costs in PEI
Easy Place to do Business
Some of the strengths in doing business in PEI (as referenced by companies that have
relocated or expanded to PEI):
• Responsive Prospecting Group
• Ability to access high ranking decision makers
• Ease of doing business in PEI when it comes to processing claims and other paper
work
• Employee loyalty which reduces ongoing training costs
• Generally lower employee costs
Next Steps
You
Us
We
•
Summary of Work - 2 pages
•
Highlights Scale and Scope
•
Funding Proposal Response
•
Letter of Intention
•
Business Plan
•
Letters of Offer
Contact
Nancy Roberts
Prospecting & Innovation Programs Division
Innovation PEI
902 368 5336
ndroberts@gov.pe.ca
Visit www.innovationpei.com to learn more.