Kitchener is one of the three cities making up the regional municipality of Waterloo. Perfectly located at an hour’s distance to three international airports and close to Toronto, London and Hamilton.
Here are top highlights that put this Ontario city on the map:
✔️ Kitchener-Waterloo (KW) region #1 small tech talent market in North America
✔️ Fastest growing population in Canada – expected 950,000 by 2051
✔️ Fastest-growing millennial (age 23-28) population
✔️ Home to Canada’s Top Technical University, University of Waterloo
✔️ University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, Conestoga College and McMaster University now all have downtown campuses.
✔️ Lower cost of living when compared to Toronto
✔️ 22% of Canada’s 50 Fastest Growing Tech Companies are in KW
Kitchener has gone through an impressive transformation over the past 20 years as a decaying core and declining manufacturing base gave way to over $2 billion in downtown residential and commercial construction and a rapidly growing technology sector. Some of that progress was kickstarted by a $110-million Economic Development Investment Fund in 2000 and the rallying of public and private partners.
Further growth will be aided by a new $110-million investment fund and the Make It Kitchener 2.0 strategy. The Make It Kitchener 2.0 strategy was approved in November 2020. This funding will support long-term investments in health innovation, creative industries, a startup network focused on the United Nations’ sustainable development goals for community vibrancy and provide affordable housing.
As the first major investment from the Make It Kitchener 2.0 fund, the City of Kitchener has partnered with the University of Waterloo to build a 90,000-square-foot innovation arena at the downtown Health Sciences Campus.
According to the City of Kitchener’s Mayor Berry Vrbanovic, “In less than 20 years, we went from a place nobody would invest in to selling out residential units in minutes, to massive investments in transportation infrastructure supporting an innovation corridor.”
According to recent reports, Waterloo Region’s latest population growth shows we’ve grown by over 50,000 people in the last five years. The region is expected to have a population of 950,000 by 2051.
The latest figures from Statistics Canada show a steady rise in Waterloo Region’s population. From 2016 to 2020, the total grew by 51,848 in the tri-cities. As of last year, our population reached 593,882. You can see the full breakdown below:
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo :
2016:542,034
2017:553,526
2018: 567,853
2019: 581,954
2020: 593,882
Waterloo region fastest growing population in Canada, StatsCan data shows. The lower cost of living than Toronto, job opportunities helps drive people here. According to the report, the arrival of many permanent and temporary immigrants played a key role in their growth. Companies continue to set up in the region with expansions happening in the technology sector. Many newcomers come into the region to the top -ranking post-secondary institutions in the region.
University of Waterloo is Canada’s top technology school – recently ranked top-25 globally for computer science and the largest tech talent producer in Canada. The university has more students enrolled in engineering programs than MIT and Stanford combined and more students enrolled in computer science than Carnegie Mellon, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor or University of Texas at Austin. It’s not just new talent – growth in our experienced talent pool is what pushed Waterloo into the new CBRE category.
The newest CBRE “Scoring Tech Talent” report has identified Waterloo as the #1 small tech talent market in North America.
In addition to being the top-ranked small tech talent market, CBRE also ranked Waterloo #21 overall for tech talent in North America. This incredible achievement puts us ahead of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Chicago, Madison, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Charlotte and Columbus, all of which are substantially larger communities.
Furthermore, the new ranking puts Waterloo at #2 among the top-50 tech hubs in North America for tech talent growth rate and #4 for tech talent density.
Taking a deeper dive into the report, Waterloo has the fastest-growing millennial (age 23-28) population, the lowest costs and the fourth highest tech talent quality among the North American top-50.
Talent is drawn to exciting opportunities and Waterloo has more than a few of those. In the last month, three local unicorns Faire, ApplyBoard and Arctic Wolf have announced nearly $800 million in new investment. We’ve attracted substantial new investments from renowned tech companies like MasterClass and EPAM Systems and Google Canada is in the midst of a significant expansion of its Waterloo-based engineering headquarters. When Deloitte released its list of Canada’s 50 fastest-growing tech companies last year, 22% of them were located here. This is where the opportunity is for business and talent alike.
✔️ Google is launching a big new Canadian expansion in Waterloo, Toronto and Montréal
✔️ The Waterloo expansion will significantly expand the workforce at Google Canada’s engineering headquarters
✔️ Google will launch Canada’s first Google for Startups Accelerator in Waterloo focusing on artificial intelligence and machine learning
Google’s expansion in this region signals to investors worldwide that Kitchener and Waterloo region’s tech sector and creative ecosystem is globally significant—able to support fast growing and innovative companies like Google.
The growth and success of Google translates into a stronger local economy and boosts small businesses. Google’s offices and employees are directly investing in Kitchener’s vibrant downtown. According to Communitech, for every one job created in tech, five additional jobs are created across the rest of the economy.
As the first major investment from the Make It Kitchener 2.0 fund, the City of Kitchener has partnered with the University of Waterloo to build a 90,000-square-foot innovation arena at the downtown Health Sciences Campus. The Innovation Arena is coming soon in 2023 to the Kitchener Innovation District.
The University of Waterloo has partnered with the City of Kitchener to further develop the Health Sciences Campus in Downtown Kitchener. The 90,000-sq.ft. warehouse at Victoria and Joseph St. will transform into a connected health and technology community. It will co-locate startups, early scaling companies and broader connections to local SMEs to bolster the regional economy and profile .
The Kitchener-Waterloo has made its mark in the technology sector with tech giants such as Google not only taking notice but also investing here. With the fastest growing population in the country, a thriving technology sector, top-ranking universities, job growth, investment in city infrastructure, lower cost of living, the City of Kitchener is a desirable place to study, live and work.