As you correctly identified, we are heavily oversubscribed, so more money would definitely make a big difference with the technology commercialization effort.
We could probably do a better job of the coordination of some of our efforts with those of other agencies involved, frankly. One benefit of WD working inside the broader innovation, science, and economic development portfolio is that we are doing exactly that. We are starting to do a better job of coordinating with agencies like the Business Development Bank and some of the other RDAs to that end, to try to get a better bang for the buck.
The Province of British Columbia has devoted $100 million to a venture capital fund. That fund will be operating on a fund-to-fund basis to support innovative companies in B.C. We could probably do a better job of lining up some of our efforts to make sure they're complementary to that.
We also work closely in consultations and in other fora with the venture capital industry in British Columbia. It was only recently that it was restored to a fairly dynamic state. VC in B.C, venture capital in B.C.—too many acronyms—is healthier than it was about five years ago.
We also have a strong network of angel investors in British Columbia. These angel investors are individual investors that support individual companies. We work closely with them.
One other area is either first or second in most tech sector conversations. The consultations the government has been running on the innovation agenda recently have produced, as either first or second, an emphasis on talent attraction and talent retention.
The tech sector in B.C. has deficits, although not so many, believe it or not, in science, technology, engineering, and math. Canada does a good job of producing graduates, skilled ones, in those areas. Where we need more flexibility is in the attraction of marketing, management, and C suite talent to tech companies. Tech companies can grow to a certain point of 10, 20, or 30 employees with the original founder involved. The original founder often is not a guy who has the necessary skills to take a company to the 500 and 1,500 employee stage. At that point you need serious professional managerial talent. A lot of that comes from Silicon Valley, let's face it.
Recently in Vancouver we had a conference called the Cascadia conference, which was jointly sponsored by the Business Council of B.C. and Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft has opened offices in B.C., and if anyone gets a chance to visit them, they are absolutely stunning. In the course of that conversation, a company like Microsoft sees potential in Vancouver and in the Lower Mainland in particular. The attraction of talent is something that needs to be done with a little more flexibility.
That said, Minister Bains did hear from the board members of Microsoft that what Canada has already done in the way of flexibility around immigration of talented individuals is a world-leading example. Microsoft is operating in countries all over the world. They wish more countries had a system that's as flexible as ours, but there's clearly more to be done.