Calgary is one of the fastest-growing tech centers in Canada and is considered to be the most adventurous tech city. If you think Calgary is only about skies, mountains, and energy, you are partially right. The city’s main focus in the 21st century is the IT and Tech scene. Calgary has evolved into an energetic, digitalized city where businesses are taking risks, developing, innovating, and funding new startups.
Calgary has a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem, consolidated by companies and investments that permanently create and innovate digitally. This fact is also confirmed by numbers - Calgary has one of the highest concentrations of small businesses in North America. The city is the home of 60%+ companies in the Alberta region, and all of them were only small startups several years ago. In 2025, Calgary will have over 1,000 tech companies working in fintech, AI, SaaS, cybersecurity, and digital infrastructure with more than 40 accelerators, venture funds, and incubators.
In addition to all, the local startups that are actually constantly growing have managed to attract a high amount of funds, support, and attention from international big actors who see a high development potential in the city.
From software to hardware to services, digital transformation is a driver of tech investments by Calgary industries. A study by Calgary Economic Development and IDC Canada forecasts that Calgary companies will lead the $18.4 billion spent on digital transformation in Alberta through 2022. The digital transformation spending expectations for Alberta, followed by Calgary firms, are about $20 billion through 2024-2025.
In 2025, there were 450 startups all around the city across different industries that will grow into strong businesses due to a healthy infrastructure, highly-qualified professionals, and constantly increasing wages that attract talent from all over the region, including from the US.
The average salary in Calgary for the IT sector is somewhat comparable to that one from Montreal - $69,936/year. However, according to another resource, the average salary is estimated at almost $53,000/year.
All in all, Calgary is a promising place for searching and/or investing in digital projects, and it is only a matter of time before it will become one of the leading cities in the region, according to our estimations.
