ICT, GAMING & INTERACTIVE MEDIA 2015 HALIFAX INVESTMENT PROFILE

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1 ICT, GAMING & INTERACTIVE MEDIA 2015 HALIFAX INVESTMENT PROFILE

2 INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY, GAMING AND INTERACTIVE MEDIA Nova Scotia is home to a diversified Information Communication and Gaming and Interactive Media sector which includes more than 600 companies. Primarily based in Halifax, the sector provides employment for approximately 20,000 people in Nova Scotia. INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS Halifax has niche strengths in: aerospace and defence, particularly in softwarebase products and services, as well as systems integration & supporting services; financial services, with an emphasis on ICT intensive middle and back office operations; healthcare ICT, largely due to the substantial healthcare infrastructure in the city that includes the National Research Council Institute for Biodiagnostics; business process outsourcing/contact centers, a local industry that largely serves American corporate clients; and, gaming, which includes dynamic companies, like Longtail Studios and Silverback Productions; Sector is represented by Digital Nova Scotia.

3 NOTABLE COMPANIES Some of the world s most recognizable Information Communication and Digital Technologies companies are based in Halifax. They span a number of industries and include: Lockheed Martin, the aerospace and defence giant CGI - one of the largest independent ICT services firms in North America Citco - a leading BPO provider to the hedge fund industry CAE - a global leader in modeling simulation and training for civil aviation and defence Radian 6 - social media monitoring company purchased by Salesforce.com Bell Aliant - Telecommunications Eastlink - Telecommunications Minacs Worldwide - Business process/contact centre BlueOcean Contact Centres - Business process/contact centre NTT Data - The sixth largest global IT services provider ADP - Business process accounting COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES Niche strengths in aerospaceand defence, financial services, healthcare ICT, business process outsourcing/contact centres, and gaming and interactive media Reliable and secure telecommunications infrastructure Competitive business costs and incentives to meet your needs like the Digital Media Tax Credit Producing the talent you need Immigration friendly policies to attract foreign workers Strategic location means you can easily do business with Europe and across North America on the same work day

4 RELIABLE AND SECURE TELECOMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE Hibernia Atlantic s Halifax International Exchange Centre. The Hibernia Atlantic network provides fast and secure transmission of data between commercial North American and European clients via redundant routes through more than fifty commercial centers, including Dublin, Manchester, London, Halifax, Montreal, Boston and New York. Halifax is home to Hibernia Atlantic s network cable landing station, known as the Halifax International Exchange Centre. This site acts as a switching hub, and is capable of routing data directly to London, without going through common back-office data sites. Stable power grid. The province is essentially self-sufficient with respect to serving in-province load and is not reliant on external power sources. Downtown Halifax has an extremely high stable power supply, with a System Average Interruption Duration Index of 0.98 meaning that the downtown core is, on average, without service for less than one hour each year. Nova Scotia Power Inc., provides comprehensive disaster recovery plans and servicesto clients to meet their specific reliability needs. 100% Broadband availability. Fee-based broadband service is now available across the entire province. INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS & ORGANIZATIONS Digital Nova Scotia Innovacorp High Performance Incubation Canada Advanced Research and Innovation Network National Research Council Canada

5 INDUSTRY VOICES Gerard Guillemot President Longtail Studios Calvin Gosse Senior Location Executive IBM Canada Jay MacIsaac VP Consulting Services CGI We have been watching Halifax for a very long time, and there are a number of programs that have been put in place to enable video game companies to come to Nova Scotia and Halifax so we jumped on the bandwagon!...there is a great pool of talent and a balanced incentive program to make Halifax attractive. Halifax is simply a great place to establish a business. Building a business here makes sense. For CGI, Nova Scotia has proven to a very sound decision regarding the location of our Atlantic Global Delivery Center serving the business needs of our clients from around the world.

6 BUSINESS COSTS & INCENTIVES Halifax offers more competitive Information Communication and Digital Technologies business costs compared to other cities across North America. In its 2012 Competitive Alternatives survey of 113 jurisdictions in 14 countries, KPMG found that Halifax had significantly lower business costs for digital entertainment, software design, professional and support services for digital entertainment companies compared to all of the major ICT centers surveyed: New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Boston. Furthermore, it ranked 9th out of all 113 jurisdictions in term of costs for web and multimedia companies. COMPARATIVE BUSINESS COSTS FOR CORPORATE, IT & DIGITAL SERVICES KPMG Weighting Halifax Montreal Toronto Vancouver Seattle San Francisco New York Source: KPMG Competitive Alternatives Competitive salaries. Digital industries salaries in Halifax tend to be lower than in other Canadian and American cities a real competitive advantage for companies located here.

7 COMPARITIVE BUSINESS COSTS FOR CORPORATE & IT SERVICES City Support Services Software Design Digital Entertainment 1) Halifax ) Montreal ) Toronto ) Vancouver ) Seattle ) New York ) San Francisco Source: KPMG Cmpetitive Alternatives 2012 Corporate & IT & Digital Services Agreement AVERAGE BASE SALARIES FOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS & IT MANAGERS City Software Developer (w / 8 yrs. Experience Base Salary Halifax $64,438 $69,219 Montreal $69,748 $73,649 Toronto $76,581 $85,250 Vancouver $78,362 $80,946 New York $103,587 $100,557 Seattle $106,878 $86,885 San Francisco $119,294 $105,885 Source: Payscale, November 2015, Salaries represented in their respective currencies. IT Manager (w / 8 yrs. Experience Base Salary Inexpensive office space. According to CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), the average rental rate for class-a office space in downtown Halifax is $19.61/sq. ft., well below that of other major cities across North America. Comparable office space is more expensive in Washington, Seattle, Boston, Vancouver, Toronto, Montre-

8 OTHER INCENTIVES TO MEET YOUR PARTICULAR NEEDS Whether starting, relocating or expanding a business, we have a number of incentives at both the federal and provincial level to help you invest in Halifax. We can assist you identifying the ones that best suit your needs. Nova Scotia Digital Media Tax Credit Nova Scotia s Digital Media Tax Credit is a refundable tax credit for costs directly related to the development of interactive digital media products in Nova Scotia. As of January 1, 2008, tax credit amounts are equal to the lesser of: 50 percent of eligible Nova Scotia labour expenditures; or 25 percent of total expenditures made in Nova Scotia. Corporations may also be eligible to receive a credit on marketing and distribution expenditures to a maximum of $100,000 per product. These expenditures may be made outside the province. To be eligible for the credit, a corporation developing an interactive digital media product must be a taxable Canadian corporation and have a permanent establishment in Nova Scotia. The digital media product to which a credit may be applied must be: interactive; used to educate, inform or entertain users; developed for use by either individuals or businesses; and, must present information in at least two of three formats: text, sound or images. ACOA s Atlantic Innovation Fund A $300 million pool of research funding available to eligible Atlantic Canadian companies undertaking research and development projects explicitly linked to the commercialization of technology-based products, processes or services. Build in Canada Innovation Program (BCIP) Help companies bridge the pre-commercialization gap for their goods and services by: awarding contracts to entrepreneurs with precommercial innovations through a procurement process; testing and providing feedback on the performance of their goods and services; providing innovators with the opportunity to enter the marketplace; and providing information about how to do business with the Government of Canada. Canada Media Fund Champions the creation of successful, innovative, Canadian content and software applications for current and emerging digital platforms through financial support and industry research.

9 Film Nova Scotia s Equity Investment New Media Your interactive media production may be eligible for an equity investment of up to 33% of your total production costs to be spent in Nova Scotia, to a maximum of $30,000. Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) NRC-IRAP offers direct technical assistance, access to the latest technological advances, expertise, facilities and resources to eligible small and medium size enterprises. It may also provide cost-shared financing of innovative technical projects to qualified firms. Nova Scotia First Fund Receive venture capital up to $3 million for your emerging technology company. Nova Scotia Payroll Rebate Businesses can receive a return on gross payroll taxes depending on the economic benefit generated to the Province. NSBI s Small Business Development Program Small and medium-sized enterprises can access capital in the form of interest-free, unsecured, repayable contributions for business studies, capital investment, training, marketing, and quality assurance activities that support business in the region. Assistance is also available to help companies acquire public and private procurement contracts or to develop an innovative product or service. Scientific Research & Experimental Development (SR&ED) Program Canadian controlled private corporations may be eligible to have a portion (or all) of the 35% federal tax credits paid out in cash. If you qualify for the 15% Nova Scotia R&D tax credits, you may be eligible to have a portion (or all) of the credits paid out in cash, if there are no other taxes owing. Workplace Innovation and Productivity Skills Incentive Receive funding to invest in employee and management skills development, and improve productivity. It also helps companies adapt to the introduction of new technology and innovative processes, and enhance international competitiveness.

10 WORKFORCE One of the largest concentrations of universities in North America, producing the talent you need. Halifax has among the highest ratios of educational facilities to population in North America, with six universities offering a multitude of undergraduate and graduate programs. More than 31,000 students are enrolled at these universities every year, while some 7,186 earn degrees and certificates. This is in addition to the 10,745 students across Nova Scotia who attend the Nova Scotia Community College, as well as students graduating from universities in nearby towns and provinces. While many of these institutions offer programs indirectly related to the oceans sector, such as engineering and science degrees, Dalhousie University is recognized as a world-class educational provider of marine-specific programs. Its programs range from oceanography and marine biology, to marine management and marine law. Furthermore, the Nova Scotia Community College offers a certificate in marine industrial rigging at one of its Halifax campuses, in addition to numerous other programs that serve the oceans cluster. They are in the areas of engineering and applied science technology, geomatics, and natural resources and environment.

11 ACCESS TO GRADUATES Below are recent enrolment and graduate numbers in the Maritime Provinces, as well as programs offered by Halifax s universities and community college that relate to the oceans sector. Total university enrolment and graduates in the Maritime provinces, Province Enrolment Graduates Nova Scotia 44,037 9,737 New Brunswick 20,118 4,246 Prince Edward Island 4, Total 68,427 14,888 Mathematics, Computer & Information Sciences enrolment and graduates by province, Province Enrolment Graduates Nova Scotia 1, New Brunswick PEI Total 2,

12 RELATED EDUCATION PROGRAMS AT HALIFAX S POST-SECONDARY INSTITUTIONS Three universities and one college in metro Halifax alone offer programs important to the Information Communication and Digital Technologies sector. Dalhousie University Program Bachelor of Computer Science Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of Science Bachelor of Informatics Master of Applied Computer Science Master of Computer Science Master of Electronic Commerce Master of Engineering Master of Health Informatics Master of Science PhD. Mount Saint Vincent University Program Bachelor of Science Bachelor of Arts Nova Scotia Community College Program Diploma Saint Mary s University Program Bachelor of Science Master of Business Administration Areas of Focus Related to Oceans Graphics, Gaming and Media, Artificial Intelligent Systems, Communications Technolgies and Cyber Security, Big Data Analytics Mathematics Mathematics Health Informatics, Software Systems, Bioinformatics Electrical and Computer Engineering Electrical and Computer Engineering, Internetworking Mathematics, Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Electrical & Computer Engineering Computer Science, Mathematics, Electrical and Computer Engineering Areas of Focus Related to Information Communication and Digital Technologies Mathematics Mathematics Areas of Focus Related to Information Communication and Digital Technologies Computer Electronics Technician, Computer Service Technician, Health Information Management, Information Technology (database management, programming, systems management/ networking, web development) Areas of Focus Related to Information Communication and Digital Technologies Mathematics (Honours), Computing Science Finance, Management Consulting, Human Resource Management, Information Systems, International Business Marketing Sources: KPMP Competitive Alternatives 2014 Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission National Research Council s Cinmaps Nova Scotia Business Inc. Nova Scotia Department of Justice

13 IMMIGRATION-FRIENDLY POLICIES TO ATTRACT FOREIGN WORKERS Bringing temporary foreign workers into the province is straightforward and fast. The Nova Scotia Nominee Program (NSNP) Skilled Worker stream helps employers hire workers whose skills may be in limited supply in the province. The stream helps employers recruit and retain immigrant workers with the required skills for these positions. Work permits issued from the Nova Scotia Office of Immigration are processed more quickly, on average, than most other provinces. A COMMITMENT TO HELPING YOU GROW The Halifax Partnership is the economic development organization for Halifax, Nova Scotia. As a public-private partnership, we bring together all three levels of government, industry, post-secondary and community partners to create and nurture the necessary relationships for business development across a broad range of industry sectors. We can assist you during your site selection process and relocation to Halifax by providing you with: Strategic support In-depth research and economic data Connection to business resources, incentives and financing The customized business case and unique value proposition relevant to your business needs Marketing materials Focused after-care program SmartBusiness, our business retention and expansion program FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT Nancy Phillips Director, Investment and Trade Halifax Partnership nphillips@halifaxpartnership.com

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