Ontario Technology Corridor at GDC

San Francisco GDC 2011 Feb. 28 - Mar. 4, 2011 To use a hockey metaphor, the OntarioTechnology Corridor has dropped the gloves on Canadianmodesty. Executives fromOntarios talent-rich tech cities are promoting pixel-perfect business conditions for expanding digital media companies.The C.D. Howe Institute, whichstudiessocial and economic policies, immodestly states that Canadasinternational reputation as a destination for capital and investment is betterthan it hasbeen for a generation.

As acountry Canada is firing on allcylinders, says Blair Patacairk,SeniorDirector, Investment, Global Marketing, for the Ottawa Centre for ResearchandInnovation (OCRI). Canadas federal corporate income tax rate will fallfrom 18 per cent in 2010 to 15 per cent by 2012 less than half of the topU.S. federal marginal corporate income tax rate, and the lowest in the G7. Wehave the worlds soundest banking system according to the WorldEconomic Forum.And Canada has the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio and the lowest R&D costs in theG7, with a 12.9 per cent advantage over the U.S.

InOntarios collaboratively linked technology regions of Toronto, Ottawa,Waterloo Region, London and Niagara, 22 universities and colleges arepumpingout more than 18,000 graduates per year. Graduates come from 174 specializeddigital media programs including 3D animation, film studies,advanced computerprogramming, math, and hardware engineering.

Ontariosdigital media tech talent bank has attracted international companies likeUbisoft, Electronic Arts and Capcom Entertainment. Animation, specialeffects andmobile apps talent from homegrown firms such as Starz Animation, XYZ RGB, DigitalExtremes, Silicon Knights, and RIM also help createexciting cross-platformentertainment products. These products run on everything from gaming devices tosmartphones to Internet tablets to personalcomputers and 3D cinema screens.

In addition to a deep talent pool and strong economy, targetedtax incentives helped the Ontario Technology Corridor push Canada past the UK lastyearas the worlds third largest centre for video-game development talent,trailing only Japan and the United States. Ontarios Media DevelopmentCorporation (OMDC) is the central catalyst for the provinces cultural media cluster to date the OMDC IDM Fund hascontributed $7.7 million to support76 projects with budgets totaling $32.7million and continues to offer the following incentives, including:

OntarioInteractive Digital Media Tax Credit refunds 35-40 per cent of eligible productioncosts

OntarioComputer Animation and Special Effects Tax Credit refunds 20 per cent of labourcosts

OMDCInteractive Digital Media Fund up to $150,000 in project production funding,up to a maximum of 50% of the project budget. So far in 2011, theOMDC hasannounced $2.0 million in funding support.

About the Ontario Technology Corridor

Employing nearly 260,000 peopleamong 6,400 companies within Information and Communication Technology (ICT)sectors, the Ontario TechnologyCorridor includes the Greater Toronto Area,Ottawa Region, Waterloo Region, City of London and the Niagara Region. TheCorridor also welcomes inpartnership the Province of Ontarios Ministry ofEconomic Development and Trade as well as the federal governments Departmentof Foreign Affairsand International Trade Canada.

The Corridor is supported by theGreater Toronto Marketing Alliance (GTMA), Ottawa Centre for Research andInnovation (OCRI), Canadas TechnologyTriangle, the London EconomicDevelopment Corporation and the Niagara Economic Development Corporation. Formore information, go to www.ontariotechnologycorridor.com.

Ontario Technology Corridor contacts:

Blair Patacairk

Senior Director, Investment,Global Marketing,

Ottawa Centre for Research andInnovation (OCRI)

Cell phone:613-889-8192

Email: bpatacairk@ocri.ca

Jill McCubbin

Conversation Architect

market2world communicationsinc.

Phone: 613-256-3939

Email: jill@market2world.com