BC’s Creative Tech Ecosystem: Driver of Growth & Opportunity
ICTC, Kano, Animal Logic Group, DigiBC, and ILM Vancouver invite you to a virtual panel on November 8, from 1:00-2:30 PST. Join us for an opportunity to engage with experts and industry leaders to learn more about the many and diverse opportunities in BC’s thriving creative tech sector.
The digital economy is rapidly evolving, bringing with it new opportunities for innovation and growth. The birthplace of Canadian creative tech, BC is a key global market for this quickly scaling sector. Video games, animation, and visual effects are industries that contribute substantially to BC’s economy, offer thousands of high-quality employment opportunities for British Columbians, and have proven resilient in the face of the pandemic. In 2020, DigiBC, ICTC, and B.C.’s Ministry for Advanced Education, Skills and Training (AEST) teamed up to lead a first-of-its-kind study on the creative tech ecosystem in British Columbia. 49 studios participated in the study, representing 10,000 jobs spanning programming, art, design, and production.
This virtual panel will provide:
An overview of the AEST-sponsored ICTC and DigiBC’s study “Benchmarking the Creative Technology Ecosystem in British Columbia”
An understanding of key industry verticals (video games, animation, and VFX) and their talent and skill needs
A discussion on strategies to secure a strong future for creative tech in BC, including building a robust talent pipeline that matches growing employment demand
An opportunity to engage directly with experts via Q&A
ICTC is pleased to introduce you to our esteemed subject matter expert who will be joining the discussion on November 8th :
TIM TEH, CEO and co-founder of Kano
He is a Victoria-based independent developer of social and mobile games. Kano has released successful games on platforms like Facebook, iOS, and Android and has a loyal fanbase of tens of millions of players worldwide.
SHARON TAYLOR, Group Chief Operating Officer of the Animal Logic Group
Sharon Taylor is the Group Chief Operating Officer of the Animal Logic Group, where she is responsible for the leadership and management of the production and operational activities across all three locations – Sydney, Vancouver, and Los Angeles.
Sharon joined Animal Logic in 2005 and progressed from various production accounting roles to eventually become the Head of Production Accounting in 2011. Her deep experience and insight into the fields of animation and VFX led her to fulfill the role of Group Head of Production in 2014. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, The Great Gatsby, The Avengers, and The LEGO Movie franchise are just a few of the films that have benefitted from her strategic guidance.
Prior to becoming COO, Sharon took the helm of Animal Logic Vancouver as Executive Vice President and General Manager, overseeing the start-up and rapid growth of the new studio through to delivery of The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part of which she was also Co-Producer. Animal Logic is currently in production on a diverse slate of animated features, including DC Super-Pets and The Magician’s Elephant to name a few.
A strong proponent for inclusivity, Sharon is committed to supporting initiatives that ensure equal representation in the digital realm both on and off the screen. She is also active in ensuring the strength and longevity of various Animation and VFX industries around the world and enjoys building collaborative teams working together to achieve greatness.
LOC DAO, the Executive Director of DigiBC
The Creative Technology Association of BC is representing the video game, animation, VFX, virtual reality, augmented reality, and XR industries. He serves on the board of the Canadian Interactive Alliance representing Interactive Digital Media in Canada and is a Board Director for Story Money Impact, the producer of Good Pitch Vancouver.
Loc is the co-founder of the groundbreaking NFB Digital and CBC Radio 3 studios and their industry-shifting bodies of work. He has won over 100 awards including Producer of the year, FWA site of the year, a Cannes Cyber Lion, and 10 Webby Awards. He was recently the Chief Digital Officer for the National Film Board of Canada and has advised the Government of Canada, Canada Media Fund, Sundance, Tribeca, IDFA, and VIFF Film Festivals. He’s also a founding member of the Guild of Future Architects.
JEFF WHITE, Visual Effects Supervisor/Creative Director of ILM Vancouver
Jeff White is a Visual Effects Supervisor and Creative Director for ILM Vancouver. In 2018, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored White with a Technical Achievement Award for his original design of ILM’s procedural rigging system, Block Party. That same year he received an Oscar nomination for visual effects for his work on Kong: Skull Island.
White joined Industrial Light & Magic in 2002 as a creature technical director. He is a graduate of Ithaca College’s Cinema and Photography program and has a Masters of Fine Arts from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Prior to attending graduate school, White worked as technical director for Laika Studios in Portland, Oregon.
After arriving at ILM, White worked as a Creature Technical Director on a variety of films including Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events, War of the Worlds, and Star Wars: Episode III “Revenge of the Sith”. White is also the co-creator of ILM’s well-known Block Party creature rigging system, which automates the time-consuming process of complex character rigging. On Transformers he served as Digital Production Supervisor. Continuing his work with the franchise, White served as the Associate Visual Effects Supervisor on Revenge of the Fallen and Co-Visual Effects Supervisor on Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
In 2012, White served as the ILM Visual Effects Supervisor on Marvel’s blockbuster film The Avengers directed by Joss Whedon, and received both an Academy Award and BAFTA nomination for the work. After a stint supervising the early work on Michael Bay’s Transformers Age of Extinction, Jeff assumed the role of Visual Effects Supervisor on Warcraft, based on the legendary video game by Blizzard Entertainment. In 2017 he served as the Visual Effects Supervisor for Kong: Skull Island, for which he received a nomination from the Visual Effects Society for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature in addition to the Oscar nomination.