Thinking about equipping your home with a digital brain? Ever wonder if you could monitor your health through a mobile game? What about wearing computerized goggles to check your performance while snowboarding?
Those technologies have all been developed in B.C. the past few years — and the companies behind them are ready to explode with growth in 2015, according to Rocket Builders.
The high-tech consultancy group revealed its 13th annual Ready To Rocket list in Vancouver last week, highlighting 54 companies it believes will grow significantly in the coming year.
The list is divided between information and communications technology (ICT), life sciences and clean tech companies.
When the list first came out 13 years ago, Rocket Builders managing partner Geoff Hansen said there weren’t enough life sciences and clean tech companies to make up their own lists.
That’s changed over the past decade as the tech community has grown from an “old-boys’ club” of mostly industry insiders to the much larger ecosystem it is now, Hansen told investors and advisors February 26 at Harbour Centre during the unveiling of the list.
“The tech industry in B.C. has very, very strong growth and strong companies in all three sectors now,” he said.
Hansen said companies that make the list must be in be in a high-growth market, have a unique competitive position in the market and possess a “must-have” value proposition for the market.
For example, Neurio’s advancements in smart technologies for homes (clean tech), Ayogo’s health-centred mobile games (life sciences) and Recon Instruments’ wearable technology for cyclists and snowboarders (ICT) put those companies on the lists for their respective categories.
Other companies in ICT include Allocadia, Prizm Media, Slack Technologies, Visier and Kashoo Cloud Accounting .
In addition to Neurio, entries on the clean tech list include Aquatic Informatics, Axine Water Technologies and Rainforest Automation.
The life sciences list includes companies like Phemi Health Systems and Qu Biologics.
Steven Forth, a senior management partner at Rocket Builders, said the incubator and accelerator programs springing up the past decade are also bolstering the tech community.
“The accelerators in B.C. …are doing a fantastic job of growing new companies and it’s not just in Vancouver,” he said.
“Tech and innovation is now something that’s happening across the whole province.”
All three full lists can be viewed here .
