The City of Toronto wants to raise its competitiveness and capacity in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector - with the help of major funding from all three levels of government and a number of business support services.

The recommendations are contained in a new report, called An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Strategy for the Toronto Region, was developed by ICT Toronto, a new tech business advisory group. It was publicly released April 19th, 2006.

The 127-page strategy outlines more than a dozen recommendations to build the city's position.

Alicia Bulwik, a project manager in the city's department of economic development who is managing the strategy, said Toronto is well-positioned at present, but is being challenged with new, emerging economies

The City of Toronto, the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and federal International Trade Canada helped finance the report, which states the the greater Toronto Area has $30- to $35-billion in annual sales, but no coherent plan to promote itself.

The Toronto Region ICT sector is one of the region’s largest private sector employers with some 3,300 firms and 148,000 employees, ICT Toronto describes. Annual exports are around $6 billion.

ITC Toronto wants the city to become the world's fifth-largest technology cluster by 2011, although it acknowledges the region does not do enough to attract high-tech investment.

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The report also calls for public-access wireless Internet services to be put in place, similar to those announced recent by Toronto Hydro. ICT wants to attract more new ICT multinational companies to the region, and increase the rate at which new companies are formed.

Toronto is also the third largest ICT sector in North America, behind San Francisco and New York, based on employment. ICT is called an “enabling sector” in that it allows other businesses and industries to improve productivity and to grow. It makes a substantial contribution to the region’s tax base.