Thomson Reuters is to build a new technology centre in downtown Toronto, creating 400 IT jobs.
The Toronto Technology Centre will be initially located in Bremner Tower and focus on emerging skills such as cognitive computing, visualisation, user experience and cloud development. Initial hiring, which will start in the coming weeks, will focus on skills related to the company's cognitive computing initiatives as well as core development. The company says it plans to grow the number of skilled tech staff at the centre to 1500 over time.
"Canada is not only our home, it is home to an emerging ecosystem of world-class technology talent," says Jim Smith, president and chief executive officer of Thomson Reuters. "Our new Technology Centre furthers our commitment to growing Canada's preeminent hub of innovation, and to building the customer-centric platforms and solutions of the future."
Smith and COO Stephane Bello will both relocate to Toronto in 2017 with additional managerial roles moved to the area and recruited locally over the next few years.
Thomson Reuters currently has 1200 employees based in Canada. In 2015, the company established Thomson Reuters Labs - Waterloo Region at Communitech to drive innovation through applied research and experimentation in partnership with academics, students and startups. The firm is also a sponsor of MaRS Discovery District's LegalX Cluster in Toronto. In September, Thomson Reuters announced the sponsorship of a research chair in data science and gift-in-kind of nearly 700 Thomson Reuters Eikon desktops to the University of Waterloo, and the opening of a new customer centre at the company's Bay Street offices.