Block party celebrates tech

Photo: Contributed

More than 300 people partied in a Kelowna parking lot Friday night.

Technology enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, and supporters of the tech community gathered for a good time at the Accelerate Okanagan Block Party.

CEO Raghwa Gopal says the sold-out event brought together industry insiders and those looking to get into the local tech sector.

“It is a huge opportunity for these people to meet, get to know each other,” he said.

According to Gopal, several of the sponsoring companies got their start with Accelerate Okanagan.

“They started here with one person or business, now they have all grown ... with between 15 and 70 employees who are all making good money and support us,” he said.

The team from Accelerate Okanagan brought in a special lawn bowling area, jousting station and a portable "parklet" that was displayed on Cawston Avenue last week.

Gopal says the timing of the event was important because of recently released results from an economic impact study.

“Two years ago, we hired a company out of Vancouver to do an economic impact study,” explained Gopal. “Combined, the total economic impact of the high-technology sector in the Okanagan is estimated to be more than $1 billion.”

He says 1,100 new jobs have been created in the tech sector during the last two years.

“My goal is to grow this tech economy in the Okanagan to a $2-billion economy,” said Gopal. “Currently, the wine industry here has a $2-billion dollar economic impact, and so I want the tech sector to grow to have the largest economic impact in this area.”

Accelerate Okanagan holds a big event every year; this is the second time it's been a summer block party.