Tax Breaks

Interview: Ian Kelso, president and CEO of Interactive Ontario

I spoke with Ian Kelso on Sunday, August 29 at Fan Expo 2010, shortly after he was featured as part of a panel addressing the state of the local games industry in Toronto.  Ian is president and CEO of Interactive Ontario, an interactive media industry trade organization dedicated to fostering the growth and prosperity of digital content creators within Ontario.  We discuss here the role and mandate of Interactive Ontario, government funding opportunities for interactive media creation, digital games as cultural products, the state of games at Fan Expo and industry events like it and how changing models of digital content creation and distribution may encourage more social acceptance of video games as forms of cultural expression.

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Brady Curlew (BC): Can you please introduce yourself, your organization and its mandate.

Ian Kelso (IK): My name is Ian Kelso, I’m the president and CEO of Interactive Ontario, which is an association of 250 companies in Ontario working in interactive entertainment, creating intellectual property for digital platforms.  These companies make not only video games but also mobile media, online media and e-Learning products.

In terms of our mandate, Interactive Ontario is a non-profit organization and our purpose is to primarily serve our members.  Our membership is made up of all growth companies, so a lot of what we are concentrating on is finding ways of accessing public-sector and private-sector financing for them, and we work a lot with the government on programs and tax credits but we’re also trying to train investors and venture capitalists about the industry.  We’re also involved with cultivating talent and making sure our schools and universities are putting out the right kind of talent for the industry.  Those are the two main functions – we do some marketing, working with the Interactive Ontario brand, going to different markets and shows around the world.

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Gamasutra Feature – “UK vs Canada: Do Tax Breaks Build an Industry”

Gamasutra has posted an interesting feature that explores how government support of game developers is affecting the industry within Canada and around the world. Do Canada’s tax breaks harm development and poach talent from other jurisdictions, like the United Kingdom?

UK vs Canada: Do Tax Breaks Build an Industry By Paul Hyman