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🗳️ Question of the Week

Garmin attracts engineers to its Canadian office in Cochrane

In 1998, four engineers in Cochrane, Alberta — a large town of 32,000, nestled midway between Calgary and the Rockies — put their heads together to revolutionize the sport and fitness industry. It was a big dream. Global players like Nike were on a meteoric rise, tech like heart rate monitors had been in operation since the 1980s, and the explosion of the health and fitness industry that began in the 1970s continued to mature.

The four focused on their own niche in the market: a small, accelerometer-based, shoe-mounted sensor that accurately measured speed and distance. In order to view this information in real time, the founders invented an ultra-low-power wireless protocol that became known as ANT+, a standard of interoperability embraced by the sport and fitness industry for decades. They named the company Dynastream Innovations.

Eight years later, the startup caught the attention of Garmin: a company founded in the U.S. in 1989, which first focused on GPS navigation products for aviation. After conquering the skies, as well as the marine and automotive industries, Garmin closed in on the fitness market, and Dynastream seemed like a natural fit. In 2006, the Cochrane company was acquired by the U.S. darling, expanding Garmin’s research and development activities on fitness, outdoor, and wireless products. After nearly 12 years of operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of Garmin, Dynastream Innovations became Garmin Canada in July 2018, and the Cochrane location became the global company’s official Canadian headquarters.

Through a steady stream of  investment from Garmin, the Cochrane team has grown to nearly 250 employees. Just over 200 of those team members are full-time, in highly skilled STEM positions — and more than a few of them have chosen to move to the office from neighbouring provinces, which mirrors the brain-drain rushing into Alberta’s tech scene. 

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