Windsor trying to enter tech sector

As Blackberry falters three hours away, Windsor continues to try and position itself as a tech sector hub.

Chamber of commerce preside Matt Marchand claims the city's tech sector is "very vibrant, diverse, and dynamic tech sector."

"We have a very quiet, but a very strong technology sector and an outstanding entrepreneurial class that is really second to none in Ontario," Marchand said. "They are very quiet, but I can assure you, they are very successful and they are growing."

Too quiet for some.

Andy Kale of Red Piston, a Windsor company that makes smartphone apps, said Windsor is still fighting to be heard.

"We're trying to crack in and start a new industry here and it's just trying to shed that whole automotive industry mindset," he said.

Marchand agrees.

"We have a long-standing reputation as being a centre of automotive excellence, we have some outstanding entrepreneurs in the automotive sector but that sort of shadows over our technology sector," Marchand said.

Kale thinks that auto image might be stopping large companies from moving to Windsor-Essex.

"There's a lot of little independent small companies, like ourselves, starting up and trying to establish an industry but there's no major player that draws a lot of attention," he said.

He says larger companies aren't choosing to set up in Windsor.

Kale said businesses and people are more inclined to go to Detroit rather than start-up in Windsor

"There are more bigger companies with bigger budgets and bigger thoughts in terms of projects and they want to get going on. So it's definitely bigger over there." he said.