Here is the number that should be on every BC tech founder's whiteboard: 3,500. That is the annual target for graduates from Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Applied Sciences by 2030—a significant increase from the approximately 1,800 graduates currently produced annually. While that 2026 figure reflects growth already achieved since 2022, the upcoming expansion will nearly double the supply of engineering, computing science, and mechatronics talent. If you run a tech company in Metro Vancouver and are not planning for this shift in your 2028 hiring strategy, you are behind.
The project anchoring this growth is SFU's multi-phase applied sciences expansion—a new complex spanning both the Burnaby and Surrey campuses. With design approval secured, the project is moving toward construction. The price tag is $120 million. Enrolment increases are expected to flow into the labour market beginning in 2028.
Talent is the primary constraint on BC tech growth. The BC Tech Association's 2025 member survey found that 68 per cent of BC tech companies identify talent availability as their primary barrier to scaling. Companies are competing for engineers and developers from a pool that has struggled to keep pace with demand.
The Surrey campus dimension is particularly significant. SFU Surrey sits at the centre of a 500-acre innovation district adjacent to Surrey City Centre and is directly in the path of the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension. This transit expansion will change the commute calculus for students and employers alike. Geography influences talent retention, and Surrey's transit trajectory is becoming a key asset for the region.
The BC Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills has partnered on the expansion, acknowledging that post-secondary capacity is a matter of economic infrastructure. Forward-looking firms are already repositioning, treating 2028 as a planning horizon. These companies are mapping hiring volumes against expected graduate cohorts and building campus recruiting infrastructure now. Mitacs partnership data for SFU shows robust industry-research collaboration already underway, providing those firms with a structural advantage.
The Business Council of BC has consistently noted that BC's technology and advanced manufacturing sectors face a compounding talent deficit. While no single institution can solve this gap, SFU's expansion represents the most significant domestically controlled intervention currently in motion.
The hiring wave hits in 2028. Companies have two years of runway to build the campus relationships and co-op pipelines that will determine who captures the best talent. The firms that engage now will be better positioned than those that wait until the market tightens further.
