New tech institute planned for SFU's Surrey campus

The B.C. government will spend up to $17 million over five years to help establish a new computer institute on the campus of Simon Fraser University in Surrey.

Premier John Horgan says the province sees Surrey as a second downtown to Vancouver in the Lower Mainland.

The Quantum Algorithms Institute at the university is part of that vision, and something that Horgan says will create jobs locally, raising Surrey's standard of living.

The province says in a news release that the cost and availability of industrial land are two of the biggest constraints to growth in B.C.'s technology sector.

By developing Surrey as a hub of regional economic growth, Horgan says that will help ease those development pressures.

Horgan says helping Surrey become a so-called innovation hub is intended to complement what is happening in Vancouver, not replace it.