An important skill that a company needs to have is knowing how to recognize an opportunity – and how to take advantage of it before it’s too late. Luckily for Motorola, they have this skill down to a science, and their timing to expand to the Technology Triangle couldn’t be better. Mr. Phillips, vice president and general manager of Motorola, announced last Wednesday that the company will be setting up a new office in Waterloo, Ontario, the hub of engineering. A few days prior, Blackberry announced it would be laying off 4,500 employees. This means there will be tons of skilled, experienced workers looking for jobs, and where will their search lead them? To Motorola, whose goal in expanding to Waterloo was to absorb the area’s wealth of talent.

Motorola has announced its plans to expand to the thriving Kitchener-Waterloo area.

All jokes aside, the Google-owned company “has been planning to open an office in Waterloo for several months,” according to Mr. Phillips, and the influx of unemployed engineers provided by Blackberry was just icing on the cake. Motorola’s targets for hire also include local companies and students and alumni of Waterloo University. Blackberry can be credited for turning Waterloo into a technology hub, but now that it is clearly losing its position as the big dog, other companies have the opportunity to establish their presence in the maturing, thriving ecosystem that Blackberry began. Motorola can be commended for recognizing that fact and for acting quickly to fill the gap left by the formerly successful company.