Innovation in the province needs more than a 4-year plan

If you had asked me five years ago if I would still be in New Brunswick, I would have said, “Not a chance.”

Years after studying at Mount Allison University and the Moncton Flight College, here I am in the province back in my hometown of Fredericton, helping to develop the next generation of successful technology companies through my work at Planet Hatch.

Previously, I couldn’t quite see the potential.

After working with start-ups, such as Clarity, and having the opportunity to facilitate Start-up Weekend events with Up Global around the world I saw the potential of what we have in our backyard.

I can see the light at the end of tunnel to get us out of our massive piles of debt. Often times, especially in New Brunswick, we tend to see things as the glass half empty instead of half full.

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us,” Helen Keller once said.

Over the past 10 years and over history, as a province we have had several incredible developments that have revolutionized industries around the world.

From the development of the Scuba tank in the 1800s, to creating a variable pitch propeller, and now creating world class technology companies.

In 2011, we had $1 billion worth of acquisitions through Radian6 (acquired by Saleforce for $360 million) and Q1Labs (acquired by IBM for $700-million plus). The two exits produced 50 new millionaires in the New Brunswick that year.

Moving forward how do we continue to develop these innovations that compete with the world, but yet help bridge our province together. Here are some key points that we need to consider.

Embrace the Digital Future

Love it or not, we’re in the 21st century and digital age. This will create mountains of opportunities that can connect us to other markets faster than anything else.

Yes we can still ship products across the ocean, but what if the product you ship is virtual? What if it was software? In this example, we are no longer bound by geographic areas.

What if we could speed up the process for applications faster by simply providing the options for digital forms and submissions.

Efficiency would be increased and a more streamlined process of services could be developed.

What if every kid could code? We need to prepare our kids to be ready for the future.

Coding will be just as important as math in less than 10 years. Let’s start early and help kids learn now.

We’re broke. So let’s leverage, not duplicate

Let’s face it, our province is broke. Moving forward, instead of creating the same thing in every corner of the province, let’s build on what already exists and strive to improve it.

If we continue to have two to three people working for a supporting organizations, we end up duplicating and also diluting the resources by not having a central hub.

For example with our three-month accelerator program at Planet Hatch, (now powered by Propel ICT) our province does not have enough critical mass yet to have the program running in every city. We need to build clusters and build the critical mass first.

We only have so many mentors, companies and resources to go around. Let’s not dilute the resources by trying to do everything for everyone right at the start —we can’t afford it.

We need to band together and raise the tide together.

We’re not competing with each other, we’re competing with the world. Coordination of all aspects relating to the economy, departments need to and continue to work closely together.

Celebrate our successes

We have programs that are beginning to work, no they aren’t perfect, but we did see one of the highest drops in unemployment in Canada in August.

It takes time for innovation to happen, it’s not just overnight.

I continue to see our companies and partners rave about such programs such as the small business investor tax credit, (which rivals British Columbia) NB Growth Funding, Innov8 Funding and several others.

Planet Hatch is exactly one year old, within our first year with our 11 start-ups, they have raised more than $1.4 million in private sector funding.

Other organizations such as our partners at Propel ICT have also seen tremendous success in their alumni with having created more than 250 jobs from 2011-13 among 30-plus new companies.

Let’s talk about these success in order to help our province learn and get inspired by what is possible and learn from what other regions and countries are doing in order to help devise our own plans.

Innovation doesn’t happen because someone tells you to “innovate” it's nurtured and developed. Policy can definitely help leverage it, but people need to want it.

Create the opportunities to show us what’s possible.

Support initiatives for early-stage start-up development and support. Support initiatives that are helping create an entrepreneurial-minded community and province.

Help us develop the skills to compete in the 21st century.

When it comes to the state of innovation in New Brunswick, it’s not our ability that’s holding us back, it’s the mindset of being able to take the bull by the horns and jump both feet into the digital future.