PAUL CLARKE
TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL
17 MAY 2012 03:16AM
A shallow talent pool and a lack of good ideas may be a hindrance for New Brunswick’s technology sector, but greater co-operation between players is the key to spur growth, according to some of the province’s leading technology companies.
“Certainly there is a constant challenge with respect to skills and experience, but I think the fundamental factor in truly making a strategy like this effective is the degree to which everybody rallies around it,” said Douglas Robertson, president and CEO of Tech South East.
He was referring to the province’s new innovation strategy announced in a report on Tuesday, which outlines how the province can foster greater innovation in the province.
Published by a 12-member innovation working group, the report provides 38 strategic recommendations.
Included in the report is a five-year plan that aims to increase annual research and development investment from current New Brunswick gross expenditures levels to an annual contribution that is 10 per cent greater than any other province in the Atlantic region.
New Brunswick currently trails the other Atlantic provinces in gross domestic expenditures on research and development per capita.
The report also calls for the establishment of three strategic centres of expertise in the area of mobile computing, industrial design and rapid commercialization of products and services.
In addition, the report calls for a five-year plan that would increase the number of community college seats in the provincial college system by 25 per cent or to ensure that 75 per cent of New Brunswickers who apply to go to community college each year get in.
Robertson described the report as a “holistic approach” and a step in the right direction but said the key to any strategy is “collaboration” between universities, colleges, communities and all levels of government. “The places that I’ve seen that really get it right – whether you’re looking at Finland or Waterloo – everybody is on the same page and everybody is working towards the same vision,” said Robertson. Geoff Flood, president of T4G Ltd., echoed similar feelings.
“If you follow the economic theory that talks about clusters, it requires that there is alignment with every player in the economy. When there is, usually things happen, and I believe we have the ability to do that,” Flood said.
The report talks at length about modelling New Brunswick after successful innovation strategies in Toronto, Boston, Finland, Australia, and Israel. Next week, four New Brunswick-based technology companies are sponsoring a three-day bus trip to Boston to help develop relationships and linkages with other companies and suppliers for export and development, as well as to inspire and motivate innovation in the province.
“The places in the world that really do this well, you see a strong culture of innovation and a strong commitment to education, and that’s something that this strategy is crying out for,” said Robertson.
http://www.telegraphjournal.com/tjonline/business/10462918-262/brunswick-cent-college-companies.html.csp
