British Columbia Innovation Council

With over 15 years experience starting and working with technology companies and having spent time in several technology ecosystems in both Canada and the U.S., I am so excited to be here, leading BCIC as we strive to make BC the best place in the world to start and grow technology companies. In my five-plus months at BCIC we've learned a lot about what needs to be done to make this a reality. We have already funded accelerators in Kelowna and Victoria and at UVIC and UBC. I've also had over 300 meetings with entrepreneurs, governments and partners in BC's technology community, but I ended up spending a disproportionate amount of time listening to entrepreneurs in the Life Sciences and Clean Tech sectors to ensure I understand them. It is also very important that we can be effective in all of BC's regional technology hubs (ISIC, KAST, KRIC, MISTIC, NSIS, Accelerate Okanagan, Sci-Tech North, VIATeC and the Lower Mainland).

I'm convinced more than ever that BC is poised to be THE technology hub of North America. Some of the things that make BC uniquely ideal to achieve this is our proximity to Silicon Valley and Asia's emerging markets, our talented workforce, low corporate taxes, our thriving economy and don't underestimate our beautiful environment. With focus, passion, faith, determination and raw execution, together we can do it and we will. That's why I am so excited to be able to now share with you BCIC's mission, strategies and guiding principles to fortify BC's technology ecosystem and support the creation of thousands of new technology jobs in BC.

Mission: To promote the development of entrepreneurs and the commercialization of technology.

Strategies:

• To continuously measure the performance of BC's technology ecosystem
• With our tech community partners, collaborate to fill in any identified gaps in the ecosystem to successfully move companies from one stage to the next
• Reinvest in programs that have proven to be successful to companies, ensuring they live on
• Demonstrate our success globally in order to retain and attract entrepreneurs

We will execute on BCIC's vision by adhering to these Guiding Principles:

1.  No holes allowed in the technology entrepreneurial ecosystem

BCIC will actively monitor the quality and availability of the support programs available to BC entrepreneurs. It is our responsibility to ensure that there is always somewhere to go for help no matter what stage, technology sector or region the company is in.

We want to help technology entrepreneurs grow their companies from Idea to Anchor. Increasing the conversion rate of BC's technology companies through the stages of maturity, whether companies anchor, exit or fail, our province benefits through the knowledge, experience and reputation gained, wealth generation and increased jobs.

2.  We don't compete with partners

As a government organization, we need to ensure we make room for the community to build solutions on their own. We will never create a competitive program or compete for sponsorship dollars.

As we identify holes in the ecosystem, we will collaborate with partners to help fill it. If we are unable to find a suitable partner, we will fill it ourselves. However once the program has been created and proven to be effective, we will attempt again to transition it over to our partners. BCIC will become an incubator of sorts for programs, but will avoid administering programs over the long term.

3.  Reinvest in success

We will use software to collect a live inventory of our support programs for the tech sector. With this software, our aim is to measure the effectiveness of the programs that we directly support, ensuring the successful ones live on.

4.  Focus on winning globally

Knowing how much we have grown this year vs. last year has little context. Knowing how well we are doing in comparison to other leading technology jurisdictions in the world is what being the "best" is all about. We need to benchmark our performance against the best in the world, learn from them and then one-up them.

5.  Tell the BC technology story loudly and proudly

We already have some great made-in-BC success stories. We need to talk about them and get others to talk about them. No spin, just facts. We need to get loud not only at home, but in other tech hubs in order to strengthen BC's reputation as a tech centre. BCIC will partner with the federal and provincial government to tell our story globally.

6.  Build to scale, remove bottlenecks, work together

The only way we can make BC known as the best place in the world to start and grow a technology company, is to work together. Yes, there is a ton of work to do, but we can do it. We have to realize that competition lies not between ourselves, but between us and other tech regions competing with us for talent, investment and opportunity. Technology growth is what is going to lead the economy of the future and in turn, create a prosperous society for our children.

7.  Be customer-obsessed

Who are our aspiring entrepreneurs? Where were they right before they started? Are they getting younger over time? Are they coming directly from academia? There are things we currently don't know, but we should. We need to respect that their job is very hard and carries a lot of risk. Let's reach these people as early as possible and show them that with our help, being an entrepreneur is a viable career goal.

Who are our current entrepreneurs and technology executives? Learn what they need and what we can we do to give them an unfair advantage.

We've launched our VOTE site specifically to capture these thoughts directly from the source. If you have ideas about what we should be doing, please put it up and let's discuss it openly as a community.

Another idea we have implemented is our staff pay-it-forward program. Our employees are now able to spend one day per week helping a tech company in any way they can. Building companies is thankless and hard work. Startups in particular are under-resourced and can always use some help. At the same time, BCIC will benefit from our staff having a hands-on understanding of what entrepreneurs are going through and how we can help. They can prove or dispel myths and advocate for specific programs that help get their companies to the next stage.

8.  Respect the wishes of our shareholders: the citizens of BC represented by the Government of BC

As a Crown agency, BCIC has a budget of $8.5M of taxpayer's dollars per year from the BC government. I'm a taxpayer and I remember that every time I sign a cheque. The wishes communicated to us via our government is that the citizens want BCIC to 1) support the regional tech hubs, 2) measure our job creation performance, and 3) transparently consult the community before doing anything.

One significant fact to note: The average salary in the BC technology industry is $58,000 per year; the average salary in all of BC is $38,000 per year. It's time we not only gave the citizens of BC a job, but how about a raise as well?

9.  Involve regions in all that we do

Having grown up in a small town of Bolton, ON and spending a summer in Horsefly, BC, I know that our tech regions around the province share many of the same attributes as a tech startup. They're small, smart, nimble, resourceful and eager to prove they can do it. In many cases, they have the ability to build the required ecosystems and adapt faster than the big cities. Boulder, Colorado is a perfect example: with a population of 200,000, they are currently 2nd only to Silicon Valley in tech job density. They achieved that goal in about 10 years. I know how they did it, and we can do it too.

Another important note: At BCIC, we see the Lower Mainland being just one of the 10 regions in our province with its own unique problems to solve. As my friend Steve Wandler from the Okanagan says "It's BCIC not VIC! Programs from BCIC should be setup up to benefit everyone in the province, not just Vancouver." We agree wholeheartedly.

10.  Build trust through full transparency

Under a new policy at BCIC, everything we do must be posted on VOTE first. Although we will make all future funding decisions only after the idea has been sufficiently aired on the VOTE site, we will not make decisions strictly based on the number of votes a certain idea gets. We will however, explain on the vote site how we came to decide what gets done and what doesn't. And people can follow this workflow live and in the open as ideas progress through the following stages: "Under Review", "Planned", "Started", "Completed" or "Declined".

Moreover, all decisions still have to fall within our mandate and means. For example, we will maintain a balanced set of programs that ensure we have a complete and intact ecosystem which takes into account a technology focus, regional participation, entrepreneurship and commercialization, all while minimizing duplication of efforts. Employees of BCIC are encouraged to participate in the site and voice their opinions as well. Many times, BCIC employees have more data to back-up a specific program, but no BCIC employee can make funding decisions without asking for feedback from the community first - including myself.

On Thursday, May 5th, BCIC will host the very first Town Hall. Join us to learn more about our updated structure (stages) and strategy and participate in an open dialogue centred on ways we can further collaborate as a community to make BC the best place to start and grow technology companies!

About BCIC CEO, Danny Robinson

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