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BCRSTN: Success in the regions

Last week BCIC hosted members of the BC Regional Science and Technology Network (BCRSTN) in Vancouver for their annual meeting. The group, made up of nine member councils that represent the North, Northwest, Interior, Okanagan, Kootenays and Vancouver Island, got together to discuss the thriving technology economy in regional BC and collaborate on ideas to help develop an even stronger regional infrastructure that fosters a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship within their communities and across BC.

Members of the BCRSTN have a long standing record of success in building the technology sector outside the Lower Mainland and work with over 30% of the technology companies residing in BC. By connecting entrepreneurs with the tools and resources needed to take their innovations from idea to commercialization, the BCRSTN plays a big role in the growth of new companies, jobs and technologies sprouting in regional BC. Recent successes include Vocaba, a Kamloops-based company whose vocabulary and terminology-learning web application is being widely adopted by Thomson Rivers University and Parksville's Pixton Comics, an online comic-making platform with an intuitive click-n-drag interface gives people of all ages the power to tell stories and share ideas through customized comic on the web. Last week, Pixton took home the $30,000 first prize of the 2nd annual BCIC-New Ventures Competition: Regional.

The BCRSTN also promotes entrepreneurial talent development and recruitment through local seminars, workshops and events. Upcoming events include:

• March 1 | Kelowna | "Face Time" with KPMG (AO)
• March 3 | Terrace | 2012 Northwest Science Fair Extravaganza - Terrace (NSIS)
• March 6 | Courtenay | Commercialization Bootcamp (MISTIC)
• March 10 | Prince Rupert | 2012 Northwest Science Fair Extravaganza - Prince Rupert (NSIS)

BCIC provides core funding to members of the BCSRTN, supporting the delivery of programs and resources vital to the development of regional tech communities. BCIC also ensures that regional companies have access to resources outside of their regions. Earlier this month BCIC enabled the attendance of over a dozen regional companies to Wavefront's mPower M2M conference in Vancouver, providing selected companies with complimentary passes and a subsidy to assist with travel costs.

BCIC is looking forward to its continued collaboration with the BCRSTN and many more successes to come!

Tagged as: BC Regional Science and Technology Network (BCRSTN), Vocaba, Pixton Comics Inc.

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