We should not wait for rural and regional tech ecosystems to emerge

Lincoln Smith

Building a Tech and Innovation Ecosystem in the BC Interior

Published Jan 19, 2019

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I wanted to take a few moments to talk about why this BCLC program is so impactful for Kamloops and the BC Interior. There is a chicken-egg problem that affects the growth of the tech and innovation economy in regional and rural BC.

For companies to start and grow they require a trained workforce. To attract the workforce to regional BC, we need tech companies and jobs. The lead time between needing and finding must be as short as possible for growth in a fast-moving industry such as technology. Finding and attracting workforce in regional BC takes time new tech companies don't have.

Fortunately, the BC Interior's universities and colleges are training this workforce for us, but this alone does not solve our current workforce challenge. The talent graduating from PSE requires further development on the job. In larger centres with a more mature tech ecosystem, there is a diversity in company size, stage and numbers that provides a shared capacity to be able to undertake this continued training. All of rural and regional BC is not yet in the same position.

The BCLC Business Technology Innovation Lab is replicating this collective capacity of the more mature tech ecosystem. Students are compressing 1-2 years of simulated job experience into a co-op work term. A full eight hour-a-day curriculum is delivered over the first half of the term that sets up the students with skills to develop genuine business products in the second half. Students exiting this program have an immediate impact on the local talent pool and in turn sector growth.

Technology ecosystems in the regional and rural BC are not smaller; they are earlier. For many reasons regional centres can not match all aspects of Vancouver's vibrant tech sector, however, the full and relative impact of a local tech sector in rural and regional centres will far exceed that felt in Vancouver.

We do not need to wait for rural and regional tech ecosystems to emerge. We can, and should, actively terraform them. BCLC Business Technology Innovation Lab is a targeted action to solve a local challenge and a purposeful investment in our regional economy with 5,10 and 20+ year vision. Awesome!

Mike Henry

Great initiative with the British Columbia Lottery Corp and Kamloops Innovation Council. This experiential education is industry current and focused on future development.

Kasey Luft

I very much agree with this article, however, given that co-op placements have been a thing in these communities for some time does that mean businesses are not providing the proper experiences? Are there not enough co-op placements within our communities to serve the students? Do the schools need to be more involved in the co-op placements, providing a better co-op experience for the student? I am interested in learning more about the root of the problem here!

Kuldeep Bath

Technology innovation, like innovation in other industries, comes when there is an environment that fosters creativity; has the backing of the sponsors; and has groups and individuals that are willing to try and fail knowing that eventually they will try and succeed. This program hits on all those marks and we can all learn from it. I, for one, am excited about the ideas this sparks for other organizations.

Andrew Greer

This program is really forward thinking and helps to create much more employable students. It would be great to see it replicated by other large organizations operating in rural and regional BC.

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