Vanguard Magazine

46 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 www.vanguardcanada.com thE laSt woRd lost opportunity, into a found opportunity. The Canadian government is doing a valiant job at attempting to help bolster the economy with a wide variety of sup- port programs. However due to the pan- demic, many of those businesses which were on the edge of failure, will fail. Plus the change in consumer purchasing habits are all contributing to a record increase in unemployed. It is generally accepted that the economy of tomorrow will change from what is normal today. In order to support the economy of the future, we need to support, develop and "imagine the future possibilities" of the many new innovative discoveries made today. Discovery of the Telephone At a recent cyber conference, I was a speaker on Early Stage Funding for Cyber Initiatives. The following is an example I used for what happens when we do not see the future possibilities of a newly in- vented product: Many years ago a Scottish Canadian built a box with a wire running into another room where there was an- other box. The inventor spoke into one of the boxes "Watson come here"; Wat- son in the other room heard the message coming from the box in his room, spoken by the inventor, Alexander Grahame Bell. The people of that era thought that this new contraption called a tele-phone was a cute parlor trick. He moved to the USA, where his discovery was commercialized. Yesterday, this was an opportunity lost for Canada. Today, it is imperative we reverse this trend. The hard reality is as a country, we can- not afford to ignore any opportunity to examine any innovation which would sup- port our economy with new and ground- breaking industries. Many of us have found that the availability of government support has been located somewhere between lip- service and the vacuum of nothing. We often hear government officials say "by funding the innovations of today, we sup- port the economies of tomorrow". Not the experience for many innovators. Don't get me wrong, I support the government having a rule book for they are spending our money and there needs to be controls. The problem is, once the funding door has been slammed shut, that is it. IRAP Rejection Recently, when speaking to an IRAP ad- visor, he truly understood the opportu- nity for Canada which my malware secure computers represent. Although he wanted to help, he simply could not, because my project did not fall within their guidelines to obtain IRAP funding. Disappointed he could not help, he sincerely apologized. This is not only my story, but it is also an all too familiar experience for many other innovators. Details will vary, but most of our stories can simply be rolled up into one large pile and expressed as "same song, dif- ferent words". There will be many funding applications which will be rejected for good reasons. There will also be those who have had their applications rejected who do deserve a well examined second look. There will be many funding applications which will be rejected for good reasons. There will also be those who have had their applications rejected who do deserve a well examined second look. Getting a Second Look My suggestion is the government needs to develop a new department. For this article, let's call that new department the "Inspector of Second Look". The Inspector's office should have a man- date to take a second look at previously re- jected applications. They need to have the authority and latitude to work with various government departments, but with a more business-like and entrepreneurial mind set. Should an opportunity for Canada be found and the Inspector cannot obtain support from that department, then the Inspector should have the authority to ap- proach government cabinet ministers. The result will be, the doors which were in the past slammed shut, will now be reopened and funding seriously reconsidered. One big problem for the Inspector of Sec- ond Look is, their office would be inundated with frivolous and time consuming inquiries. All inquiries coming into their office need to be from filtered and credible sources. A very good source for second look requests could come from the many Innovation Centers, Centers of Excellence, University Research Centers, etc. These are the people who are on the ground floor. They see and under- stand the subtle aspects of opportunities which may have been misunderstood or overlooked during the first application. Conclusion With the establishment of the Office of the Inspector of Second Look, they will be pre- sented with credible applications to serious- ly reconsider. They will have the authority to take action and be able to capitalize on previously lost but now newly found mili- tary, industrial, cyber, technical, social and economic benefits for Canada. Ralph Kachur has over three decades experi- ence in electronic component technical sales, sales management, project management. He was instrumental in the supply of elec- tronic components used in three satellites circulating the globe, including working on the supply of the CCD imaging sensor used by the European Agency satellite, which pro- duced the first pictures from outer space of the Aurora Borealis. He is the founder and CEO of ROATI Technologies Inc. You can reach him by email at ralph@roati.com. www.roati.com

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