Vanguard Magazine

T TECHNOLOGY WATCH "Building strategies around a "tide lis all boats" philosophy means aligning systemic elements that include political willpower, incentive guidelines, infrastructure investments, workforce development initiatives, and corporate recruitment eorts. A region exponentially increases its attractiveness for foreign investment and innovation if it can align." 38 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 www.vanguardcanada.com superclusters have begun to form: Min- ing Innovation for a New Era (MINE) Resource Development, Mobility Systems and Technologies for the 21st Century (MOST21) focused on the Aerospace sec- tor and an Ocean technology supercluster, OceansAdvance Inc. out of Atlantic Can- ada. There is also a possibility for a large infrastructure-focused one. Building superclusters Former Strategic Initiatives Manager at Bexar County Economic Development, Jennifer Martinez, led the Texas-Mexico Automotive SuperCluster initiative that included five states across a bi-national region. She explained, "Moving across functional/political silos and considering the entire industry system is critical to de- veloping supercluster regions. For govern- ment, it's a vastly different approach from the individual to the collective. Building strategies around a "tide lifts all boats" philosophy means aligning systemic ele- ments that include political willpower, incentive guidelines, infrastructure invest- ments, workforce development initiatives, and corporate recruitment efforts. A re- gion exponentially increases its attractive- ness for foreign investment and innova- tion if it can align." At OMX we are passionate about lever- aging our capabilities to track the positive socio-economic impacts of superclusters once they exist. We believe that there will be tremendous downstream impacts to the economy as a result of inclusion of many parties from SMEs, academia and other involved subcontractors. It has always been my belief that finding a place for a company in a supply chain is how you provide them a leg up in a society and economy, and this initiative could be a very effective way to achieve that. The supercluster materials from the Federal Government very clearly indicate in clause 5.11 titled "Reporting requirements," that entities must "meet the reporting re- quirements on project expenditures and activities, the results/outcomes of the project, and achievement of performance indicators as identified in the Contribu- tion Agreement." I see this as absolutely critical to staying on top of the benefits to the country from this investment – using data to tell the story. For this to work, the industry can't be timid. We need to be bold. Now. We have a real chance to develop homegrown, global capabilities in highly innovative sec- tors. Canada has arguably never been a more attractive place to work to outside talent right now, so it is a good time to take advantage of global human capital to build more Canadian capacity and Cana- dian world leading companies. This is also a great way for smaller tech companies and academia to work directly with some of the largest companies in their field, and it is a huge potential for information-sharing between organizations, which we know will lift all boats. My grandfather turned 90 a few weeks ago. He spent his entire career as an air- craft mechanic, mostly in Mississauga at the time of the Avro Arrow. He lived in Brampton surrounded by other aerospace workers, many of his neighbours working for deHavilland, Avro or Orenda. For his birthday, thanks to Magellan, he toured the old Orenda engine factory. For him and the men of his generation, the avia- tion industry was their life – everything revolved around it. From my own personal experience, I have learned that most of the magic in in- novation happens on the outskirts, in the casual discussions when people gather to- gether around a common interest. One has to think what could have been if we made the bold move as a nation to keep at least a portion of that massive aviation super- cluster we had. Although we did become a serious global player with the introduction of the Pratt and Whitney PT6 jet engine, we might have ended up a global leader in this space. I'm glad we are looking ahead now to what could be in the future. Nicole Verkindt is the technology editor of Vanguard magazine and founder and president of OMX. She is a board member of the Canadian Commercial Corporation and was recently appointed to the board of the Peter Munk School of Global Aairs. Jennifer T. Martinez, Nationwide Innovation Solutions

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