PARTNER: RBC

The head of RBCx shares his bold vision for the new brand

Don’t let RBC’s old age fool you. While the bank boasts nearly as much history as Canada itself, it refuses to simply settle into the role of a wise elder. Rather, RBC wants to compete with tech’s biggest innovators, tapping its deep experience, capital, and networks to come out on top.

They say big ships steer slow, which is a nonstarter in today’s fast-paced tech landscape. This makes fi nding the right captain for the job—one who can deftly translate size and ambition into speed and real-world results—essential.

Enter: Sid Paquette, the man charged with merging and leading two of RBC’s most innovative arms. Paquette was fi rst hired three years ago to lead RBCx, the tech and banking innovation platform of RBC. In April 2022, he was also appointed head of RBC Ventures, a cutting-edge group tasked with going beyond banking to solve problems in strategically important areas.

Now, both arms unite under a rebranded RBCx. It’s a powermove that will reshape Canada’s innovation ecosystem and amplify RBCx’s role as a key industry leader.

“In a short period of time, RBCx established itself as one of the leading tech brands in the country, and certainly within the fi nancial institution world. It made sense to carry forward with that momentum,” says Paquette.

Of course, this is all much easier said than done, but he welcomed the challenge. Step one was working to refi ne and communicate the new RBCx’s mission and brand story.

“You need to have a clear message in the market,” says Paquette. “If you can’t communicate what you do, who you serve, and how you serve them in Sid Paquette

a clearly articulated manner, then the story is broken.”

Finding the right company structure, sorting out logistical details, and implementing new operations will be ongoing projects. It’s important to Paquette that RBCx will continuously transform, morph, and push itself to be a better version of itself.

Some may fi nd this type of ongoing pursuit daunting, but he says it’s a process and feeling RBCx employees should get accustomed to. “Members of this team have to be super, super comfortable with ambiguity. If you stay on the forefront of disruption, no one can disrupt you.”

While RBCx lives and breathes tech innovation, its biggest assets are talented team members who come together from two separate brands to complement and boost one another under a single banner. He points out this doesn’t only benefi t clients and partners, but provides a unique opportunity for employees.

“When you’re creating a brand and presence, the brand is an amalgamation of all the individuals on that team’s personal brands. The way we operate, the way we think about personal brand development, and the way we’re going to highlight people, will recognize and celebrate that reality,” he says. “The only way all of this works is with the amazing talent that we have.”

Paquette believes talent needs to be recognized not just internally, but publicly as well—and RBCx fosters the perfect environment for that to happen. Team members will be powering the biggest names and up-and-comers in Canadian innovation, which will give them outside exposure and spark invaluable word-of-mouth conversations.

“People will talk, and they’ll be talking about ‘the rockstar at RBCx who helped me grow my business,” Paquette says. “Now, all of a sudden, your personal brand explodes based on the value you’re driving, and it’s not siloed under one organization,” Paquette says. “You’re exposed to the world.”

When it comes to the core bank, RBCx’s value extends beyond making a mark in the tech space or powering a bold future. “If you altruistically help RBC business units, internal ventures, and external companies reach their objectives using the platform we have built, there is zero question that this will help the core bank,” says Paquette. “ When you focus on providing value, the P&L impact will always follow. We’ve already proven this on the tech banking side”.

As ambitious as all of this sounds, Paquette’s metric for success is as straightforward as it can get: “I just want us to be the driver of change both internally and externally.”

With the offi cial launch of the new RBCx, Paquette and his team are well on their way.

Hub350’s newest member is giving kids the chance to become the next big innovator

Consulting for IKEA, Walmart, and the United Nations. Building on the blockchain, creating with CRISPR, innovating with AI, and so much more. What sounds like a bucket list to most, was a happy reality for this year’s class of The Knowledge Society (TKS) Ottawa students.

And it can be for the teenager in your life too, starting this September at Hub350.

The Knowledge Society (TKS) is a global 10-month innovation program for students ages 13-17 to explore how they can use emerging technology, foundational mindsets, and 21st century skills to tackle some of our world’s biggest problems, while being part of a global community of like-minded people.

The program is modeled after curricula from Harvard, Stanford, and MIT, and designed to replicate the learning environments of forward thinking organizations like Google and Facebook.

Simply put, TKS is a training ground for the real world. Which is why TKS is SO excited to have joined Hub350.

It’s important for our students to not only learn about what it’s like to work create and build the latest cutting-edge tech. Launched just over a year ago, Hub350 supports the Kanata North Technology Park by providing spaces equipped for government, academia and the tech industry drivers to share ideas with each other and the world.

Since its launch, Hub350 has proven that another old adage (uttered by that great philosopher, Kevin Costner) is true. If you build it, they will come. Hub350 has been abuzz with events putting great Canadian innovative minds and new talent in the same room.

Who’s heeded the call so far?

The Knowledge Society, an organization that trains Ottawa highschool students in a 10-month innovation skill-building program, held their fi rst in-person event at Hub350.

Carleton University’s School of Journalism, Innovation Hub and CU@ Kanata delivered a joint presentation on several topics, like how to leverage the media to gain exposure and how to get VC funding.

An Algonquin College Corporate Learning Centre Training Session helped 50 attendees learn about mental health and employee wellness initiatives.

Carlton University’s Faculty of Engineering and Design: Women in Engineering & IT Program was a twoday event backed by 16 industry and government partners to help close the gender gap in STEM.

within the real world, but to actually build and work alongside them. At TKS, students learn how to make it real.

Hub350 provides that opportunity for students in Ottawa, to learn from the local tech community, and also to give back and contribute to the local ecosystem.

It benefi ts Hub350’s partner companies too.

Students not only collaborate by sharing their Gen Z perspective on what these companies could be doing to tackle real challenges they face today, but they help to solve them as well.

At TKS, students learn to develop a bias towards action, a bias towards building.

Students participate in weekly interactive sessions (run out of Hub350), participate in group projects in tandem with industry, and build a portfolio of projects they have built with emerging technology, designed to solve real problems.

Hub350 makes a splash in its fi rst quarter

If it’s true that two heads are better than one, the happenings at Hub350 may have blown more than a few minds during its fi rst quarter.

Hub350 is where Ottawa’s innovation and tech community go to collaborate,