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Kanata North rides a perfect storm of opportunity Thirst for talent speaks to area’s growth and prosperity
T
he depth and quality of Kanata North’s labour force cannot be denied and yet employers find themselves challenged to find the talent they need fast enough. Can you say “boom?” It’s just one more indicator of the resilience, strength and appeal of Kanata North as a great place in which to start and grow a world-class technology company.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2016
TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP According to Jenna Sudds, Executive Director of the Kanata North Business Association, the area is on a growth tear thanks to the intersection of technology, talent and opportunity. The greatest opportunity lies with 5G – the next-generation wireless communications. The 5G network is crucial to support the growth of smart cities, driverless cars and the Internet of Things. “When we consider the number of companies taking part in the development of 5G, the multinationals that have chosen Kanata North as their R&D centres and the presence of the CENGN consortium, it really is indicative of the talent that is located here,” Sudds said. “I see endless opportunity.” Complementing that traditional strength in telecommunications is the growth of other hot sectors like Software-as-a-Service. In fact, software is Kanata North’s fastest growing industry sector, anchored by the L-Spark incubator.
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THE WAR FOR TALENT Algonquin College plays a key role in the growth of Kanata North as a training ground for the talent that growing companies need. President Cheryl Jensen co-chairs a President’s Advisory Panel with Sir Terence Matthews to serve and anticipate local talent needs. Algonquin also recently announced a new $44.9 million Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Learning Centre and Institute for Indigenous Entrepreneurship. This facility is scheduled to open at the Ottawa campus in 2018. “We are very fortunate to be a part
of a city that believes in this kind of growth,” Jensen said. “Thanks to key partnerships with and input from the Kanata North business community, we are building up our city and our workforce to be among the absolute best in the world.” National employment agency Adecco Canada has long had a location on March Road in Kanata, to serve the needs of local tech companies. Branch Manager Lorraine Gignac works with Sudds and local HR professionals on the Business Association’s HR Leaders Council. Such collaboration is crucial to address common challenges for employers to attract and retain the talent they need in a fiercely competitive market. “It’s been a very positive experience helping new companies hire and watching them grow,” Gignac said. “So many cool technologies are coming to Kanata in addition to the ones we already have. People are attracted here, I think, because of the cost of living and the quality of life.” LOCATION. LOCATION. LOCATION. Kevin Ford, CEO of Calian Group, is no stranger to the area’s appeal. Calian is a 35-year-old home-grown success. “It’s a great place to start and grow a technology and professional services company,” he said. “It’s a great place for talent, which I consider a key ingredient for any corporate growth strategy. When you have a mix of great tech companies clustered together it always creates a great dynamic, an energy, and that energy is back in Kanata North. You can see it with established companies and startups alike.” For Ed Bryant, that dynamic includes the other critical growth ingredient – access to capital. The President and CEO of boutique investment bank Sampford Advisors is positive on the flow of capital into Kanata North. “We are going to see another solid year that will meet or beat last year’s decade-long record,” he said. “Our weak dollar is attracting U.S. attention
Above: Jenna Sudds, Executive Director of Kanata North Business Association, presents the Kanata North #serioustechliveshere BOB Award for “Best Team of the Year” to You.i TV CEO Jason Flick. Below: Jenna also presented the Kanata North #serioustechliveshere BOB Award for “Best Company of the Year” to Peter Strom, president & CEO at March Networks Inc. PHOTOS BY MARK HOLLERON
– American venture capitalists are waking up to the fact that their dollars can go further in Canada.” But despite all the activity and growth, pockets of prime real estate remain for start-ups and multinationals alike. According to Peter Dooher, owner of commercial real estate firm Merkburn Holdings and past chair of the Business Association, options range from 1,000 square feet to 100,000. And it’s all younger inventory that’s top-notch, with high-speed fibre connectivity,
high-capacity power services and superior operational efficiency. “I strongly believe in Kanata North,” he said. “It’s an awesome area. If people look at it objectively, this area is the finest tech cluster in Eastern Canada.” FIND OUT WHAT MAKES KANATA NORTH SO COOL Learn more about why Kanata North is a great place to start and grow a technology company at www.serioustechliveshere.com
LOCAL FIRMS MAKE THE GRADE IN DELOITTE’S FAST 50 TECHOPIA.ca
OTTAWA’S TALENT SHORTAGE: MYTH, REALITY AND MISMATCH BY CRAIG LORD
Last year, the Information and Communications Technology Council made big predictions about the demand for Canadian tech talent in coming years. It forecasted the demand for 182,000 additional ICT jobs by 2019, 9,900 of which would need to be filled in Ottawa, and followed that up projecting that the level of homegrown talent would be insufficient to fill this demand. Flash forward to this past spring, and Ottawa employers seemed to be in agreement. For the second year in a row, OBJ’s Business Growth Survey reported that attracting skilled talent is the No. 1 concern for local business leaders, with 47 per cent citing “skilled workforce” as a top concern. Reading all of this, you might feel warranted to panic and declare a fullblown “talent shortage” in Ottawa tech. As usual, the truth is more complicated than any sweeping declaration that our tech ecosystem is faltering. Ottawa’s tech
industry is in fact growing, quite rapidly, and many in the city are taking steps to try to ensure that the talent pool keeps pace.
HELP WANTED: There are opportunities in Ottawa’s tech market, but they come with their own challenges. Klipfolio founder Allan Wille was sitting down to a dinner this past spring with a few local CEOs. During the dinner conversation, he heard that the same frustrations he saw at his own company were being felt throughout the city. “Somebody asked the question, ‘Who’s hiring right now?’ And I think every single one of the CEOs put their hand up,” he says. Today, Wille says he’s feeling the talent squeeze even more acutely. Whereas then he was only having trouble getting a hold of experienced talent in the city, he’s now also having difficulty getting recently graduated students from the pipeline. Students who have been through university co-op programs are often the
FINDING EMPLOYEES WITH THE TECHNICAL SKILLS YOUR NEED FOR YOUR BUSINESS
44%
47%
FINDING EMPLOYEES WITH PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE IN YOUR SECTOR
34%
45%
focus of competition among employers, he says, while lower-tier talent sits on the sidelines. “The cream of the crop is being hired aggressively. We’re not going to bring in people who aren’t a good fit, even in a difficult hiring market,” he says. Troy English, chief technical officer at Ross Video, says that while he can usually find local talent to fill roles in the company, he thinks Ottawa employers poaching existing talent from one another is unproductive. “The biggest issue in Ottawa is getting new people who are very strong,” English says. Wille agrees: Ottawa needs external talent to thrive, and lobbying the government to implement a fast-track visa program has been a priority for his company. Relocating a worker to Ottawa, a six- to nine-month process rife with uncertainty, is “an anxiety-induced system,” Wille says. The company recently had an employee leave Klipfolio because of inefficiencies in
the current system. The federal government appears to be listening. It announced it would be making changes to rules around skilled foreign workers coming to Canada. Specifically, the changes - which came into effect Nov. 19 - will make it easier for foreigners who studied in Canada, as well as those already here on temporary work permits and those individuals with offers of short-term contracts, to live and work in Canada. Invest Ottawa is gearing up to embark on an external marketing campaign in the new year to attract foreign talent to the city, recognizing the need to bolster the talent pool. “There’s only so much you can do in Canada,” says Invest Ottawa’s Laina Pilon, noting that the need for tech talent expands beyond the city. “We talk about the opportunities in the Ottawa ecosystem for tech talent to come and set up, and that’s not something we’ve usually done in the past. That’s kind of a new area for us,” she says. The current hiring climate has also forced Klipfolio to adapt: Wille says that the company is putting money in its budget next year specifically for recruitment.
A TALENT ‘MISMATCH’: Not everyone is on board with the idea of a talent deficit, though. “I’ve been hearing this story of talent shortage in Ottawa for the better part of 20 years,” says Luc Lalande, executive director of the Entrepreneurship Hub at the University of Ottawa. “I really have a hard time getting my head around that.” Lalande sees a steady stream of grads in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics leaving the university only to come up empty-handed in the job market or find work in another field. Continues on page 4
HIRING INTENTIONS: IN THE NEXT SIX MONTHS, DO YOU PLAN TO...
REDUCE EMPLOYEE NUMBERS 4%
DON'T KNOW / NO COMMENT 11% RECRUIT NEW EMPLOYEES 39%
FINDING EMPLOYEES WITH THE SOFT SKILS NEEDED FOR YOUR BUSINESS
23%
44%
FINDING EMPLOYEES WILLING TO RELOCATE TO OTTAWA
34%
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2016
19%
KEEP EMPLOYEE LEVELS ABOUT THE SAME 46%
FINDING EMPLOYEES WHO STAY WITH YOUR BUSINESS FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME
11% 34% SOURCE: WELCH LLP / OTTAWA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OTTAWA BUSINESS GROWTH SURVEY OF MORE THAN 650 LOCAL BUSINESS LEADERS IN MAY 2016
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“I think as a company, if you can get those two things right — having a clear direction on what you are trying to do and bringing in great people who can execute on Follow TECHOPIA on Twitter @techopiaOTT or like us at Facebook.com/techopiaOTT the stuff — then you can do pretty well.” – MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO OF FACEBOOK
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Continued from page 3 Commercial real estate firm CBRE released a report this month taking a look at the top tech cities in the country and noticed similar phenomena. While Ottawa has the most educated workforce in the country, with 43.4 per cent of workers holding bachelor’s degrees or higher, Ottawa also led the way in so-called “brain drain.” Comparing figures of who graduated with a degree in the city from 2010-2014 with the number of jobs added in the city from 2011-2015, CBRE found a drain of 37,458 people. (Figures don’t refer solely to STEM-based degrees, but those degrees are included.) Lalande has a few explanations for why Ottawa breeds such an educated workforce but fails to convert talent into jobs. “STEM degrees don’t necessarily translate into STEM skills,” he says. He says that post-secondary institutions need to consider whether the educations they offer are aligned with the needs of employers. Borrowing a line from blogger Irving Wladawsky-Berger, he sees Ottawa’s problem more as a talent “mismatch” than a shortage. Our homegrown talent is perhaps more in need of work-aligned training than traditional curricula offer. “I think we have to look under the hood of these degrees,” says Lalande. On the other hand, the CBRE report had a number of positive things to say about Ottawa’s tech market. It said the rate of growth in Ottawa’s millennial population is second in the country, real estate costs are relatively affordable and the city boasts more than 10 per cent of the total number of tech jobs in the country. “We’re not competing on the scale of Toronto and Vancouver, just because of
LUC LALANDE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP HUB. FILE PHOTO.
STEM degrees don’t necessarily translate into STEM skills. I think we have to look under the hood of these degrees. — LUC LALANDE
their size, but on a per capita basis, we’re punching above our weight,” says Shawn Hamilton, managing director of CBRE Ottawa. Hamilton adds that the continued presence of companies such as Ericsson and Ciena – which, after buying up divisions of Nortel, could have relocated years ago for cheaper real estate – is a reflection of the value of Ottawa’s talent pool.
TEAM EFFORT: Employers, students, universities, local organizations: There are things each party can do to improve the tech talent field for themselves. Students will need to incorporate skills-based learning into their education, whether it’s through their degree, a co-op program, extra-curricular activities or supplementary classes. If students can
get into a company to do real-world work, English says that’s an immediate boost to a resume. “We use the co-op program in large part to really interview prospective candidates. I think the co-op program is probably the No. 1 thing you can do,” he says. Carleton University recently announced a work-integrated learning partnership with Shopify to “take co-op to the next level,” a program you can read about indepth on the following page. Lalande adds that rapid skills obsolescence is a rising threat to all members of the workforce: Odds are, given the rate of technological development, the skills you graduate with today aren’t the ones you’ll need five years from now. Constant learning, then, is the key to remaining employable. Companies can also take initiative to find and attract top students to their teams, getting them in their pipeline of candidates sooner. “What all employers need to do is really focus on their employer brand,” says Wille. Invest Ottawa and Shopify are sponsoring the Startup Open House later this month in an attempt to introduce students to prospective companies such as Klipfolio, Martello Technologies, The Better Software Company and You.i TV. “Most of the companies that are opening their doors are hiring and they’re trying to get their brand out there,” says Pilon. The problem of the talent shortage isn’t imagined, but neither is it a nuanced understanding of the situation the city faces. Ottawa has talent, but it needs more, and it needs to better prepare that talent for the current demands of the labour market.
POST-SECONDARY ENROLMENT NUMBER OF STUDENTS
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2016
UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA 42,027
CARLETON UNIVERSITY 27,241
ALGONQUIN 17,173
2012-13 TOTAL 86,441
UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA 42,587
CARLETON UNIVERSITY 28,048
ALGONQUIN 17,170
2013-14 TOTAL 87,805
UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA 42,672
CARLETON UNIVERSITY 28,523
ALGONQUIN 17,426
2014-15 TOTAL 88,621
UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA 41,754
CARLETON UNIVERSITY 29,127
ALGONQUIN 17,881
2015-16 TOTAL 88,762 100,000
60,000
0
20,000
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HOW WOULD YOU RATE POST-SECONDARY INSTITUTIONS IN CANADA IN PREPARING THEIR STUDENTS FOR YOUR COMPANY?
4% 47% 27% EXCELLENT JOB
GOOD JOB
POOR JOB
7%
14%
VERY POOR JOB
UNSURE
SOURCE: WELCH LLP / OTTAWA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OTTAWA BUSINESS GROWTH SURVEY OF MORE THAN 650 LOCAL BUSINESS LEADERS IN MAY 2016
EARNINGS SEASON IN OTTAWA: WHO’S UP AND WHO’S DOWN TECHOPIA.ca
SHOPIFY, CARLETON PARTNERSHIP HOPES TO CREATE ‘EXCEPTIONALLY CAREER-READY’ STUDENTS In September, Shopify announced a partnership with Carleton University to put their students to work. For the past three months, 11 students enrolled in Carleton’s Bachelor of Computer Science (BCS) program have been splitting their time between the campus and Shopify’s offices for a hands-on education at the e-commerce firm. BY CRAIG LORD
ADRIANNA CHANG AND HER CLASSMATES HAVE MADE SHOPIFY THEIR CLASSROOM. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON
to see if we can use a lot of what we know about learning and pedagogy and apply it to situations like this where you don’t necessarily have the restraints of 200-300 people classes. So that really excited me,” she says. Shopify benefits in two ways from running the program, Carmichael says. Primarily, it gets students into Shopify’s pipeline earlier, and grooms them for roles in the company as soon as they graduate with their BCS. At the same time, Shopify sees it as a responsibility to do its part to ensure Canada has the tech talent required to fill emerging roles. Whereas that role may traditionally have fallen to government and universities, the company feels it’s also the private sector’s job to make sure the tech ecosystem is thriving. “It’s not just everybody else – industry
needs to step up as well and contribute to the solution,” Carmichael says. The benefits are a bit more obvious for Carleton. Howe says this program is a way to attract top students away from other Canadian and American universities, specifically mentioning the University of Waterloo as a notable competitor. Shopify and Carleton have an exclusive partnership for the next two to three years, but both Howe and Carmichael expressed interest in expanding the program in coming years, and even open-sourcing the model so the program can be replicated in an effort to fill talent gaps across the country. “Right now we have 11 students. That’s just a drop in the bucket. If we can scale this model across different partnerships, then we can start making a bigger dent,” says Carmichael.
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a look at what BCS students learn and places students in projects and roles where they can acquire the requisite skills and knowledge. “Students get the opportunity they can’t get anywhere else, to work and earn money, work with high-end developers solving real-world problems and at the same time get their BCS. It’s a really attractive package,” Howe says. Gail Carmichael leads Shopify’s external education team, where the broad mandate is to “make learning computer science better for everyone.” When Shopify was looking for a partner on a project like this, Carmichael’s connections as a former lecturer at Carleton led her to believe the university would be willing to try something new. “I’ve always been very passionate about computer science education, and trying
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The program is unique in Canada. By the end of their four years, students will graduate not only with a BCS, but with four years of on-the-job experience. They still take classes and attend lectures, but many of their days and afternoons are spent entirely at Shopify learning the basics of coding. In the coming semesters, students will join teams at Shopify and give input on the company’s projects – and get paid for it. “It couldn’t be better. I love spending time here,” says Adrianna Chang, one of the students enrolled in the ShopifyCarleton program. “I love going back and forth between Shopify and Carleton. The workload has been really manageable and the work has been really fulfilling.” Chang says that the practical elements of the program caught her eye when she was applying to schools. She knew of Shopify when she participated in an event sponsored by the company in high school, and figured working with the company would add a great deal to her education. “It was definitely a big factor, taking into consideration which program or school would prepare me for the workplace, because at the end of the day, that’s really what matters,” she says. One of the unexpected positives in the program from Chang’s perspective was the diversity of students in the program. She says she was expecting an experience similar to her high school computer science classes, filled largely with males. The Shopify program’s cohort is more than 50 per cent female, though, including older returning students and a few international participants from Colombia and China. Professor Douglas Howe, chair of Carleton’s Computer Science Department, sees this as an unprecedented opportunity for students. “These students will be exceptionally career-ready,” he says. Howe says that while traditional co-ops can sometimes be random in terms of where students end up and what they end up learning, the Shopify program is better aligned with the Carleton curriculum. Shopify’s external education team takes
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OTTAWA’S VERSATURE GROWS THROUGH INTEGRATION TECHOPIA.ca
MADE IN OTTAWA: RIMIKON LIGHTS UP THE CAPITAL While a licensed electrician is required to install most traditional lighting systems, Despite their ubiquity in homes and the low-voltage nature of Rimikon’s offices around the world, traditional light technology means it can be installed by bulbs come with significant drawbacks: contractors performing other fit-ups in a Toxic components, limited lifespan, building, according to the company. electrical shock hazards and, in the case of LED lights are growing in popularity older incandescent bulbs, heat and wasted in large part because of their long life and electricity. relatively low operating cost. An Ottawa-based firm believes it has According to the U.S. Department of the solution. Energy, the average annual operating Rimikon develops LED lighting control cost of a 12W LED is $1. It produces the systems that allow users to adjust a room’s same amount of light as a traditional illumination with their smartphones. 60W incandescent bulb, which costs The low-voltage lighting systems – which $4.80 a year, and a coiled 15W compact include recessed lights, strips of LEDs and fluorescent light, which costs $1, the ceiling panels – can be installed in places government agency says. that were traditionally off-limits for lighting Rimikon’s lights are manufactured installations, such as showers and exterior in China, but the control systems are areas that are exposed to rain and snow, and designed in Ottawa. have a lifespan of 50,000 hours. “We didn’t invent the wheel. We just BY PETER KOVESSY
RIMIKON’S LIGHTS ARE TESTED AT THE OTTAWA OFFICES. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON
made it better,” said co-founder Richard St-Jacques. The company is looking to double in size to 15 employees over the next year by hiring more engineers so more prototypes can be developed at Rimikon’s headquarters. “We’re trying to do everything here in Ottawa,” St-Jacques adds. Rimikon, which was founded in 2013, sells to contractors and distributors who are in turn hired by homebuilders as well as commercial and institutional property owners. The company’s technology can be found in thousands of buildings across Ottawa, including classrooms in St. Paul’s
University as well as homes constructed by Minto, Brigil, Valecraft and Tamarack. It’s also recently been approved to sell its products through Canadian Tire stores, giving it access to the retail market.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2016
07 TECHOPIA.CA
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Moving to Canada? We can help. American tech workers, businesses likely to be welcomed by tech hub, Ottawa “Deep in our history of struggle for freedom, Canada was the north star. The freedom road links us together.”
the President-Elect plans to deport millions, to close America’s doors (and build a wall), Canada is in the process of implementing a robust plan to increase our population and build a stronger country by actively recruiting the skill and experience of those from abroad. We value not just demographic diversity but diversity of values and beliefs. Canada’s future depends on the contributions of newcomers.
will find themselves very much at home in Ottawa. A technology hub and home to research and development offices for many U.S. multinational corporations, Ottawa is already a premier destination for technology expertise. Ottawa’s highly educated workforce means that those who come to our City with an eye towards starting businesses and hiring local talent will have no shortage of qualified people to hire.
President Obama summed up the shared values between Canada and the United States later on in his speech to our Parliament. Those values include “pluralism and tolerance, rule of law, openness, global engagement, and commerce, and cooperation, coupled with equal opportunity and an investment in our people at home.”
The United States is Canada’s sixth largest source of immigrants. Throughout our history, many have moved north to do business, reunite with family, and to find love. The North American Free Trade Agreement, which united the diverse populations and economies of the United States, Canada and Mexico, has led not only to the free flow of goods between our countries but also of people. Thanks to NAFTA and our bilateral relationship, American citizens do not need visas to visit Canada and can apply more easily for work permits. While Canada cannot accommodate every potential immigrant, American applicants for permanent resident status will find themselves nearer to the front of the line and with shorter wait times than those from elsewhere.
To those Americans (and of course others) who want to live in a country that values diversity and progress, we welcome you. As
Among the skilled potential immigrants who may see a future for themselves in Canada, those who work in the tech industry
For 45 years, our team at Perley-Robertson Hill & McDougall have represented American professionals, families, small business owners and entrepreneurs in navigating the process of becoming Canadian. Warren Creates is a certified specialist in Citizenship and Immigration Law (Immigration and Refugee Protection) and has successfully helped thousands of businesses and individuals create new beginnings throughout Canada. No matter where in Canada you intend to settle, we can do it. Many of our clients have connections to the technology industry, as Warren represents software companies; IT services providers, defence contractors and other high tech businesses. We have a proven track record of success, deep experience serving technology firms and we know our country. If you are considering moving your family or business to Canada, write us or give us a call and we help you navigate the path to becoming Canadian.
W
hen U.S. President Barack Obama invoked the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. while addressing the Canadian House of Commons in June 2016, few could have imagined that the election of Donald Trump would once again turn American eyes to the North. On election night, as state after state turned Republican red, the website of the Canadian Department of Citizenship, Immigration and Refugees crashed. Moving to Canada could be an option for many Americans (and others) who no longer see their own values reflected in their country’s leadership and growing divisiveness.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2016
Warren Creates is Head of Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall’s Immigration Law Group. He can be reached at wcreates@perlaw.ca or 613.566.2839.
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www.perlaw.ca
Adam Sadinsky s a Student-at-Law at Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall. He can be reached at asadinsky@perlaw.ca or 613.238.2022.
WHAT’S HAPPENING Stay up to date with TECHOPIA’s calendar of events at techopia.ca
ANGEL INVESTOR LAURIE DAVIS. PHOTO PROVIDED
People sometimes have way too muddled of a message.”
WOOD: “We need to know who you’re competing against and why you’re going to defeat them. And also a financial view of what investments you need and how you’re going to turn profitable.”
TECHOPIA: What’s the best way to connect to an angel?
DAVIS: “Warm introductions always work
STRAIGHT DOPE - HOW TO PITCH TO AN ANGEL If you’re looking for funding, sometimes your best shot is
an angel. But more often than not, your prayers fall flat and investors aren’t impressed. Techopia spoke to angel investors Laurie Davis and Rob Wood, members of both Purple Angel and Capital Angels Network, to hear their dos and don’ts of pitching to an angel. TECHOPIA: When you’re being pitched to, what’s your mindset going in? What are you looking for in an investment opportunity?
DAVIS: “It’s pretty straightforward: Do we
WOOD: “In very simple terms, very low risk, very high profit. We’re looking for things that may have an explosive, exponential growth. At the same time, we’re looking at all aspects of the business to minimize our risk. The people that are running it, what their experience is, how creative the technology
is, what the competitive landscape is, what’s their business model, how creative are they. There’s a number of boxes that have to be filled in in order for us to move ahead.”
TECHOPIA: What are the biggest dos and don’ts when you’re pitching an angel?
DAVIS: “Some people try to make things sound too complicated because they think complicated means sophisticated. If you can’t describe a business model for a startup company in a few sentences, there’s something fundamentally wrong with it.
have websites that allow entrepreneurs to approach the angel organizations directly. There are also organizations that are cultivating startups, the Lead To Win organization, L-Spark, Invest Ottawa and the TiE organization.”
DAVIS: “At the end of the day, a city like Ottawa is a small community. We all know each other, either directly or one step removed. All those organizations Rob mentioned, we’re always talking. Getting into that community is an important step.”
TECHOPIA: Anything else? DAVIS: “It’s the team that’s the important thing. It’s a small group of people that are determined to make a product successful that makes a difference. It’s investing in people that have what it takes. Technology’s always great, market’s always great, but you have to have somebody who will make it happen.”
WOOD: “We certainly see a range of entrepreneurs, from those that are very open to those that are very open to directional discussions, and there’s other people that are adamant that they know the route to success and are unwilling to take any input. Those, invariably, are the ones that get us in trouble. We’re very much looking into what sort of people are we investing in.”
09 TECHOPIA.CA
think it’s going to be profitable? Although angel investing has the word ‘angel’ in it, it’s not some sort of gift from God. Our intent is to make investments that will return a
profit. I wish we were always right – we’re generally not – but at the end of the day there’s got to be something you believe is the right kind of business with the right kind of people that can turn it into something that’s going to be profitable.”
WOOD: “At the most basic level, we
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2016
What follows is an edited transcript of an interview between Techopia, Laurie Davis and Rob Wood.
better than cold introductions. I get asked this question all the time by entrepreneurs, and I always say there’s three answers: ‘Networking, networking and networking.’ They gotta get out there. Every day of the week there’s some event going on in Ottawa for entrepreneurs and you gotta attend these things, you gotta get to know people.”
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This ivory tower is open for business uOttawa Innovates builds bridges with Faculty of Engineering alumni
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2016
t’s been a priority for Dr. Ioan Nistor, Interim Dean, from the day he joined the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Engineering – break that old perception of academia as an ivory tower distant from the corporate world. Many Faculty of Engineering alumni, after all, have achieved great things through their careers as innovators, entrepreneurs and executives. They have a lot to offer. For students, they are mentors and potential employers. For professors and grad students, they are collaborators and partners who can help focus academic research on areas of value to local technology companies and specific industry sectors. “We have such a tremendous pool of talent that has come out of the university that we barely tapped into in previous decades,” said Dr. Nistor. “I think universities, as a whole, in Canada do a rather poor job at that.” Earlier this month, the Faculty held its first uOttawa Innovates event as part of a new strategy to address this gap. The uOttawa Innovates event series connects the Faculty of Engineering with its alumni, partners and friends from the technology and innovation sectors. Each uOttawa Innovates event will feature updates on the latest technologies and initiatives developed by the Faculty’s researchers, students and alumni.
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An inside look at CEED The inaugural event on Nov. 4 featured a Design Showcase that provided an inside look at the Faculty’s engineering design facilities that are part of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Engineering Design (CEED). These include the Brunsfield Group Student Engineering Project and Entrepreneurship Centre, where students can design, fabricate and test complex prototypes; the Manufacturing Training Centre, where students get formal instruction on how to fabricate in
Photos by davidtaylorphotostudio.com
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Nick Burgel, shares the importance of the CEED for students.
A member of the uOttawa Supermileage team explains the efficient operation of the car.
Dr. Ioan Nistor hands out the Alumni Award of Excellence to Mr. Jean-Michel Lemieux.
a machine shop; and the Project Integration and Team Space, or “PITS.” Attendees could also network with the 2016 recipients of the Faculty of Engineering Alumni Awards of Excellence (see Sidebar). “As an alumnus, you always take pride and experience some sense of belonging when your school reaches out and values your achievements,” Dr. Nistor said of the Awards. “I want to ensure alumni feel that they belong to the Faculty and that there is something in this for them as well.” Taking it on the road The uOttawa Innovates event series will not be limited to the campus. Kyle Bournes, Alumni Relations Officer for the Faculty of Engineering, intends for this to be a roadshow, with open houses at host companies. Earlier this year, the Faculty held a successful pilot
event at Pivotal Labs in Toronto, where alumnus Rahul Singh serves as VP of Engineering. The event featured an appearance by the Faculty’s Make Mobile. “We want to demonstrate that the Faculty is open for business and seeking collaboration,” Bournes said. “Not only with our alumni, but with the innovation and technology sector in general, whether that is here in Ottawa, or in other cities where we find many of our alumni, such as Toronto and Montreal.” In fact, uOttawa’s Faculty of Engineering is becoming a school of choice in Ontario. More of its first and second year undergrad students now hale from the GTA than from the National Capital Region. “It’s great to launch something and see such a positive impact from it,” Bournes said. “We want to engage with strong corporate partners to help us build out the tech innovation sector in Ottawa and elsewhere because each year we graduate so many people who go to work in the local industry, as well as other tech clusters between here and Silicon Valley.”
Winners of the uOttawa Faculty of Engineering’s Alumni Awards of Excellence: Alumni Award of Excellence Jean-Michel Lemieux (BSc ’96, Computer Science), SVP of Engineering at Shopify, Ottawa, ON Entrepreneur of the Year Mina Lux (BSc ’90 (BASc ’92, Chemical Engineering), Founder & CEO at Meelo Logic, New York, NY Young Alumni Award of Excellence Mike Cook (BASc ’03, Computer Engineering), President at Identos, Toronto, ON Alexandra Bissinger (BASc ’09, MEng ’13, Civil Engineering), Team Leader, Programs at Defence Construction Canada, Comox, BC
Learn more about uOttawa Innovates at engineering.uOttawa.ca
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e introduced the exciting arrival of Ranzure Networks onto the Ottawa high-tech scene in a previous issue of OBJ/Techopia. Ranzure, seed funded by anchor investors Mitel Mobility and Live Oak Investments, is a growing new company focused on bringing 5G to the planet. “Ranzure’s innovative development of 5G Cloud RAN technology is going to revolutionize the way mobile networks are deployed and how they deliver services”, says Erik Boch, co-founder and CTO of Ranzure. Ranzure is growing its world-class R&D operations to fuel the development of revolutionary Cloud-based SW and highly deployable, auto-configuring micro basestations that will deliver 1000 - 10000X the capacity of current mobile networking solutions at a fraction of their cost.
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RNCN_003_Embedded Software Engineer – Networking and Connectivity • Networking stack integration, including rich Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) and Carrier Ethernet features & services; QoS, MPLS, VLAN, link aggregation, E-Line, E-LAN, E-Tree
RNCN_008_Embedded Software Engineer – Simulation, Test & utilities • Continuous integration, including CM scripts & make files. Hands on Experience in Yocto/ make/Python /C/C++. Experience working with ARM, FPGA SoC devices, as well as board bring up and hardware debugging RNCN_009_FPGA Design Engineers • Experience working with FPGA SoC devices. Especially involving radio design and development. Knowledge in RAN technologies; LTE, eNB, 3GPP IRP, NRM. Desirable to have experience with algorithm design using Matlab Simulink. FPGA design; pin mapping, constraints, RTL, Simulation, etc…
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RNCN_007_Embedded Software Engineer Datapath Control • Experience working with ARM, FPGA SoC devices, as well as with LTE/eNodeB/RAN technology development. Algorithm design using Matlab, including Simulink and 3rd party DSP implementation blocksets
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