Backgrounder: Western Canada’s Emerging SME Technology Community
THE WIRED WEST
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“The Wired West” is a
metonym for Western Canada’s Emerging SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) Technology Community. (Other examples of metonymy are Hollywood − for the American entertainment industry, Madison Avenue − for the advertising industry, and Silicon Valley − for central California’s high-tech community).
• The term was coined by Calgary-based technology marketers and entrepreneurs, Sharon McIntyre* and Claudia Moore*, and introduced at a
December 2007 tech-entrepreneur panel moderated by American venture capitalist and best-selling author, Guy Kawasaki. (*see end of document for short bios on McIntyre and Moore)
•
“The term Silicon Valley was coined by Ralph Vaerst, a Northern California entrepreneur. His journalist friend, Don Hoefler, first published the term in 1971. He used it as the title of a series of articles "Silicon Valley USA" in a weekly trade newspaper Electronic News which started with the January 11, 1971 issue.” (Source: Wikipedia)
• While tech SME success stories from the Greater Vancouver area, such as Flickr, Bryght and Plenty of Fish have been well-documented, smaller centres in Western Canada (BC, AB, SK, MB) are emerging as hotbeds of SME tech innovation. However most Canadians (and certainly others outside of Canada) are not aware of this trend or these creative companies.
• Some of these tech innovators have been acquired by major international corporations, whereas others continue to operate independently.
Examples of these companies include:
• AbeBooks, Victoria (now part of Hubert Burda Media)
• ACD Systems, Victoria
• Club Penguin, Kelowna (now part of Disney)
• Crossflux, Kelowna (now part of Niva)
• Bioware, Edmonton (now part of Entertainment Arts)
• WINTAX/Chipsoft/Intuit Canada, Edmonton (owned by Intuit)
• iStockphoto, Calgary (now part of Getty)
• Veer, Calgary (now part of Corbis)
• Immersive Media, Calgary
• Critical Mass, Calgary (half-owned by Omnicom)
• StumbleUpon, Calgary (now part of eBay)
• VoodooPC, Calgary (now part of HP)
• Elluminate, Calgary
• Solium, Calgary
• SMART Technologies, Calgary
• Merak Projects, Calgary (now part of Schlumberger)
• Cronus, Saskatoon
• Talking Dog Studios, Saskatoon
• Sidetrack, Winnipeg
• Protegra, Winnipeg
• etc. etc.
• Over the years, dozens of national, provincial, municipal and public-private initiatives have been formed to attempt to incubate and nurture this kind of innovation. (For example: BCTIA, WINBC, CTI, Infoport, TEC Edmonton, SATA, ICTAM, etc. etc.) Results have been mixed, with many entrepreneurs choosing to operate independently of these “official” organizations.
• Despite these institutional initiatives, there remains the distinct lack of a “Silicon Valley calibre” sense of entrepreneurial community, clear points of access to venture funding, and global visibility for the companies and their products.
• Researchers have identified that social networks and a sense of community can be as important as venture capital to a flourishing technology hub or region:
“… The present structure of the social networks in Silicon Valley and its historical development can explain the higher growth and development of the region in comparison with other regions in the world. […] Any attempt to replicate Silicon Valley is unlikely to succeed (or succeed at the level that Silicon Valley has) unless dense social networks among actors that promote trust and cooperation are simultaneously developed and supported over time.…” (Source: Castilla, E.J. (2003), ‘Networks of venture capital firms in Silicon Valley’, Int. J. Technology Management, Vol. 25, Nos. 1/2, pp.113-135.)
• Undoubtedly, a sense of “place” anchors this Western Canada region: mythic natural landscapes, sparsely populated geography, intensive telecoms access reaching out to world markets, and proximity to a market-giant neighbour.
• Terms such as middle-of-nowhere, wilderness, nature, wide-open spaces, forests, mountains, campfires, winter, arctic, tundra, big sky, and prairies come up when describing this Western Canada region.
• However, in today’s Internet-enabled marketplace, a marketing-savvy SME business can thrive and carve out a global market niche. In fact, running a business “from the middle of nowhere” can prove to be a strategic business advantage in terms of space to create, lower operational costs, quality of lifestyle for founders and employees, and time to adjust the business model with less intense performance pressure.
• Business trends which apply here include “small is the new big,” niche marketing, micro-brands, blogs, communities of interest, and social networking.
• A series of tech events, media articles, a Web community, a book, and an interview series about this phenomenon are in the works.
GOALThe term “The Wired West” will become a virtual campfire around which Western Canada’s emerging SME tech entrepreneurs can connect, share stories, exchange ideas, innovate and attract the world’s attention.
ABOUTSharon McIntyre has shared her passion for marketing and communications with global corporations, start-up enterprises, public sector organizations, non-profits, and students for 15+ years. She has held senior marketing positions and consulted in a variety of domains including software technologies, telecommunications, housing, publishing and education.Claudia Moore is President and co-founder of marketing consultancy, Material Insight. Formerly Vice President, Customer Strategy with Stormworks Ltd. and a senior communications consultant with Parallel Strategies, Claudia contributes a decade of experience gained as a senior marketing and communications consultant.
A couple of quotations have often risen to the surface in past weeks ...
