Eastern Ontario Economic Showcase featuring Donald Trump

Yes “The Donald” in Ottawa – live and in person – on September 24, 2009 at the Ottawa Civic Centre.

Join Donald J. Trump and other industry and political leaders for this exclusive business development event.

Learn of existing economic development and partnership opportunities in Eastern Ontario. Gain valuable insight from renowned experts on:  Accessing Capital, Innovation, Strategy and Managing Change.

Meet and learn from Donald J. Trump, one of the world’s most recognized and successful entrepreneurs. Mr. Trump will deliver a motivational and inspiring address on what it takes to be a leader and achieve goals in business and in life.  

Be one of only 90 community and business exhibitors at this prestigious and exclusive business development event. Develop strategic partnerships, examine potential commercialization links and network with the best and brightest in Eastern Ontario.

Visit www.ocri.ca/showcase for more info.

Start-Ups strut their stuff at Ottawa Venture & Technology Summit

Challenging times? Sure – but that hasn’t slowed down this program. The 12th annual Ottawa Venture and Technology Summit (OVTS) gets underway on Wednesday, October 8th at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier, Ottawa. This two-day event is an excellent platform for technology start-ups to present their business cases for early- and middle-stage financing to an audience of over 200 debt and equity investors including merchant bankers, angel investors and corporate investors, venture capitalist and private equity partners, analysts, entrepreneurs and government representatives from Canada, the U.S., and Israel. The event also provides an excellent opportunity for investor networking and connecting on deal flow and investment opportunities.

Timely keynote speakers include The Honourable Mr. Justice Michel Bastarache, Counsel, Heenan Blaikie and former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (Oct. 8 at 8:00 a.m.) who will speak about “Financial Markets Regulation – A Contrast of Nations” In light of the current U.S. financial markets turmoil, he’ll contrast risks and protections afforded by the regulatory and legal environments on either side of the border.  Stephen S. Poloz, Senior Vice-President, Financing, Export Development Canada (Oct. 9 at 12:00 noon) whose session entitled “The Impact of Global Economic and Financial Markets Upheaval on the Technology Sector” will trace out recent developments in global economic and financial markets and gauge their likely impact on the technology sector.

Insightful and interactive panel sessions include: Government led funds-of-funds programs; Crystal ball on Canadian venture capital; and Acquisitions and IPOs: Where will the next buck stop?

This is surely one of the best events of the year to mix and mingle investment with opportunity.  Could the timing be better? Absolutely – or maybe not.  In times like this, you can count on only the most serious players coming to the table.  

Best of luck to the presenting companies!

On the Deep End – Talent Bridge continues (By: Steve Robins)

TalentBridge fills an essential gap in the development of young entrepreneurs in Ottawa. Its design as a business internship modelled on a technical co-op provides a unique learning opportunity for students – important especially since it is outside of your primary academic discipline. Without over generalizing, I would say that it is fairly typical of business placements for university student to be in data-processing, reception or other basic tasks. TalentBridge, in my opinion, differs and differs from that model in an unique way wherein it provided me with a high-level exposure to marketing, sales & business strategy to students that I would have had very limited opportunity to access otherwise.

So I was often asked over the course of summer about my thoughts about the program looking at it as a computer science student. I would say, TalentBridge recognizes that computer science students learn in co-op through coding, biomedical science students learn in co-op through research, so students with an interest in business should learn through active participation in business activity. TalentBridge’s position as a facilitator that is around to plan and manage the co-op student/employer relationship while ensuring that all parties goals are met helped ensure a better learning experience for myself and helped Rove Mobile (the enterprise) get more value out of my skill set. To have Manu Sharma, the program manager, as a sounding board on a regular basis (we spent one day a week with Manu at the Entrepreneurship Centre) was in my opinion a huge differentiator for the program. We had active mentoring at two levels, with Rove Mobile as well as with OCRI, and that was a huge learning opportunity in itself.

What else? I see TalentBridge stepping into the role of a key talent aggregator in the Ottawa community. SMEs often do not have the time to search for young talent that will only contribute for four months, universities do not have co-op programs for business students targeted at SMEs and students don’t have the time to apply at hundreds of small companies across Ottawa, many of which they could not have heard of unless they were already plugged in to the tech community. I believe that with time TalentBridge will emerge as the central location for students to look to gain a life experience, primarily because the structure of the program protects the interest and aspirations of the students without compromising on the degree of their engagement with the industry.

I have only two more weeks left with the program, and when I leave I will carry with me a strong message in support of the program. I see TalentBridge as the missing bridge between students and the tech community in Ottawa that will allow students to get their foot in the door with an SME, on the basis of their merit and their merit alone. As the core messaging of the program lays it out, it is a pathway to training the next generation of business leaders by letting them get a head start within the ecosystem and start contributing and building a reputation for themselves. It is great to spend time on the deep end.

Talent Bridge – Innovation and Innovation Support (By: Emily Chan)

Passion Drives Success
 
“A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position”
–John Maxwell
 
What do you do when you have an idea for something new? What support is there for you? How can you develop your inspiration before you lose it?
 
As I am spending time with OCRI’s Talent Bridge program immersed in the world of Business Development, Business Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Innovation etc, I am surrounded by individuals who are constantly striving to find answers to some of these questions. In parallel, I am also rethinking and developing my own thoughts around these topics.
 
The idea of innovation today is so convoluted that the word itself seems to have lost meaning. The misconception consists of people believing that you can stick a creative individual in a room and expect new ideas and thoughts to flow out like clockwork. Let us remember for a moment the creation of Post-It© Notes. The adhesive was not designed for the purpose of removable notes but instead a result of research into a super adhesive. This accidental discovery has led to more than 600 Post-It© Products selling in over 100 countries. The Post-It© story was a success because the idea and use of the adhesive was supported by one person who persevered with the notion that it would be marketable. This was a story I heard during our meeting with Luc Lalande in his office at Carleton University when we met him as a part of our Talent Bridge meetings with supporters and champions of entrepreneurship and innovation in Ottawa. The story left an immediate impression and put into context the message that Luc was trying to convey – innovation best thrives in open supportive environments.
 
Luc Lalande is the Director of the Innovation Transfer Office at Carleton University. During our meeting, Luc spoke of innovation and Carleton’s efforts towards supporting and nurturing innovation on its campus as also in the Ottawa community. Here are some of his thoughts that I was able to capture in our meeting.
 
What is innovation?
 
Luc mentioned that he faces constant challenges with support for young entrepreneurs that have new and interesting ideas. He explains that innovation is not about having a creative individual in a lab researching the next upcoming great idea. Innovation is finding the one in a hundred reason that an idea will work and building on that.
 
How can we support innovation?
 
Luc explained that innovation is not a linear model where steps can be mapped out and a set timeline can be planned. But, when the idea strikes, Luc is there to provide support where he can. Currently at Carleton University, there are four programs that provide help to innovative ideas: Technology Venture Challenge, Social Innovation Challenge, Open Source Talent First Program and the Foundry Program.
 
These contests and programs provide the chance for students with ideas to meet and network with others that have similar or complimentary ideas as well as those that can support them. Luc has the passion to see success in the ideas that are brought to him and helps with the process of working it out into a business without making a judgment call on the individual. The programs have their up’s and down’s (successful start-ups as well as not so successful endeavors), however, the support will always be there.
 
How should we approach innovation?
 
The key to seeing where an idea may lead, is realizing that one idea leads to another. Luc uses the example of Crocs©. The company started by designing a boating and outdoor shoe with material that is slip-resistant with a non-marking sole. Since then, the brand has become a fashion trend styling from the original product to rain boots to canvas shoes and even 3-inch heels. The idea essentially moved away from what it was initially pitched as, and since then it has taken different shapes of its own. An openness towards and belief in the potential in unseen and unexplored opportunities has evidently worked well for Crocs, and that’s precisely how most innovation should be looked at.
 
Final Thoughts on innovation?
 
Luc Lalande believes in nurturing the ideas that are presented to him and developing them into something bigger without worrying about formulas and established practices around traditional technology transfer and innovation support. Innovation at Carleton University provides support to students that want to go after it – even if it may not work for them initially. The support system Luc has created firmly establishes that Ottawa is still a great city for innovation. 
 
Our meeting with Luc established a need for more programs like Talent Bridge. How else would I have gotten such an opportunity to have a candid interaction with someone like Luc for a conversation that has added a new perspective to my understanding of entrepreneurship and innovation? Together with my experience in Rove Mobile, where I am working closely with the management and the sales and marketing team, the Talent Bridge meetings and visits are a great source of new information and experience for me.
 
More stories to come.
 
Emily Chan
Talent Bridge – Summer 2008

OCRI-Entrepreneurship Centre and Small Business Centres in Finland

An eventful and safe return via the delights of Amsterdam was the cap to a successful trip to Finland and Estonia courtesy of the Federation of Finnish Enterprises.

I was asked by the federation to speak at their yearly conference, held this year in Tallinn amidst unbelievably well preserved 13th century buildings. It is quite the setting!

The topic was the model that the OCRI Entrepreneurship Centre uses in the delivery of SME services to our client groups. An interesting fact is that while Small Business Centres in Ontario total 57, and serve an overall population base exceeding 12 million, in Finland they have over 417 local associations, 21 regional based centres and 49 trade centres serving a total membership base- country wide of approximately 90,000 businesses. 98% of these have less then 10 employees.

Finland’s total population sits at around 5.2 million

Our strength and strategic alliances within the youth sector, as well as the ability of the EC to work quickly and effectively with private sponsors to support not only some of our funding requirements but also to act as key strategic partners in industry- is a novel concept for many of these centres. Being state-run limits, at times, their overall ability to act in an entrepreneurial manner- the hands-are-tied approach does not often instill confidence in the aspiring entrepreneur simply looking for help and advice.

A nugget of learning taken from the conference, and from my new Finnish friends- is their focus on the selling, and succession planning of and within SMEs. Where we have a “youth, starting and growing” focus, they include ’selling’ to the mix as more and more businesses are requiring help in succession.

Our web site -and the strength of our domain- was a hit and was our forthcoming model for growth -iProfit (using a web 2.0 platform as a complement to face-to-face mentoring).

Some contacts outside the realm of the EC were developed and passed along to the appropriate OCRI personnel-..

Great trip- experience- people!

Kittos,

Micheal Burnatowski

 

Entrepreneurship Centre-Mentors-Proteges and back..

From Mentor to Protégé and back…

 

How often does one see or hear of a brilliant and creative business idea and say “why didn’t I think of that?” Much too often for most and yet for many- it is a trigger that begins a journey as an entrepreneur.

 

As a founder of a small start-up, I have often required a helping hand from someone who has ‘been there, done that’.  And being a start-up there was always a bit of baggage – minimal cash on hand! What I needed was a mentor – a volunteer mentor.

 

Mentors are the unsung heroes of many a fledgling business as they provide guidance, advice, networks, and in many instance the most important need that a lone entrepreneur requires to make it through another day- a sounding board. (the back and forth conversations over how to get your product to market – at no cost yet with Frank your pet dog- just doesn’t cut it, …… after a few weeks).

 

To be frank (intended), each day that goes by without any bit of progress in the lonesome world of many a start-up entrepreneur, often creates a circle of doubt and leaves the drive, creativity and positive thought process to the dogs. (enough!)

 

The role of a mentor is to offer expertise in the development and growth of a business by helping prioritize plans, strategies, and if needed- hard hitting realities of the situation at hand. All should be captured and relished by the ‘protégé’.

 

 We are in the midst of launching a new version of the typical mentor-protégé relationship at the OCRI Entrepreneurship Centre in Ottawa. With the soon to be launch of a new web site offering clients ease of use and more interactivity in their small business research, the iProfit model of mentoring and advisory services will integrate Web 2.0  into an effective, time is of the essence, portal privy only to mentor, protégé and the OCRI Entrepreneurship Centre business advisor.

 

Crucial to the success of a small business is the ability to draw on expertise today and not tomorrow. iProfit provides the mentoring parties to immediately connect and respond to time sensitive issues which arise in the development and growth of any business. If required and convenient, online can take the place of face to face;  iProfit is also a model of e-mentoring built around the needs and concerns of the business.

 

But a blended approach to this mentoring service is what we believe will work best. You cannot replace the nuances gained by sitting down and sharing experiences –face to face.

 

September will see the launch of iProfit. Back to you then to share first experiences…..

 

Michael Burnatowski

Talent Bridge – Initial days (By: Steven Robins)

First Five Weeks in Rove Mobile
So, I have been in OCRI’s Talent Bridge program for almost five weeks now. I thought I will take a few moments to speak about my experience with the program during this period. As an introduction, my name is Steven Robins and I am a student at University of Western Ontario where I am doing my undergraduate degree with a joint concentration in Business and Computer Science. I am an Ottawa native, having lived all my life in the Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven before I moved to London, Ontario, for my studies. TalentBridge happened at the opportune time for me. I was out looking for a challenging summer assignment which will have a flavor of something different, but would open my eyes to some new facets previously unknown to me. So what is it about TalentBridge that got me all excited and had me commit to spending 14 weeks of my summer with OCRI’s Entrepreneurship Centre and Rove Mobile in a program that I had not heard of before.
TalentBridge, for me, is an unique opportunity to apply what I’ve learned in the classroom, to the “real world.” I will share some of my thoughts/learnings from my first five weeks in the program. It has been very enlightening to see which parts of my business education are actually put into practice in the SME environment – and what pieces aren’t, either for lack of resources, or it simply doesn’t work. The most noticeable difference between the classroom and the SME is the time crunch.  In the classroom, before making a decision, you take the time to collect all the information, analyze the alternatives, design an action plan, as well as a variety of exit strategies.  At Rove, we simply don’t have the time to do all that.  Working at Rove is teaching me that there isn’t always the time, or resources to work through that complete process, that in small business a company routinely stakes its future on the outcome of a single event – a tradeshow, a customer, a new hire.
The considerations that take place in making decisions are also different from those we experience or work with in the classroom.  In the classroom, we make our decisions based on ROI, the fit between elements in the marketing plan, the fiscal ratios of the company, but we never think about the intricacies of people’s personalities – how you can get people to buy into a decision, and actually implement it in an effective way.  Building an organizational culture is talked about in a classroom, but the numbers is what matters.  I am increasingly finding out that in business it’s about developing your people. Through these few insights I thought I will highlight the best part of TalentBridge – as it applies to me in this moment of my own personal learning.  We get to see every day the way that people with lots of experience in business make decisions, what they pay attention to, and how the carry themselves.  It’s a chance to learn not just the what of business, but the how.
Stay tuned. I will be back with more Talent Bridge stories.
 
Steven Robins
Talent Bridge – Summer 2008

OCRI Talent Bridge – A New Begining (Part 1 of 3)

A New Begining

Ottawa’s tech community has been at the receiving end of some blunt criticism about the lack of young business leadership in town. Time and again, since I made Ottawa home about five years ago, I have heard folks speaking from a position of authority (and standing on “podiums”) about Ottawa’s inability to produce business talent – often hinging on suggestions that Ottawa just does not have the capacity to produce “marketing/sales” talent. Many of the critics have also lamented the inability of Ottawa to encourage young business leadership, hence making a case for the need to import “business expertise” from other places (read “down south”).

http://www.ottawabusinessjournal.com/288532987861393.php

As I disagreed then, and passionately disagree now, I do not think that it is the case of missing “sales/marketing skillsets”. Maybe this position comes from the fact that the best part of my (day to day) job with OCRI is that it brings me face to face with lots of smart ambitious students on a daily basis. I am quiet simply blown away by the talent of some of the individuals I meet on a daily basis. So – as expected – I have a different take here. I think what Ottawa traditionally lacked was a pan-community initiative to invest in the training/development (on the business strategy end) of our “abundance” of young technical talent – with an eye kept on our needs for the future. As my grandma use to say “the sweetest mangoes are the ones that stay the longest on the tree to ripe with abundance of resources to derive nectar from”. This is not to suggest that there are no supporters of talent in town – because there are quiet a few and quiet dedicated to the cause too – but that this is an opportune time for us to develop a cross institutional grassroot initiative for “talent identification, talent development and talent engagement” – all (as I mentioned) aimed towards the development of the next generation of Ottawa business leadership.

The idea of Talent Bridge was primarily inspired by the above thoughts and solidified by the validations I received in innumerable discussions held with local SME leadership and students from all institutions. Through the support received from Ministry of Research and Innovation (MRI) Talent Bridge was officially launched by OCRI in June of this year. The first cohort of the program has two students, Emily Chan from the photonics program of Algonquin College and Steve Robins from the University of Western Ontario who is in a dual business/computer science program at UWO. Both of them are working closely with the management team in Rove Mobile, where Steve is working closely with the Director of Marketing and Emily is closely aligned with the VP of Sales. Needless to say, we are very excited about the possibilities and very encouraged by the learning opportunities that the two students are being exposed to on a daily basis. The program is not only ambitious in its intent (assisting in the development of the next generation of business leadership is just one of many intents), but it is also quiet unique in its structure (I will talk about it in more detail in the next post). We are getting some great traction with the local SME’s (the principal clientelle for the program) and we are currently recruiting for the Fall 2008 intake.

Please stay plugged in to read the whole series of blogs, which will be coauthored by the two students and myself. Over the next ten weeks, we will be writing a total of eight entries for the first Talent Bridge program which will run till the end of August 2008. For more details about the program, please dont hesitate to contact me at anytime.

My thanks to all those who played a critical role in the genesis of Talent Bridge and stayed strong in their support, especially my team at OCRI which has been phenomenal in their support for the program. Let us keep believing in Ottawa.

Manu Sharma

This post is also published under “Entrepreneurship and Innovation Support” at www.ManuSharma.Info

2008 Ottawa Heads of Mission Tour – Moving Beyond Mounties, Mountains and Moose

One of my staff’s greatest wishes is that I learn the “NO!” word. But how can you pass up the fantastic opportunities to show off your city to international decision makers in a new light. And so it was when Brent Court of the Ontario office of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) gave me a call one fateful day in March.

For Canada’s cities competing globally in the knowledge based industries game, some of Canada’s greatest strengths are our greatest challenges. Canada has some great international icons: our red coated mounties, our spectacular mountain ranges typified by the Canadian Rockies and our wide open spaces symbolized by the moose. Who hasn’t seen these images and they are great for our tourism industry.

Also from Canada comes the telephone, insulin, the digital telephone switch and the Canadarm. Unfortunately these are far less known than the mounties, mountains and moose. In an era of global business competition, our tourism image is at odds with that of the innovation nation.

DFAIT has launched a program to give foreign Heads of Mission (Ambassadors and High Commissioners assigned to Canada) a look at the strength of our economy. Trips had already been made to Calgary, Toronto and Montreal when the idea of showing them the other side of the Nation’s Capital was made. Given the close working relationship between OCRI and DFAIT, OCRI was approached with the idea. And so the journey began.

Opening briefing at the Foreign Affairs building on Sussex Drive in Ottawa.

The OCRI team of Kelly Daize, Marysabel Gonzalez and yours truly was introduced to Albert Galpin of Canada’s Chief of Protocol Office. Let me just say that experts in economic development are not necessarily attuned to the fine points of diplomatic protocol, nor to the patience required.

This looked easy. We had the itinerary for the Montreal tour. A nip here, a tuck there and voila, the Ottawa tour. Not quite.

First came dates. With summer fast approaching and schedule conflicts galore in the time between, target dates were soon reduced to either the weeks of May 5th or May 12th. Montreal had included a Mayor’s reception, a visit by the Premier of Quebec and a talk by a senior Federal Cabinet Minister. Six weeks away, these people aren’t busy, a piece of cake! No mention yet made of the companies we are to visit.

We were dealing with Mayor Larry O’Brien’s Office on another matter, so his Chief of Staff Eric Lamoureux referred us over to Kathy Bowles of Ottawa’s Protocol Office. The good news, the Mayor holds an annual reception for the Heads of Mission, the bad news, it was scheduled for the last week of May. After considerable negotiation and resolution of scheduling conflicts, Kathy came back saying that it was possible the evening of May 13th. Great, this could kick off the Tour and the dates were set May 14,15. Not! It looked like those dates were not possible for Federal officials, so Albert suggested let’s go back to the week of 5 May, could I contact the Mayor’s Office. Not a call I wanted to make! You want to know a secret, I didn’t bother. I knew the answer. I waited 24 hours and said that unfortunately it was impossible.

Just to make things interesting, we also learned about this time that Amr Al-Dabbagh, the Governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) was coming to visit on May 13. Makes you feel like an Air Traffic Controller at O’Hare airport.

On to the real stuff, the site visits. Canada wanted to show off Canadian technology and innovation. We looked to our areas of strength and decided on digital media (nice flashy stuff), our historic telecommunications strength (world leading technology, a no brainer), medical devices (health is an issue everywhere) and garbage (whattttt!). Come on, everyone has a garbage problem and the Ottawa company Plasco Energy has a unique solution.

We ended up with a fantastic line up: Fuel Industries, Magmic Games, Research in Motion, Nortel, BreconRidge Manufacturing, the National Research Council, Plasco Energy Group, EMS Satcom and Abbott Point of Care.

We also had to get around, so we were asked to recommend a luxury coach rental company. Our suggestion: OC Transpo, our Municipal Transit Authority. That rated, “You want us to put Heads of Mission on a City bus and then take them to a Municipal Dump, did you ever take Diplomacy 101!” When we scraped the Office of Protocol off the ceiling we explained that Ottawa has an excellent Transitway system that will not only simplify logistics but demonstrate an innovative solution to municipal transit in urban areas. Our Plasco pilot demonstrates how you can incinerate municipal waste without harmful by products and by creating electricity.

Not only did we keep the buses and the Trail Road Waste Facility in, but Canada’s Minister of the Environment, John Baird, agreed to join the tour at the landfill site, travel on the bus, and join us for lunch. Unfortunately, Canada’s Opposition Party would have none of this, introducing a snap vote in the House of Commons just before the Minister was due to leave. He voted, missed the site visit and bus ride, but made lunch at the Brookstreet Hotel. You can’t win them all!

Was it a success, of course with OCRI, DFAIT and the City of Ottawa on the job, how could it not be! As we had suspected, most of the Heads of Mission had never seen the technology side of Ottawa and were surprised by its depth and diversity. Many had rarely been out of the City core and it provided them with a feeling for Ottawa, and Canada outside the world of National government and international diplomacy.

They were impressed by our dedicated transitway system and how it got people around. Nothing feels better than zipping by single occupant vehicles stuck in rush hour traffic.

The Heads of Mission board the buses.

Garbage is indeed every nation’s challenge. Plasco offers a solution that not only replaces the need for landfill sites but creates energy. The exuberance of the CEO Rod Bryden and Minister Baird demonstrated our corporate capability to develop sustainable solutions and the Federal government support for those innovative solutions.

Rod Bryden explains Plasco’s demonstration unit in Ottawa.

The youth, creativity and energy of our digital media sector were clearly evident. Fuel and Magmic definitely provided the “wow”.

Canada’s national flagships RIM and Nortel gave them a glimpse of the future. These companies operate in arguably the most competitive sector in the world. And they win, not by resting on their laurels, but by keeping ahead of the pack.

Manufacturing in Canada is dead, I don’t think so. BreconRidge and Abbott illustrated how sound business plans, technology and talent can produce solutions for global markets and provide manufacturing jobs here.

The visit to the Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre at NRC showcased a central part of the local infrastructure that keeps Ottawa at the centre of the Photonics industry. EMS Satcom reaffirmed Ottawa’s R&D and high end manufacturing capabilities.

The group visits the National Research Council (NRC).

And the Brookstreet Spa will see a spike in appointments.

It only goes to prove that public transit and garbage can impress! We received nothing but positive comments from the over 60 attendees on the tour. They strongly indicated that this should be an annual event and that we should do a similar tour for the Commercial Attaches. So much for learning the “NO!” word.

(Michael Darch is the Executive Director of OCRI Global Marketing)

Saudi Arabia’s Ambitious Diversification Plan – SAGIA Makes No Small Plans!

On 13 May, OCRI had the privilege of meeting with Mr. Amr Al-Dabbagh Governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA). The Governor was on a visit to various cities in Canada to determine how Canada could assist in the massive Saudi project to establish six new cities, yes that is right, build six new cities out of the desert with a population target of 4-5 million by 2020!

The law firm Heenan Blaikie was working with SAGIA on visits to Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa. SAGIA had mentioned that they were looking at models to accelerate the growth of their technology clusters and Heenan Blaikie introduced them to OCRI. SAGIA researched OCRI on the internet and requested that a meeting be set up on the Ottawa leg of their trip.

We don’t wake up one morning now without hearing about the price of oil hitting yet another high. Most people now cringe when having to fill up the gas tank. Escalating gas prices are finally driving serious development of non-fossil fuel based energy sources.

With the world’s largest proven conventional oil sources, Saudi Arabia should be sitting pretty. And it is, but for how long! Rather than bask in the glory of its fortunate wealth beneath the sand, Saudi Arabia is looking to the future. How does it use the wealth of today to ensure the continuing prosperity of its citizens after the oil runs out.

Their answer was simple, move from a resource based economy to a knowledge based economy while you have the financial resources to do it. With the world’s economy becoming truly global, the geopolitical space of the Middle East only improves. It is a natural logistical hub, its oil wealth makes it a financial hub, therefore the question becomes “how does it become a sustainable economic hub?”

The Emirates are certainly addressing the question with the development of Dubai. “Cities” have been developed within Dubai to support specific sectors of the global economy. Dubai is becoming a hub, but it lacks the population base and the “cities” are more like zones.

Saudi does have the population and unlike the aging demographic of Europe and North America, its average age is 23 and the population is growing. To address future need, it is looking not to expand existing cities, but to create new cities. Building on the theme of sustainability, these cities are being planned to promote balanced regional development, achieve economic diversification, create jobs and upgrade competitiveness. Most countries have to develop their emerging clusters amongst legacy industries and infrastructure. These new cities will have the luxury of building from a clean slate.

And SAGIA did its homework. They brought in the best thinkers on modern economic development such as Michael Porter. They studied over 1000 Free Zones. They have studied the factors that will make them a success in global competition, such as being at the pivot point between Europe, Asia and Africa. They have even examined constraints to global competition. For example, they determined that the minimum population size for a city to be globally competitive is 800,000. Any smaller and you do not have the critical mass for the necessary talent pool and infrastructure. If only our Federal government and the Ontario governments would understand the difference between policies for regional income distribution and policies to strengthen Canada’s globally competitive urban regions while addressing balanced regional development.

SAGIA is also putting a different spin on incoming investment. To most inward investment agencies, that means bring money. Several times throughout the day, we were asked “what is Saudi Arabia’s second largest export?” The simple answer: CASH. Investment to SAGIA is knowledge, talent, know how, cutting edge products, partnerships. To a region like Ottawa: music to our ears.

Another discussion point was taxes. Saudi is building a sustainable model built on talent and intellectual capital. The rush to be the lowest tax regime will ultimately mean that you cannot develop the education, health care and infrastructure to attract and retain the best and brightest.

We did discuss specific ways that OCRI and SAGIA could cooperate. These were in the areas of knowledge transfer, commercialization and market gateways. We look forward to a long and mutually beneficial partnership.

Saudi Arabia and SAGIA may not meet their aggressive targets. But they have worked to understand global economics in the 21st century. It is an interesting model and far better than that of many countries who remain locked in mid-20th century models of domestic regional development while ignoring strengthening urban regions to compete globally. You cannot redistribute wealth that you have let flow to other countries.