Could Cape Breton tech startups turn around island's economy?

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Posted this 2016-02-24 1:11 PM AST (updated 2016-08-22 2:55 PM ADT)

Gavin Uhma, the founder of the Uhma Institute of Technology addressing a new cohort of entrepreneurs.

A technology startup school in Sydney, N.S., is expanding and says a focus on combining technology education with business skills may be the key to revitalizing Cape Breton's economy.

Opportunities to learn about computer coding, software innovations and entrepreneurship are growing on the island thanks to a burgeoning collective of people willing to share their knowledge.

The Uhma Institute of Technology, a tech startup school, opened in 2014. Located in the New Dawn Centre for Innovation in Sydney's north end, the school is considered a stream of Cape Breton University's bachelor of business administration.

- Read more at CBC.ca -

What type of business will save Cape Breton? Here's the answer...

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Peter Sheehan Follow Me 2016-02-27 7:45 AM AST Reply 0 0 I read all about "tech start-up" and all about people looking for funding for their start-up, but really have idea what all this is doing for Cape breton or even NS . This startup and tech industry may well be the best thing to happen on CB , but it's just not visible enough and not understood enough . Supposedly , today many people could work from home or at what are called "hub" locations . OK, so who is connecting the dots here We have schools with vacant space , churches becoming vacant , yet no one seems to want to redirect that space as seed money for these start-ups. If I had a community building with 500-2000 square feet to offer , how do I attract a start up?? Joe Ward Follow Me 2016-02-28 4:44 PM AST Reply 1 0 Right now, Peter, you mostly have some solid proof of concepts like Protocase, MediaSpark, and Marcato - though their founders all really dug in and put in the years to make it happen. Those success stories are, of course, tempered by high profile failures like Techlink. Yet, in fairness, company failures happen. That's an expected part of the industry, and during their time they kept skilled technical workers here in Cape Breton and their salaries flowing into the economy. The emergence of UIT in conjunction with the small bit of micro capital that Spark Cape Breton (via Innovacorp) provides will ensure that you continue to hear about small startups at seed level getting a nod in the media - every 6 months or so. If this process scales, it'll be a good thing. Specifically, getting just one more startup that scales to the level of a MediaSpark or Marcato will be a big win and another strong proof of concept. We don't need giant take offs to have an impact in local economics if we can accretively add a series of smaller, but sustainable employers to the mix. Some of the small Spark Cape Breton winners have been able to hire, and some have achieved additional funding. Overall, the tech industry here isn't very strong at marketing. Their events tend to be structured more like social events where key players are already well known to one another. Fun for those who like the events, but not very media aware. However, the current Island Sandbox team appears to be the first ones that think with a marketing hat and are doing very well so far. Their activities in combination with eye-opening viral PR like Rob Calabrese pulled off might help some of those in leadership positions to start trying to make a little stronger effort and utilize a little bit of creativity. Joe Ward Follow Me 2016-02-28 4:49 PM AST Reply 0 0 Space isn't really an issue. There are multiple incubators providing low cost office space. Beyond an absence of funding to really hit the ground running, perhaps the most scarce ingredient is actually participants. There aren't really that many shovel-ready technical entrepreneurs waiting to go. UIT is the best hope to develop people with that active mindset. And NSCC is probably the best preparatory system for actual leverageable technical skills. If UIT scales to 100 students per year, and Spark CB scales to a minimum of $1 Million a year in seed funding awards, we'll start to see both (a) more, and (b) stronger new startup concepts emerge. Peter Sheehan Follow Me 2016-02-28 5:03 PM AST Reply 0 0 Thank you Joe . I think I follow that . is there a role here for the Municipal Economic Developers and whatever that Regional Enterprise thing is ??? Joe Ward Follow Me 2016-02-28 5:49 PM AST Reply 0 0 We have enough econ dev groups hovering around gov funding, and holding just enough rah-rah meetings to keep them in their jobs. The municipality itself hasn't shown any indication of know how when it comes to economic development. However, matching the Spark CB budget with additional seed capital would be an interesting role for the CBRM. But it won't happen. They'll claim that's not within their mandate, and then pump more money into port development funds, or hire some new executive role for $100,000-$200,000/year. Peter Sheehan Follow Me 2016-02-28 8:33 PM AST Reply 0 0 Is there any way we could create some sort of momentum so that it involved some of the rural areas . Joe Ward Follow Me 2016-02-29 8:10 PM AST Reply 0 0 It's very unlikely. Many of the econ dev organizations are relatively ineffective anyway; so having them try to branch out into smaller or more rural parts of our greater region won't really yield any positive results, IMO. However, when it comes to the digital economy specifically, opportunities can be pursued from anywhere with a reasonable broadband Internet connection. If the econ dev groups could actually improve anything, they could simply stop taking turns creating soup and sandwich opportunities for each other. For anyone wanting to start a business, they have to proactively reach out to these groups, and preferably publicly so. Don't let them ignore you from the comfort of their email accounts. From my experience, they do zero outreach unless they already know you and have a relationship with you. The fact that a mention in a local paper doesn't have local econ dev groups tripping over each other reaching out to see how they can help, just goes to show how ineffective they are. It certainly isn't as if they would be too overwhelmed by the number of new businesses or startups that emerge here. ;)
Christian Murphy Follow Me 2016-02-29 8:04 PM AST Reply 0 0 Tech startups are part of the economic solution. Technology companies are idea generators but like any portfolio, you need diversity. That's why we need a combination of small scale industry. For example, many people place Protocase in the Tech sector, while in fact they are a manufacturer selling to the tech. Technology is blurring the lines regardless of the industry. If we are to create a vibrant economy we need to have an all inclusive entrepreneur community.

Depth

Peter Sheehan Follow Me 2016-02-27 7:45 AM AST

Reply 0 0

I read all about "tech start-up" and all about people looking for funding for their start-up, but really have idea what all this is doing for Cape breton or even NS . This startup and tech industry may well be the best thing to happen on CB , but it's just not visible enough and not understood enough . Supposedly , today many people could work from home or at what are called "hub" locations . OK, so who is connecting the dots here We have schools with vacant space , churches becoming vacant , yet no one seems to want to redirect that space as seed money for these start-ups. If I had a community building with 500-2000 square feet to offer , how do I attract a start up??

Joe Ward Follow Me 2016-02-28 4:44 PM AST

Reply 1 0

Right now, Peter, you mostly have some solid proof of concepts like Protocase, MediaSpark, and Marcato - though their founders all really dug in and put in the years to make it happen. Those success stories are, of course, tempered by high profile failures like Techlink. Yet, in fairness, company failures happen. That's an expected part of the industry, and during their time they kept skilled technical workers here in Cape Breton and their salaries flowing into the economy. The emergence of UIT in conjunction with the small bit of micro capital that Spark Cape Breton (via Innovacorp) provides will ensure that you continue to hear about small startups at seed level getting a nod in the media - every 6 months or so. If this process scales, it'll be a good thing. Specifically, getting just one more startup that scales to the level of a MediaSpark or Marcato will be a big win and another strong proof of concept. We don't need giant take offs to have an impact in local economics *if* we can accretively add a series of smaller, but sustainable employers to the mix. Some of the small Spark Cape Breton winners have been able to hire, and some have achieved additional funding. Overall, the tech industry here isn't very strong at marketing. Their events tend to be structured more like social events where key players are already well known to one another. Fun for those who like the events, but not very media aware. However, the current Island Sandbox team appears to be the first ones that think with a marketing hat and are doing very well so far. Their activities in combination with eye-opening viral PR like Rob Calabrese pulled off might help some of those in leadership positions to start trying to make a little stronger effort and utilize a little bit of creativity.

Joe Ward Follow Me 2016-02-28 4:49 PM AST

Reply 0 0

Space isn't really an issue. There are multiple incubators providing low cost office space. Beyond an absence of funding to really hit the ground running, perhaps the most scarce ingredient is actually participants. There aren't really that many shovel-ready technical entrepreneurs waiting to go. UIT is the best hope to develop people with that active mindset. And NSCC is probably the best preparatory system for actual leverageable technical skills. If UIT scales to 100 students per year, and Spark CB scales to a minimum of $1 Million a year in seed funding awards, we'll start to see both (a) more, and (b) stronger new startup concepts emerge.

Peter Sheehan Follow Me 2016-02-28 5:03 PM AST

Reply 0 0

Thank you Joe . I think I follow that . is there a role here for the Municipal Economic Developers and whatever that Regional Enterprise thing is ???

Joe Ward Follow Me 2016-02-28 5:49 PM AST

Reply 0 0

We have enough econ dev groups hovering around gov funding, and holding just enough rah-rah meetings to keep them in their jobs. The municipality itself hasn't shown any indication of know how when it comes to economic development. However, matching the Spark CB budget with additional seed capital would be an interesting role for the CBRM. But it won't happen. They'll claim that's not within their mandate, and then pump more money into port development funds, or hire some new executive role for $100,000-$200,000/year.

Peter Sheehan Follow Me 2016-02-28 8:33 PM AST

Reply 0 0

Is there any way we could create some sort of momentum so that it involved some of the rural areas .

Joe Ward Follow Me 2016-02-29 8:10 PM AST

Reply 0 0

It's very unlikely. Many of the econ dev organizations are relatively ineffective anyway; so having them try to branch out into smaller or more rural parts of our greater region won't really yield any positive results, IMO. However, when it comes to the digital economy specifically, opportunities can be pursued from anywhere with a reasonable broadband Internet connection. If the econ dev groups could actually improve anything, they could simply stop taking turns creating soup and sandwich opportunities for each other. For anyone wanting to start a business, they have to proactively reach out to these groups, and preferably publicly so. Don't let them ignore you from the comfort of their email accounts. From my experience, they do *zero* outreach unless they already know you and have a relationship with you. The fact that a mention in a local paper doesn't have local econ dev groups tripping over each other reaching out to see how they can help, just goes to show how ineffective they are. It certainly isn't as if they would be too overwhelmed by the number of new businesses or startups that emerge here. ;)

Christian Murphy Follow Me 2016-02-29 8:04 PM AST

Reply 0 0

Tech startups are part of the economic solution. Technology companies are idea generators but like any portfolio, you need diversity. That's why we need a combination of small scale industry. For example, many people place Protocase in the Tech sector, while in fact they are a manufacturer selling to the tech. Technology is blurring the lines regardless of the industry. If we are to create a vibrant economy we need to have an all inclusive entrepreneur community.

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Could Cape Breton tech startups turn around island's economy?

What type of business will save Cape Breton? Here's the answer...

Cape Breton Tech Sector Roundup

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