I recall the comment by Mark Twain, “Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated”. This phrase definitely applies to Hong Kong. When Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997, many, including me, thought that the glory days of Hong Kong were over. Its importance as a global business centre would slowly fade. Hong Kong’s manufacturing base has certainly moved to China, but it has been replaced by an even stronger service sector. It serves as not only as a market in itself, but as an entry point to China and to all of Asia.

We are given talks by both Christopher Jackson of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and John Zimmerman of the Canadian Consulate in Hong Kong. Both present a barrage of statistics that clearly demonstrate that the Hong Kong economy continues to grow. But the previous day, we had seen the real proof that Hong Kong is alive and well.

Exhibit at Cyberport

Exhibit at Cyberport

Ottawa has a burgeoning digital media sector with enormous potential. Our telecommunications heritage, our near 50 year history in animation and the growing number of gaming companies put Ottawa in an excellent position in the new multi-platform world. We have learned from our photonics experience, a common infrastructure platform like the Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre can provide an enormous competitive advantage to our SME’s. We visit Cyberport in Hong Kong, an investment by the Hong Kong government to encourage the growth of digital media in the region. The facilities and capabilities are impressive. The digital backbone, the studios, the 3D capability all allow the companies to concentrate on the market and their development of intellectual property rather than struggling to afford capability. We are developing a concept for similar infrastructure and this visit gives us plenty of ideas. But we also learn about the continuing Hong Kong reality. Cyberport is both a business and residential development, and located on waterfront. From one of the studio areas, we can look out onto the residential development. We naively ask what the three storey townhouses cost, thinking maybe close to a million dollars, given that it is Hong Kong. Our hosts calmly tell us, try 20 times that! One single family unit is under negotiation for around 35 million U.S. dollars. Hong Kong is alive and well.

We have seen success in mainland China by our experienced companies in both ICT and cleantech. But these are the exceptions not the rule in Ottawa. It has been evident that the Chinese are looking for total solutions. Unfortunately, the success of our SME’s in the U.S. market has been by supplying innovative technology at lower levels in the supply chain. Hong Kong is building a solid reputation in China as a solution provider, putting together the technology from around the world that meets the Chinese need.

Hong Kong has a definite role to play in our China strategy. The reports of Hong Kong’s death are exaggerated. We have come looking to find paths to success in China for our growing cleantech sector. We have left Hong Kong and China with confirmation that this is a market that cannot be ignored and with a better knowledge of the tools that will bring us success.

©2010 ocriblogs.com. All Rights Reserved.

Ottawa has experienced a series of economic tremors since the mid 90’s. The reduction of our government employment during the years that created a zero deficit for Canada, the technology downturn of this century that permanently altered the global supply chains and the recent global financial crisis that was made worse in our region by the bankruptcy of our major technology anchor, Nortel.

One lesson that is repeatedly taught over time, I guess not enough study history, is that you survive change by embracing it. Fighting a new global economic order will only mean, that when you finally adjust, the transition is more painful. For Ottawa, the swing to low cost production in the technology sector resulted in record job losses for our region. 

On this trip, we visited two companies, Breconridge and Huawei. Breconridge is Ottawa-based and our largest advanced manufacturing company. It has its headquarters in Ottawa, but here in Shenzhen it employs over 500 people in its Chinese operation. In Ottawa, the company does its engineering, new product manufacturing development and its high value manufacturing. In Shenzhen, it does its high volume manufacturing. It remains competitive by moving its manufacturing asset to the most cost efficient global location.

Huawei is Shenzhen-based, with 50,000 employees in the region and 95,000 worldwide. It has 17 R&D facilities around the world, and yet in September of 2008, it began building a R&D capability in the Ottawa area. The official opening of its facility is next week. So why open a facility in Ottawa when you already have 95,000 employees. I can only speculate, but in a single world, talent.

Huawei is a new company, with just over a decade history. The Ottawa region has been building ICT companies for over five decades, with an exceptional track record in innovation, large scale integration, software/hardware integration and market adaptation. As Huawei moves farther up the integration chain, Ottawa represents a major talent pool.

These two companies and their operations in Shenzhen and Ottawa illustrate the direction of sustainable economic development. We are in a world of global supply chains and you have to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses to compete in those supply chains. Breconridge is competing by executing its low end manufacturing in Shenzhen and Huawei is competing by utilizing the telecommunications R&D capability in Ottawa. Both cities and both companies are winners.

These company visits in Shenzhen have also brought home to me the practical side of other global trends. In my former company, Lansdowne Technologies, we did proposals for many large government projects. These often involved teams from many countries (and time zones) and tight deadlines. We often joked about bringing in the cots and throwing the pizza under the door as we worked 16 hour days to meet deadlines.

Our visit to both Breconridge and Huawei put a different meaning to bringing in the cots and tossing the pizza under the door. A global reality is that cities are now our economic driver and will be into the future. The jobs are there and the cities will only get larger.

I see China as a practical country. If the jobs are in the city, that is where people will go to find them. We had a free ranging discussion with Alec Hart the General Manager of Breconridge’s Asia operation. We received a briefing on the facility in Shenzhen, its manufacturing capability, its integration into Breconridge’s operations, its types of clients, the usual. Then we noticed on the site plan that there were two dormitories, several canteens and some sport fields. I recall in my first trip to China in 1995 that the factory we visited had a farm out back which produced the vegetables for the lunch that the company provided all employees.

Things do change. Shenzhen was a fishing village of 30,000 people 30 years ago. Today, it is a modern, even by Western standards, city of over 15 million. Alec tells us that the average age of his employees is 28 and few were either born or live in Shenzhen. The jobs are in the city, but the families are back home. Most employees live on the factory grounds, sending the bulk of their wages home to the family. Wages are relatively standard, so competition for labour is more based on the housing and living conditions provided. I was surprised to learn that Breconridge serves four meals a day. A major recruiting tool is your employees telling their friends that you have great living quarters!

I keep seeing China as a practical country. You could debate the direction of change, but it is happening so fast that any conclusions would be far surpassed by reality.

©2010 ocriblogs.com. All Rights Reserved.

The awards celebrate excellence in the areas of research, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership, strategic partnerships and student accomplishments. New categories this year include the Research Award, Health Innovation Award and Student Entrepreneur of the Year. Nominations for the 11 categories were solicited from Ottawa’s business and education community last December. A record number of nominations were reviewed by the Society of Collaborative Opportunities and Advancement of Professionals (SCOAP). In addition, Exploriem’s Fastest Growing Bootstrap Startup Award was presented early in the evening.

“The award finalists represent key executives, business leaders, thinkers and strategists,” said Claude Haw, President and CEO, OCRI. “Again this year the quality and caliber of the nominations was excellent and the numbers have increased. The impressive accomplishments of this evening’s winners demonstrate a city that fosters world-class talent, innovative products and successful companies.”

After a stellar year for his team and technology, Iain Christie, President of Neptec, explains why the company is so pleased to be recognized as a 2010 OCRI Award winner. “As recipient of the Product of the Year award, Neptec’s team of scientists and engineers are honoured to be recognized by OCRI and the prestige it brings to our company, locally and internationally. The work OCRI does for the Ottawa technology and research industry is critical to ensuring that Ottawa remains competitive. We congratulate all finalists in the 2010 OCRI Awards.”

The 2010 OCRI Awards recipients are:

OCRI Company of the Year presented to DragonWave
In recognition of DragonWave’s leadership position in the high capacity packet microwave sector, exponential growth and continued global expansion combined with their commitment to Ottawa which raises the profile of local innovation and talent.

Next Generation Executive of the Year presented to Jason Flick, You i Labs
In recognition of his impressive track record and current involvement in the development of one of the Canadian Innovation Exchange’s top 20 innovative companies.

Strategic Partnership of the Year presented to QNX and Alcatel-Lucent
In recognition of their combined efforts and success transforming a car into a first-class citizen of the Cloud which garnered immediate and overwhelming international media coverage in 2009.

Most Promising Startup of the Year presented to Telepin
In recognition of the success and impact of Telepin’s Cayman mobile transaction infrastructure software and the company’s ability to raise funds to support their growth.

Product of the Year presented to Neptec, TriDAR
In recognition of Neptec’s latest space hardware, TriDAR, designed and manufactured in Ottawa and used in space on the Shuttle Discovery.

Service of the Year presented to UBM TechInsights
In recognition for the company’s holistic approach to intellectual property management and its services that bridge the legal and technology worlds on more than 1,800 projects for over 200 clients.

Research Award presented to:
Dr. Robert Korneluk
In recognition for his leadership and contribution to the ApoptoGen team and their work in the field of programmed cell death and cancer research.
Dr. Duncan J. Stewart
In recognition of his many discoveries in vascular biology and genetic engineering as well as his pioneering new therapies that enhance the repair functionality of cells.

Health Innovation Award presented to Dr. Pierre Cardinal, CRI Critical Care Education Network
In recognition for the revolutionary impact of CRI on the delivery of critical care education resulting in measurable improvements in critical care including reductions in incidents, including deaths, in Ottawa and elsewhere in the country.

Student Researcher presented to Razib Iqbal, University of Ottawa
In recognition of his research in P2P adaptive video distribution and his compressed-domain adaptive video streaming system, called Dag-Stream, which allows for adaption, authentication and encryption of video on the fly.

Student Entrepreneur presented to Muhammad Arsalan and Atif Shamim
In recognition of taking their award-winning research to the next level, now in the early stages of commercialization with industry giants lining up as possible suitors.

High School Innovation presented to John McCrae Secondary School – Web 2.0 Site
In recognition of three teachers’ development of a user-friendly website with a wiki front page that improves efficiency for administration and staff, but also serves parents and students.

Exploriem’s Fastest Growing Bootstrap Startup presented to Telepin
In recognition for their rapid success and significant top line growth.

-30-

About OCRI:

Leading the way for Ottawa, OCRI is the city’s economic development agency. OCRI is the rallying point to bring business, education, research and talent together to create the winning economic conditions that allow Ottawa’s knowledge-based companies to thrive locally and compete globally. At OCRI we promote sustainable economic development to maintain our high quality of life. For more information on OCRI visit our website at www.ocri.ca and for more information on the Ottawa Region please visit www.ottawaregion.com. In 2010, Ottawa was named one of the world’s top seven intelligent communities by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF).

For information contact:

Kim Cunningham
Manager, External Communications
OCRI
Office: (613) 828-6274 ext. 256
Cell: (613) 851-0768
kcunningham@ocri.ca

©2010 ocriblogs.com. All Rights Reserved.

Ottawa Hello from 36,000 feet over the Canadian Rockies!

We were up bright and early before dawn and arrived at the airport just at daybreak, weather looking good for a flight to the other side of the world. It’s very exciting to be going to China, if only we had the Enterprise transporter working by now. Five plus hours to Vancouver, three hour wait and then another 11 hours to Beijing is the pain before the gain on a typical trade and investment mission. This brings back memories of long flights to distant lands to meet important customers back in the heady days of the telecom boom during the 90s.

Waiting at the airport on my just in time arrival (I don’t like to spend extra time at airports), is our mission team including the Mayor of Ottawa and his advisor. At the request of OCRI, Mayor Larry O’Brien has agreed to lead a trade and investment mission to four cities in China over the next 10 days. Travelling to Asia is old-hat for the Mayor, having visited many times in his business persona, but this is his first time to China as the Mayor of the capital city of a G8 country.

So far, we have been treated very well by the Chinese with letters of invitation, visas and itineraries produced efficiently and as requested. Thankfully, we have the tireless Joan Sun as our coordinator for the mission. She not only took care of many of the protocol and logistics items but was willing and able to call Beijing at all times of the day and night to get everything ready for our trip.

The trade and investment mission includes: Mayor Larry O’Brien and Robert Thompson, the mayor’s advisor; OCRI; Ottawa Tourism; and eleven companies from the investment, Cleantech and ICT sectors. Representing OCRI is Mike Darch, Executive Director, Global Marketing, OCRI who is on his fifth mission to China over the past five years; Joan Sun, OCRI China Program Manager; and myself, Claude Haw, President and CEO, OCRI on my first trade mission since joining OCRI last year. Representing Ottawa Tourism is Noel Buckley, President, a frequent traveler to Asia and other areas of the world whose tourism perspective is very valuable.

While in China we hope to secure a number of new agreements and reaffirm others including the Sister City Cooperation agreement between Ottawa and Beijing. We will be meeting with groups of investors looking for bilateral investment opportunities, municipal officials considering alternatives for water, energy and waste infrastructure projects and companies looking for the latest innovation in information and communications technologies.

This is the first of many blogs from the mission to China.  Look for insight from a number of participants on the trip. Everyone will have their own stories to tell!

©2010 ocriblogs.com. All Rights Reserved.

It seemed strange to leave Ottawa in sunny early morning, travel almost around the clock in sunlight to arrive in Beijing mid-afternoon of the next day. We were well received in China with the coordinator from the Beijing Foreign Office  coming to the airport to meet us. After traveling nearly 12,000 km, this was a wonderful personal touch.

First impressions of Beijing from a sleep-deprived state of mind was …. well a fog actually, not the crystal clear air of the Rockies at least. The route from the airport downtown was very much that of a modern city with many tall buildings, both commercial office towers and residential, a few older apartment buildings and much more English writing on buildings than I expected. Mid-afternoon traffic from the airport to our hotel in central Beijing was moderate to heavy but moved well. There were bicycles and motorbikes on the road but not a huge number. The block around the hotel holds dealerships for Ferrari, Lamborghini and Aston Martin, shops for Gucci, etc. and even a Starbucks.

People at the airport, on roads, streets and hotel seem courteous and friendly. The Regent Hotel people were very helpful and fast on check-in. There was whole contingent at the door to welcome the Mayor including the hotel manager. Our home for the next five days and four nights looks to be excellent.

Lucky for us the itinerary for our first short day was to get settled in our hotel, get a briefing from the Vice Counsel from the Canadian Embassy in Beijing followed by a light dinner and then off to bed to attempt to synchronize our body clock with the local time. Asking my body to stay awake for more than 24 hours was so much easier a couple of decades ago – oh to be 30 again!

More to come after a very full day tomorrow….

©2010 ocriblogs.com. All Rights Reserved.

The approach the City chooses  to economic development is key to all of our success.  The consensus now is that we can no longer simply default to expansion of the Federal Public Service as our engine of prosperity.  Your voice in this discussion is important.  I would like to encourage you to participate as well by logging on to OPINIONOTTAWA.CA where you will be able to review position papers on subjects including the role of knowledge-based industries, talent and more and comment on them in the discussion forum.

Please take the time to make your opinion heard as an actively involved member of our community and business leader.  Ottawa has a great economic future filled with potential across so many industries. 

Let’s do what we can to ensure that the City has significant and sincere input that they can use to define an approach to economic development that reflects the realities of our great city!

©2010 ocriblogs.com. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks to the great people at the City who knew where to get the most current and relevant information re: connectivity and city initiatives and all the other companies in town who are charging ahead with innovative partnerships and programs that help create skilled talent and strive to see them employed in knowledge-based jobs we were able to put together a really impressive proposal.

So, now we’re Top7, awaiting the arrival of representatives from the selection committee for a two day tour of our great city before the final announcement of the Intelligent Community of the Year in New York City in May. 

Just in case you don’t know how many super projects are on the go here’s a rundown of the projects we chose to highlight – there were many more that didn’t make the cut (we were limited to 25 pages)… Ottawa’s Rural Broadband Project, Abbott Point of Care’s Microelectronics Apprenticeship Program, Algonquin’s Game Development Program, Carleton’s VSIM lab, Digital Inclusion programs at the Ottawa Public Libraries, OCRI’s Entrepreneurship Centre satellite kiosks,  Special Education Allocation of laptops to students with Learning Difficulties at Ottawa Carleton District School Board, Lead to Win, City of Ottawa’s 3-1-1 Contact Centre, BizPal, Algonquin’s Virtual College, TalentBridge, High School Technology Program, Passport to Prosperity, Focus on IT (FIT), Wesley Clover’s Affiliate Program and Winning Innovative Networks for Schools (WINS). Like ICF said in their summary, there are almost too many programs in place to list them all!   If your favourite project wasn’t on the list – let me know so we can consider it for the next time.

Regardless of the outcome of the May announcement we should all be really proud! 

©2010 ocriblogs.com. All Rights Reserved.

A few other questions were also on point such as “what are the top 2 things a start-up needs to know to really succeed” and “what’s more critical – getting a product out that may have a few glitches or waiting and polishing it to near perfection before you take it to your client.” Pat addressed all these and more in his 45 minute presentation at OCRI’s Technology Executive Breakfast (TEB) this morning.  With eight start-ups in as many years under his belt and dozens more in his repretoire, it was sure to be a very informative and entertaining morning.

There are five things that must happen for any company– start-up or not — to be successful. 

First of all, you must become a “category of one” in the mind of your customers. This entails effective marketing, value positioning, and doing everything you can to win the crucial “bake-off” – especially if you know you deserve to win.  Pat used a great variety of examples that we could all relate to when he explained value positioning and the case of present mode of ops vs future mode of ops (PMO vs FMO). Citing his favourite business book and the evolution of the cable excavator to the back hoe as well as the FIDO phone that makes calls and sends texts to the I-Phone with 9,500 apps he demonstrated that the value of your product must meet and exceed the expectations of the target customer base.   Winning the ever critical technology “bake-off” is a make or break it opportunity for your company. Pat’s experience with BelAir clearly showed how important it is to know your value and position it correctly and then how to rally the team to go back and fight to win.

Adapt and adapt again. Be prepared to fine tune and adjust your approach to make your interface work and increase the impact in order to produce a real solution for your customers.

Simplify the confusing functionality of your technology. Very few people need to know all the bells and whistles that make it work. The black box does more than you think – it can simplify the way you operate, simplify the installation of the application,  present the solution to your customers in simple way, and transform into what everyone likes and appreciates – an easy button.

Scalability is key.  Being a small company, a start-up or a company with a product but no scale inhibits your ability to compete on a global scale.  There are ways around this.  Find a strategic partner or a number of them that can increase your output in order to meet client demands or entice a big brother to take you on. It may takes some coaxing  and baiting with evidence of business and significant returns because big brothers (or companies with scale but no product) don’t typically search out little brothers but the results can be big. Just ask BTI who teamed up with Fujistu in order to deploy massive quantities of product.

Execute.  All great plans must be executed well if they are going to make a difference.  First, the team must be in total alignment and then all efforts must be focussed.  If the team can’t work together – they can never be aligned. You need agreement to align at all stages of the process which has three parts 1) Vision (where are we going), 2) Current Reality (where are we now) and 3) The Plan (how do we get there). It’s a tough job, but it is the CEO’s responsibility to get  everyone to buy-into the alignment concept including the board, the team, the investors and the partners. Once you’ve established that everyone is on the same path, all your efforts, tactics, approaches must be in clear focus to be effective and efficient.  Pat recalled his SiGe experience which showed how important it can be to have a leader with excellent technological skills coupled with fantastic people skills in order to rally the team and align the efforts.  Product lines may need to change, approaches may be tweaked but when the alignment and focus is bang on and the chemistry among the players is solid you can pretty much count on improved performance. Just look at SiGe whose revenues  increased from around $67 M in 2007 to almost $100 M in 2008.

As Pat wrapped up, he explained that he’s learned many more lessons than he could ever cover in a short presentation and that there is always more learning to do.  No matter what business you’re in or what customer you are after, his five key pointers can always apply but admitted there could be more that work.  Teamwork, alignment, chemistry, flexibility, he certainly covered all the bases and in direct response to Mary’s question he added that sometimes you just need to fire someone. 

Great presentation! Looking forward to the next TEB.

©2010 ocriblogs.com. All Rights Reserved.

We are getting so many phone calls about the event – but I think folks are already in vacation mode and believe that September 24 is far enough away.  Well, in some aspects it is – it is after summer vacation – it is another school year…. but it is only 3 months away and 2 of those are July and August!  This is a great event with an amazing lineup and Donald Trump will actually be here in Ottawa talking to the business community.  Those that have booked are calling us to ask how they should set themselves up, what is the most strategic place to be on the floor etc!  They are very keen and have jump-started their organization to be ready for September 24!

One connection made between you and another exhibitor at the “water cooler” on the tradeshow floor can transform a business.  Just like this story….

Earlier this year, a potential development partner backed out of a deal because of the economic downturn (they didn’t understand the unprecedented and continued growth happening in the Kemptville area).   Westerra Homes approached a local business lawyer earlier this year to see if he had any contacts that would assist with the land development.  He was referred to a contractor in Embrun who was a recent acquaintance of the lawyer. The contact knew of Kemptville and believed in the project. A partnership was formed which allowed the infrastructure and servicing to begin for Phase I.  The municipality required security worth several hundred thousand dollars to support the land servicing work. Westerra’s commercial banker referred them to an existing developer located just 30 minutes west of Kemptville to assist in this regard. A partnership was formed and the project is now underway.

The power of multi-jurisdictional networking within the region resulted in two separate partnerships that enabled the start of a development that will generate more than $20 million in economic activity for Eastern Ontario and recurring property tax revenue of ~$200,000/year for the municipality of North Grenville.

Remember – just one new contact or one new piece of information can make a difference for a business and its community.

See you in September!

©2010 ocriblogs.com. All Rights Reserved.

©2010 ocriblogs.com. All Rights Reserved.