I can feel the frustration from Edmonton, and it seems by the discussion there are many who have examined the root of the issues and are ready to do something about it! Taking action is the key here, and if you get a group together up there that is open to working with DA to find solutions and make things better, I can see the apathy quickly disappearing and a new energy being ignited.

By working together we can lobby the Alberta government to do things such as simplify it’s programs similar to the “BC Advantage” that Kevin mentioned, and educate them about the importance of diversifying our economy, especially in this rapidly changing digital age. Yes, the red tape that we all hate is inevitable, but the bottom line is, the government is still a source of funding that is desperately needed to get our digital / tech industry moving forward until we can sell the private sector on the value of investing.

Logan mentions the lack of support… this is why we need to band together. We need positive change and that means participation from all over the province. The key is to get involved. I am not familiar with the organizations mentioned in the Blog and the comments (EEDC, TEC Edmonton, etc), so I can’t comment on what they are or are not doing to promote the growth of the Digital and Technology sector in Edmonton. But I do know that it makes sense that groups such as Digital Alberta can fill the gap as far as giving us a voice, providing support, education, collaboration, and resources for our Tech community.

This would certainly reduce the immense amount of confusion around the topic. As always, good communication (including good, reality based labeling) paves the road to achieving ones (offical) goals.

Sounds like a great idea!

As we discussed, I think the first step would be to establish what space is available in that area (by talking to landlords, etc) and then providing that information to the community. The space we (ENTS) found was fluke basically, but amazing space (big, cheap, flexible, etc), and I’m sure there’s more there, just needs to be looked for.

Next step (or parallel) would be to establish something like the Old Strathcona Business Association, but for this area. The City loves stuff like that (rejuvenation programs, business revitalization zones, etc).

Totally do-able.

The area around ENTS (southern tip of Queen Mary Park neighbourhood) is full of small warehouse buildings sitting largely vacant with low lease rates (I assume it never recovered from the loss of the railyard). This is part of why ENTS was such a great fit for this area. It’s also a pretty good medium-distance spot between the University, Downtown, and NAIT, which are probably the largest centers of white collar business activity in the city. It’s also right next to the Hudsons where TechWings has been held so far. And last but not least, it’s destined to get an LRT link really close to it along either the NAIT line or the WLRT line, depending on where those are going exactly.

ENTS itself has put a couple hundred square feet of its space up as a sort of low-rent incubator space (and I think half of it is now gone), but this could be just the beginning. If other small tech businesses, including perhaps a freelance artists collective (see for example Periscope Studio in Portland: http://periscopestudio.com/ — I think this is another missing link in our community), set up shop in the area, it could do a huge amount to build and connect the tech community in this city.

I think that, honestly, organizations like TEC Edmonton and the EEDC will never be able to fully service the startup community in Edmonton. A functional startup community moves too fast, relies too much on grass roots efforts (like TechWing, DemoCamp, BarCamp, Pecha Kutcha, etc), and just abhors all forms of bureaucracy that are not absolutely necessary (which is what government-run organizations do best).

Our biggest barrier to the kinds of high bandwidth communication needed to maintain that kind of environment is, in my opinion, simply distance. The major centers of software tech employment tend to be large companies in the middle of wastelands (Bioware, Intuit). The small businesses are all spread out all over the city and so interact and communicate far too infrequently, and in the end this hurts them more than is recognized. Never mind the potential for a savvy investor to simply visit an area and see what’s going on, let alone set up an office there and become part of the community.

So my modest proposal is: Turn the area around ENTS into a mini-silicon valley. It’ll take a lot of time and effort, but I think it’d be worth it. Anyone else think this is a good idea?

Unfortunately when it comes to tech its the ‘Alberta Disadvantage’ as we have all come to dub it.

What is really bad is that theres is that we have the talent here, we have the schools here (which just need to be focused in the right direction) and we have the desire. What we lack is support. Support to get start, support to not fail in business, support to get our voices heard so that the people and those that run this Province do not think of ‘tech’ as some silly garage industry people are dabbling in, but a powerful and viable industry that’s been overlooked for far too long.

I fully agree though that with the right organization in place and less buerocracy and if the selfish needs were thrown aside that a lot more could be done to further true technology development and not just commercializing research tech done at the U of A.

@Candace

Sorry but I am with the rest, finding information on which organization can benefit me and the work that I do is nearly impossible.

As many others have said the biggest problem is that we have what seems like a dozen or so tech advocacy incubators, programs, whatever and yet we still have massive gaps in the system where companies and technologies fall through the holes and get little to no support what-so-ever. Worse yet is that all these different factions spread the message in too many directions and make what should be a unified voice sound week and muted.

I am glad that the EEDC is putting the effort in, but in many ways I think you guys need to lead the groups that are under you so you can best do what will move this city forward and not pander to the needs of groups like TEC Edmonton who have too much of an ‘advisory’ role in how things get done (which I feel is wrong, because TEC edmonton is only interested in forwarding the goals of the UofA).

I understand that this is a monumental shift with how things are probably done, but it truely is necessary to ensure that the true technology sector as a whole (its man facets) is properly represented so that it can grow. This is why Calgary looks like a gem in comparison to Edmonton when it comes to technology, because they have had for years a unified voice that has spoken for it and to be perfectly honest I feel that Edmonton is just as strong if not stronger than Calgary. The benefit of the EEDC to push for this is that right now the whole city is full of hidden gems because we have been underserved for so very long.

I have found that in Alberta, and especially locally in Edmonton, there is way too much bureaucracy, too many programs, alliances and incubators and a lot of people involved that don’t understand tech start ups. In the end, this leads too a waste of taxpayers money, confused entrepreneurs who don’t know which of the many programs to pursue and little benefit to the tech community.

I am a big fan of what BC did with their Advantage fund (http://www.bcadvantagefunds.com/). It is a simple program – invest in early stage tech companies and receive 30% of your investment back as a tax credit. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. There are numerous reasons why a program like this works:

-the administration is simple and the overhead is low – meaning that most of the money goes to where it should, the tech companies

-it puts the control of the funds in the hands of those who know what they are doing – the tech investors

-it attracts other investors who have expertise in building tech companies that can bring more than just capital to the game, but also a network, experience and resources

-it gives the traditional Alberta oil & gas or real estate investor a bit more incentive to look at tech

-it removes the red tape for entrepreneurs to access public fund for their companies – no programs to apply for and no large progress reports to fill out – meaning they can focus on what they should be focusing on, building their companies

One thing that really caught my attention in the Silicon Valley is that the whole industry there was driven by the private sector. I realize that Edmonton is never going to become the Silicon Valley, but I think the one thing we could learn is to resist trying to put the control of the tech industry in the hands of government programs and let those who are already in it move it forward. A program like the BC Advantage Fund does just that while still adding a bit of momentum as well.

- True, TEC is not supposed to represent the whole technology community, but it often is put into that position incorrectly. That’s my point.

- The Regional Alliance Group (which I wrote about on Techvibes) doesn’t represent the whole community either. Heck, it doesn’t even exist – where’s the website? contact information? how do I access it? talk to someone about i? It exists on paper right now, and that’s it.

- I’m sure the community would love to provide input on the Regional Alliance. Where should we show up? Where are the meetings?

- TEC Edmonton is not just three years old. The organization itself is older, as you know, and I did mention that it has had success.

Sorry Candace, but replacing TEC Edmonton as the organization that CoE and EEDC work with when it comes to tech with The Regional Alliance isn’t the solution to this problem.