When people think of tech and innovation, they often think the internet and mobile apps. In doing so, they’re only half right. An innovation can be many different things, big or small – a new approach, process, idea or product. The crucial point is that it must be a significant improvement or make something easier, simpler, faster, better. And the types of innovations being produced in B.C. have changed dramatically over the past 100 years. Case in point: more than a century ago, according to reporting from journalist Sunny Dhillon, newspaper publisher Joseph Coyle heard a hotel manager and a delivery boy arguing. The hotelier was upset that the eggs he ordered were frequently broken in their baskets upon arrival. Coyle set out to solve this problem. What did he do? He invented the egg carton. That’s right – the egg carton we know and are still using today was developed in Smithers.
What makes Coyle’s invention special is that it responded to a market need, and it was also, in a sense, cross-sector, supporting agriculture and transportation. It was also a problem that people and businesses faced all over the world.
Coyle followed a blueprint that the most successful tech-enabled businesses in B.C. should follow today: solve a real local challenge that can be a gateway to global customers. It’s a recipe that will not only help our tech firms; it’s an approach that will also drive continued growth in B.C.’s traditional industries and our regional communities. This type of solutions-focused, market-driven innovation is key to fuelling B.C.’s economy.
On the right track ■ The evidence suggests that we are on the right track. B.C. is leading Canada in economic growth and has the lowest unemployment rate among the provinces. I would argue that our fast-growing technology industry, which employs more than 100,000 British Columbians, has something to do with the favourable economic position we find ourselves in.
Many of our traditional industries are adopting technology to fuel efficiencies that, in turn, have led to company growth and new jobs across the province. Our forestry firms are leveraging self-cleaning cameras to increase safety and reduce costly downtime. Our transportation companies are using software to maximize productivity, performance and compliance. And our mining giants have deployed wearables to fetch real-time intelligence and improve worker safety.
Our province is also home to industry-leading companies like D-Wave, General Fusion and Saltworks Technologies, leaders in quantum computing, fusion power and desalination technologies, respectively. This is no accident. B.C. has long been a hub for advances in science and technology. It’s what happens when you mix brilliant entrepreneurial minds, outstanding researchers, post-secondary institutions that act as talent factories, a competitive corporate tax environment, a diverse community of investors, and generous federal and provincial grant programs.
What’s more, the BC Innovation Council, the Crown agency that I have the distinct pleasure of leading, is driving tech adoption, deployment and diffusion across sectors by connecting industry and government with made-in-B.C. tech solutions. Positioned at the intersection of researchers, government, industry and the technology community, we help companies at every stage of their life cycle take advantage of technology that’s made in B.C. Our work supports the movement of technology into businesses to help them innovate and grow. It’s work that becomes more critical every single day.
A complex world and a big opportunity ■ Looking back, cracked eggs may seem like a trivial problem to solve. But that’s because the early-20th-century world Joseph Coyle lived in was radically different from our world today. Humans have experienced global economic, political and cultural change on an unprecedented scale. The world is more complex and more interconnected. This means that the challenges we face today are not only multi-faceted and rapidly changing, but often affected by developments on opposite sides of the Earth. It’s because of this reality that primary research and development and the commercialization of innovative solutions to real-world problems are needed more than ever.
The tools and resources exist for B.C.’s tech companies to drive growth and competitiveness in industries at home, while also solving significant global problems. They have a massive opportunity before them. It’s a chance to change the world from B.C. and to drive B.C.’s economic engine forward as they meet market demands with their world-class innovations.
