market2world communications - the new way things are blog

RIM like APPL in 1997 or tomorrow's Kodak moment? I bet 10K that Thorsten can bend it like Steve did

2012-01-24T21:11:29Z

By Nathan Rudyk

Know what Warren Buffett says about being greedy when others are fearful? I smell a lot of fear, am reading bucket-loads of loathing, yet see a turnaround opportunity at RIM. So today I fired up my online trading account to drop $10,000 on RIM stock priced at $15 and change.

What inspired the bet, and it definitely is a bet at this very early stage of Thorsten Heins' time in the CEO chair, was some investigation into Apple's stock price when it too was priced at "maximum fear". Apple had, said 90s-era critics, hopelessly lost its way after it suffered one of the biggest quarterly losses in Silicon Valley history.

Chris Nerney, a blogger at ITworld, researched Apple's stock price at $5.42 when Steve Jobs took back control of Apple in the fall of 1997. Based on today's price, a $10,000 investment in APPL at that time would now be worth $775,830. Nice bet.

Compared to yesterday's Apple, today's RIM is growing (from 75 million users compared to last year's 50 million), has positive cash-flow, no debt, and competes in a high-growth market. In a credit-crunched, profit-constrained world, that is no small thing. RIM has room to move.

Not that RIM's pile-on populous of critics need more air time, but I'll point out that Nerney rates the content of Heins' first performance as CEO as "absolute nonsense". Others, including the Financial Post's Theresa Tedesco, are just as brutal. In her case, she wrote today that hiring Heins as CEO proves "they are still clueless in Waterloo".

I'm not so sure. Just as Apple's transformation success pivoted on software (Steve's visionary but commercially unsuccessful NeXTStep OS, purchased by Apple for $429 million), RIM's software-based fortunes arguably rest on an extraordinarily solid, proven OS from Ottawa's QNX (purchased by RIM in 2010 for $200 million).

Earlier this month, QNX software, the software foundation of RIM's upcoming, lustworthy BlackBerry 10 "London" smartphone, won a "Best of CES Award" for its QNX CAR™ 2 application platform. Tens of millions of devices run QNX software, from cars to nuclear devices to Internet routers. Not long after the QNX acquisition, RIM acquired Alec Saunders (well respected mega-blogger, ex-Microsoft and QNX) as VP of Developer Relations. Another good move in the right direction.

From the 2010 RIM press release announcing the QNX purchase (one sentence underlined for emPHAsis):

"In addition to our interests in expanding the opportunities for QNX in the automotive sector and other markets, we believe the planned acquisition of QNX will also bring other value to RIM in terms of supporting certain unannounced product plans for intelligent peripherals, adding valuable intellectual property to RIM's portfolio and providing long-term synergies for the companies based on the significant and complementary OS expertise that exists within the RIM and QNX teams today."

Best technology of course, does not win. If that was true I'd be typing this post on a Xerox Alto. RIM's PlayBook launch was a product-disconnected joke, and the company's PR department, as witnessed by this infamous BBC interview with one of RIM's erstwhile co-CEOs (while a hapless PR person yammers off-camera), has widely been known as serially awful and inaccessible to journalists. But, those things can be fixed, RIM's market is no way resembles Kodak's, and RIM's new CEO seems intent on making the necessary fixes.

So, go Thorsten go! Bend it like Steve, or better yet, bend it like Thorsten.

p.s. If you have more time, check out this "Steve, what do we do about the press?" video from Steve Jobs. It was made in 1997, when Apple's stock was priced in a single, lonely digit.

(Nathan Rudyk is President and CEO with market2world communications inc., the public relations and product marketing agency for global innovators. He is also an iPhone user who looks forward to switching to a QNX-powered BlackBerry in the near future.)

Hello, my name is Brian and I have money

2011-12-05T15:44:27Z

By Paul Brent

That is quite the comment to make when you are talking to a business association that is very interested in where member companies might be able to find some financing. Brian Forbes, Executive Director of Ottawa’s Coral CEA made the statement recently while speaking to the Ottawa Wireless Cluster.

Coral CEA does have money but software companies have to realize that Coral CEA offers a lot more than government funding. Coral CEA uses the Open Innovation concept that is being used by companies like General Electric Inc. and Proctor & Gamble Corp. letting them tap into new sources of knowledge.

Thanks to Ottawa’s Wireless Cluster for inviting Brian as the Cluster resumed group meetings after a break of many months. Wireless companies have been nose to the grindstone as they deal with challenging economic times.

Brian Forbes presents at The Ottawa Wireless Cluster November meeting

Coral CEA is one of market2world’s most aggressive clients in the field of innovation building. There was a lot of interest at the session about what Coral CEA offers. Coral CEA is funded to the tune of $9.3 million over five years by the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation with the aim of fostering commercialization through Open Innovation – a business model that combines best practices from both Open Source and commercial development to allow software developers to share risk and return while creating Communications Enabled Applications. Brian said Open Innovation means companies, “Don’t have to re-invent everything but leverage what has gone before”. Brian added they also offer "tough love" to teach members about the need to get customers and create a solid business plan.

Coral CEA is a key player in Ontario’s innovation scene and my colleague Nathan Rudyk pointed out in his recent blog post , entrepreneurs create new jobs and a key requirement for them is is money to bridge the gap between research and commercialization. “Coral CEA helps small firms to commercialize their ideas and to fight above their weight and get to market. Canada needs to out-innovate other nations, Companies need to combine resources with a trusted mediator like Coral CEA. We are the new information facilitator and new members need to understand how our model works.”

Coral CEAs most recent investment is with four companies at the Digital Media Zone (DMZ) in Toronto. DMZ is part of Ryerson University. ”We think Coral CEA, DMZ and Ryerson can set a new standard for getting innovation done in Ontario," says Brian Forbes.

(Paul Brent is Senior Communications Strategist with market2world communications inc. the public relations and product marketing agency for global innovators.)

OCRI's CEO Bruce Lazenby in Ottawa Citizen: Startups the key to tech Ottawa's success

2011-11-28T14:12:57Z

By Nathan Rudyk

In today's Ottawa Citizen, Bruce Lazenby, OCRI's President & CEO, laid a out game-plan for Ottawa's tech sector that doesn't involve more government studies, wishful waiting for scarce venture capital (been doing any reading lately on the global credit crisis?) or reliance on 90s-era "critical mass" companies.

Instead, Lazeby advises "a laserlike focus on Ottawa’s entrepreneurs, their startups, and our ability to rapidly accelerate the success of those young companies."

He cites data from the Kauffman Foundation, the world's largest institution devoted to entrepreneurship, that has done exhaustive research on the true sources of sustainable job creation. From today's article:

In 2010, Tim Kane, a Kauffman senior fellow, analyzed a U.S. data set called Business Dynamics Statistics.

His conclusion? "Startups aren't everything when it comes to job growth. They're the only thing."

Kane's research shows that from 1977 to 2005, existing companies lost one million net jobs per year. On the other hand, startups in their first year added an average of three million jobs annually.

When you look at old versus new companies, this revelation on the power of startups is even more interesting. Gross job creation at startups averaged more than three million jobs per year during 1992-2005, four times higher than older companies. Counter to the prevailing wisdom of 20 years ago when big was beautiful, older firms on the whole experience job losses that are larger than job gains.

So Ottawa, let's embrace the beauty of our startups.

Please read Bruce's full article here: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Small+beautiful+Ottawa+tech+sector/5776149/story.html#ixzz1f0fUFUTH

(Nathan Rudyk is President and CEO with market2world communications inc., the public relations and product marketing agency for global innovators.)

Ottawa’s tech community turns out – again – in unprecedented numbers as the sector revs up

2011-11-25T15:13:46Z

By Paul Brent

The Ottawa Centre for Regional Innovation (OCRI) hosted its regular execTalks forum at Scotiabank place on Thursday Nov. 24 and 270 - yes 270 people – at least twice the normal attendance got up early to be there. They came for breakfast, networking and to hear about how to boost productivity. In the room you could hear and feel the buzz. People were impressed with the turnout.

“This is the new OCRI, we want to connect with the community more than ever before. That is the roots of OCRI and with a new CEO and this great turnout we think the time is right to re-engage Ottawa,” said Frédéric Boulanger, President and CEO of Macadamian Technologies Inc. who welcomed the audience. Frédéric has been active with OCRI for years as a sponsor, and working on several programs including the Software Cluster. He added, “OCRI has always been about learning, providing content, helping people meet and network and drive the economy. I see a lot of recent positive activity.”

270 attendees for OCRI execTalks on Nov. 23, 2011

“This turnout is great to see. There are so many cool things going on in the city,” said Mark Noonan of the Ottawa office of Deloitte Canada and the firm’s lead partner for technology.

“Ottawa is still one of the key centres for technology in Canada and OCRI and the clusters for the various sectors are the things that do make a difference. OCRI, Waterloo’s Communitech, Toronto’s MaRS and similar organizations need to share information on best practices in order to improve all communities,” said Bill Currie of Deloitte, the guest speaker. Currie spoke about Deloitte’s recent study on productivity and why we should care that Canadians are on average 25 per cent less productive than the average American worker. Curried added, “If you want to keep your standard of living and have your children enjoy the same benefits we need to step it up in productivity. Technology can provide the tools to do that and the tech sector provides the key, high value sustainable jobs Canada needs.”

The Deloitte report points out that about half of Canadian firms are risk takers and behave just like their American counterparts but the other half of Canadian firms avoid risk and that drags down the overall economic performance. The full report details the problems and offers solutions to the productivity gap.

OCRI is a client of market2world communications inc. Read the blog post by my colleague Nathan Rudyk about the amazing turnout for the Nov. 14 kick-off to Ottawa Entrepreneur Week.

If you want to get involved and be part of the new tech scene fro Ottawa go the OCRI website. The next major event is the annual Festival of Seasons Holiday Reception Wednesday Dec. 14 at the Delta Ottawa Centre.

(Paul Brent is Senior Communications Strategist with market2world communications inc. the public relations and product marketing agency for global innovators.)

Ottawa Entrepreneur Week: Here's the party you missed but it's going to continue "like it's 1999"

2011-11-16T22:38:07Z

By Nathan Rudyk

I'm still getting calls and emails from people saying "I can't believe I missed it!"/"I heard it was great" and the best comment: "We've got our mojo back!" three days after the kick-off party for the first annual and first-ever, 36-event Ottawa Entrepreneur Week.

All I can say is we printed 100 t-shirts, and 200 showed up at the Heart & Crown Preston St. on 4 o'clock on a Monday afternoon ready and willing to celebrate entrepreneurship across the City of Ottawa. I can also say we (the OCRI events and marketing crew supplemented by the market2world team) worked our butts off to create the social networking and media buzz on the event that drew them in. But honestly, honestly, it wasn't us.

The community was ready. The Ottawa business community truly wanted to "party like it's 1999", when we had great mojo, when Nortel was at the top of its game, when the air smelled like possibility to local entrepreneurs.

It's a different time, and a different, more diversified entrepreneurial community. But we're there again. We are. More than anything, it smells like let's-make-it-happen possibility. And if you don't believe me, check out the YouTube video above and then tell me why not.

(Nathan Rudyk is President and CEO with market2world communications inc., the public relations and product marketing agency for global innovators.)

Ottawa Entrepreneur Week: Collaboration at its best!

2011-11-14T18:14:56Z

By Nathan Rudyk

On Sept. 30th I wrote that Bruce Lazenby is "the most important CEO in Ottawa right now because he's committed like no one I've met to tear down the little walls and moats that have been building up for several years now to delay what is ours for the taking: To be the best place in Canada to start and grow a knowledge-based business."

Today's launch of Ottawa Entrepreneur Week is solid confirmation of this faith in OCRI's new CEO and his very capable, experienced colleagues. As I write this, registrations for the launch party (register here to join us!) at the Heart & Crown Preston Street have OCRI event coordinators scrambling for overflow space and extra audio support.

Bruce spent most of his morning on a media blitz of drive-in/drive-home and afternoon radio and TV shows waking up the neighbours to fact that Ottawa's entrepreneurs rank with the world's best. He also explained how the city and the entire Eastern Ontario region needs to support them even better to help our companies realize their wealth/jobs/innovation potential.

This all began innocently enough, with an email I sent to Bruce and his OCRI team on Oct. 27th with a subject line that read: "Global Entrepreneurship Week is Nov. 14-18/Ottawa Entrepreneur Week anyone?"

That team, starting with Stephen Daze and Michael Burnatowski from the OCRI Entrepreneurship Centre, immediately sprang into action with their support for the idea, and compiled a list of nine seminars and workshops in their orbit. The events and marketing team of Kathy Mahoney, Alex Pugh, Patricia Ward, Jeff Elyea, Walter Noble, and Terry D’Angelo got busy on logistics. I contacted Global Entrepreneurship Week's Canadian arm, Canadian Youth Business Foundation, to get permission to co-brand/co-promote with them. They instantly agreed.

By the time I met with Bruce Nov. 1 (less than a week after email #1) at OCRI's offices to get his formal "Good to go", he'd already reached out to Gerry Nott, Publisher of the Ottawa Citizen, and his Chair, Jeff Westiende, had a meeting with the Ottawa Business Journal's Mark Sutcliffe. Both publishers pledged important media sponsorship and agreement to proflile some of our best and brightest companies throughout Ottawa Entrepreneur Week. In other words, we weren't good to go, we were going! And Bruce's EA Cindy Babcock ensured we all connected where and when we needed to.

Imagine the car-bots in Transformers 3 assembling in real time at 250 kph, and you'll get the idea of how fast we were executing on what was nothing more than an idea a few days earlier.

Michelle Scarborough's team at the Regional Innovation Centre for Ottawa and Eastern Ontario lined up a launch-party roster of their Portolio Rising Stars – the "ones to watch" companies and entrepreneurs that represent a selection of the 132 companies that have flowed through the Centre's mentorship engine so far in 2011. That team includes Marco Fiori, Scott Runte, Bob Huggins, and Peter Becke – all of whom pitched in along with CEOs from their portfolio companies to make the first annual Ottawa Entrepreneur Week happen.

Manu Sharma, from OCRI TalentBridge, signed on as our social media "Buzzmaster" to rally 20-something TalentBridge volunteers including Ashima Kudaisya, Kyle Sergeant, and Tuhin Das to pump "#OEWeek" on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Manu's in charge of Ottawa Entrepreneur Week's last "feature event", the Ottawa Community Challenge on Social Entreprenurship that's going on this weekend.

My market2world colleagues Paul Brent, Hasi Eldib, and Jill McCubbin have also been giving their all the last couple of weeks organizing PR and video production that Manu's team can propel into more conversations on social networks.

All the while Bruce Lazenby was on a grueling travel and first-month-on-the job meeting schedule. Yet he found the time to send out team emails like "OUTSTANDING. This is beautiful. Really great!" along with rapid-fire thoughts on how we could make it bigger, make it more, make it better, just like he wants Ottawa to be bigger/more/better on economic development. And it's going to be. No walls. No moats.

Every single one of what are now some 35 listed events on the Ottawa Entrepreneur Week Web site are feature events in their own way. Business, academic and municipal organizations right across the city and beyond have worked with us to build momentum. It's thrilling. It's humbling. And it's about leadership, and execution, in a spirit of collaboration, with the imperative of speed. Just ... like ... a start-up.

Promise me, this week, find an event that's right for you, and get involved. And if you don't have time, that's OK, because you're probably in the midst of starting a company! But if you're thinking of starting one, dive in DEEP this week. You'll learn, find mentors and most important, the inspiration to turn your dream for a company into an entrepreneurial success story.

Go Ottawa entrepreneurs! If we don't see you this year, we're going to see you next year for sure at Ottawa Entrepreneur Week 2012!

(Nathan Rudyk is President and CEO with market2world communications inc., the public relations and product marketing agency for global innovators.)

Canada's cleantech industry is thriving, but what if the Federal Government backed it like Sir Terry and Ontario?

2011-10-28T13:29:37Z

By Nathan Rudyk

The Canadian Cleantech Summit is in full swing this week, and as reported by Vito Pilieci in an Ottawa Citizen article entitled Clean green and unseen, some cleantech industry participants are decrying a lack of government interest in their momentum. Governments will be governments, but the great thing is industries will be industries. The press release we issued yesterday on OCRI's behalf stated that 85 per cent of Canada’s clean technology companies require no subsidies, are globally competitive, and are situated in what promises to be a $3 trillion industry by 2020. $3 TRILLION.

That 85 per cent number, compiled in the 2011 Canadian Clean Technology Industry Report, supported by the Canadian Clean Technology Coalition and authored by Analytica Advisors, is accompanied by some other interesting facts and stats:

• Canada has close to 700 clean technology companies
• The average Canadian clean technology company employs 62 people
• Industry employment grew 11 per cent (CAGR) from 2008 to 2010
• If the current growth rate is maintained, clean technology industry employment could total 75,000 by 2015 and 126,000 by 2020
• Canadian 2010 clean technology industry revenues totaled $9 billion
• Canadian-owned clean technology companies generated 86 per cent of this revenue
• Canadian based foreign subsidiaries generated 14 per cent of this revenue
• Canada’s clean technology industry revenues grew at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 19 per cent between 2008 and 2010
• If Canadian clean technology companies maintain a 19 per cent CAGR, Canada’s clean technology industry revenues will reach $61.4 billion by 2020, about the size of Canada’s automotive industry today

A great leading indicator of industry-led cleantech momentum is yesterday's announcement that TaraSpan Inc. of Ottawa is offering new market entry services targeting India's burgeoning multi-billion dollar cleantech market. TaraSpan is part of (Sir) Terry Matthews' family of companies, and where Sir Terry's billion-dollar empire leads, others would be wise to follow.

It's also fair to point out that the Ontario government is fully behind cleantech, rivalling Germany's strategic support of this 21st century growth industry. market2world also promotes foreign direct investment trade missions for the Ontario Clean Technology Alliance (that OCRI is a founding member of along with nine other municipal regions).

Following the government's lead, Ontario has attracted more than C$20 billion (US$19.5 billion) in renewable energy investment commitments since it launched its feed-in-tarrif (FIT) program two years ago. Last year, Ontario installed 168 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity, surpassing New Jersey as the second leading North American jurisdiction for new solar projects in 2010.

The largest single commitment is a C$7 billion investment by South Korea's Samsung C&T Corp. In addition to Toronto, Windsor and Tillsonburg, Ontario, where Samsung will produce solar inverters, wind turbines and blades, the company announced last month that it would manufacture solar modules in London, Ontario, creating 200 new green energy jobs in that city.

This summer, MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. and SunEdison, its solar energy subsidiary, along with manufacturing partner Flextronics announced expanded manufacturing capacity to deploy rooftop solar panels on municipal buildings in Newmarket, Ontario, with an expectation of generating 400 green energy jobs along with 1.17 megawatts (MW) of solar capacity.

So that's Ontario. Now it's the Federal government's turn to step up. Yesterday Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources, came to the Summit to announce that since 2006 the Feds have "invested more than $10 billion to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build a more sustainable environment". Here's the press release. It contains no hint of follow-on investment, no new programs, and no call to arms to make Canada a world-beating industry centre for clean technology.

Imagine what could happen if the Feds woke up and smelled the fresh air? Imagine if they put a stake in the ground (or some solar panels on the roof) and followed the lead Sir Terry, the government of Ontario and rest of cleantech Canada and establish a firm national priority to build cleantech as Canada's number one export industry by 2020?

Perhaps it's time to stop imagining.

(Nathan Rudyk is President and CEO with market2world communications inc., the public relations and product marketing agency for global innovators.)

Regional Innovation Centre pumps "high-tech" expertise into "low-tech" Ottawa roofing business

2011-10-14T01:25:34Z

By Nathan Rudyk

Here's an inspiring business story, and no it's not about a new mobile app company that enhances sexual performance or genetic sensor that detects and cures cancer – not that there's anything wrong with that kind of thing.

It's about a roofing company that's using high-tech smarts to create an IP and export-driven business. Now THAT's cool. A portfolio company of the Regional Innovation Centre for Ottawa and Eastern Ontario, Roofers World, a market2world client, has applied the principles of intellectual property protection, R&D investment, and e-commerce to double its sales over the next five years.

As profiled by Rick Spence in Profit Magazine (true confession: this is the magazine where I fondly cut my teeth in journalism as an Assistant Editor in the 80s, and where I was inspired by the people I was writing about to start my own companies), Roofers World has developed 35 patents on products including the Red Ripper, an award-winning shovel (see photo above) that lets contractors tear shingles and nails off a roof in a single pass.

“I’ve discovered all kinds of contacts and resources I didn’t realize were there,” enthused Roofers World's CEO Robin Nelson in praise of his Regional Innovation Centre (there several located throughout Ontario courtesy the support of the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation). “When you ask a question, they’re ready with the name of a lawyer or new supplier. And if I need something, it’s really easy to pick up the phone and ask for help.” He says the Centre's team is also helping him explore ways to get more capital to speed his firm’s innovation agenda.

High fives to Robin Nelson and his team at Roofers World for reaching out to Michelle Scarborough and her team at the Regional Innovation Centre for Ottawa and Eastern Ontario as they create a thriving export business in our region!

(Nathan Rudyk is President and CEO with market2world communications inc., the public relations and product marketing agency for global innovators.)

ConsiderCanada.com: Forbes Magazine ranks Canada number one in "Best Countries for Business" List

2011-10-04T15:40:44Z

By Nathan Rudyk

Canada's been on the list of best-kept business secrets for several years. While the U.S. and Europe were piling on debt over the last decade we were "beavering away" (Canadian term, means working hard) getting our books in order, bolstering our banking system to withstand perfect storms and black swans, investing in education and healthcare, and trimming business taxes.

Let's face it, we're also blessed by a motherload of natural resources that makes us one of the world's best supermarkets, and gas stations. And we're ... Canadian. Our country is a tolerant place that accepts immigrants, listens to new ideas, has a strong rule of law and respects the contributions of entrepreneurs.

For these reasons and several others, this week Forbes Magazine ranked Canada number one in the world in the magazine's coveted "Best Countries for Business" List.

At market2world, we violently agree with Forbes' choice. Just over 12 months ago we launched ConsiderCanada.com/CanadaEnTete.com, a bilingual brand built for Canada's C-11 large cities to help attract more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Flying under this banner, the C-11 can undertake joint trade missions around the world, and otherwise create a far stronger global impact working together than competing against each other.

Please check out ConsiderCanada.com on the Web and/or join our group on LinkedIn. But before you click there, read what Forbes had to say about our great country's business prospects:

Canada ranks No. 1 in our annual look at the Best Countries for Business. While the U.S. is paralyzed by fears of a double-dip recession and Europe struggles with sovereign debt issues, Canada’s economy has held up better than most. The $1.6 trillion economy is the ninth biggest in the world and grew 3.1% last year. It is expected to expand 2.4% in 2011, according to the Royal Bank of Canada.

Canada skirted the banking meltdown that plagued the U.S. and Europe. Banks like Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal avoided bailouts and were profitable during the financial crises that started in 2007. Canadian banks emerged from the tumult among the strongest in the world thanks to their conservative lending practices.

Canada is the only country that ranks in the top 20 in 10 metrics that we considered to determine the Best Countries for Business (we factored in 11 overall). It ranks in the top five for both investor protection as well as lack of red tape, which measures how easy it is to start a business.

Canada moves up from No. 4 in last year’s ranking thanks to its improved tax standing. It ranks ninth overall for tax burden compared to No. 23 in 2010. Credit a reformed tax structure with a Harmonized Sales Tax introduced in Ontario and British Columbia in 2010. The goal is to make Canadian businesses more competitive. Canada’s tax status also improved thanks to reduced corporate and employee tax rates.

(Nathan Rudyk is President and CEO with market2world communications inc., the public relations and product marketing agency for global innovators.)

Launching Ottawa's most important CEO: Bruce Lazenby

2011-09-30T22:18:25Z

By Nathan Rudyk

OCRI's new President and CEO Bruce Lazenby meets with Ottawa Business Journal, Ottawa Citizen, CBC TV, and IT in CanadaPR guys are prone to hyperbole. I know that. You know that. Keep reading anyway because if you give a damn about Ottawa's economy you're going to like this.

Today we "launched Bruce Lazenby", OCRI's new President and CEO. He's the most important CEO in Ottawa right now because he's committed like no one I've met to tear down the little walls and moats that have been building up for several years now to delay what is ours for the taking: To be the best place in Canada to start and grow a knowledge-based business.

The City of Ottawa has recognized that those walls and moats are holding us back, and is pumping in money, and intent, including the Mayor's time, to systematically meet with the business community and establish priorities. To get the right wood behind the right arrows.

Money is good. Intent is good. Mindful civil servants and associations are good too. But what's been lacking, and what I'm convinced we have in Bruce Lazenby, is leadership. Here's a guy with 20 years in the military, including UN peacekeeping tours of duty. A guy who led 300% growth in a local software company with a global footprint. A guy who's professionally coached other CEOs to do their best. And a guy who can tell a story. Just look at this video and tell me he can't tell a story. Also look at where he's telling the story, and what that means.

Bruce Lazenby is Ottawa's most important CEO because he understands he's got to fire up other CEOs, other non-profit Presidents, other politicians at every level of government, to work together to make Ottawa great. Now. Because we can. Now.

Feel a little cynical reading this? I don't blame you. But don't go there. Instead, email Bruce, and share your ideas for how we realize our potential. Do it. It's ceo@ocri.ca.

(Nathan Rudyk is President and CEO with market2world communications inc., the public relations and product marketing agency for global innovators.)

OpenOttawaLibre: the "culture thing" starts to rumble at an unconference with uncommon purpose

2011-09-30T03:56:15Z

By Nathan Rudyk

When I came to Ottawa in the mid-80s to seek my fortune as a tech marketing writer for a rising pre-IPO tech company called Cognos, I was the proverbial whinging Toronto dude. I owned inadequate winter footwear, moaned about the cold, missed the subway, and was outraged by the fact that on a Wednesday night, my friends and I could not spontaneously:

dine out at an Ethiopian restaurant
wander into a designer's studio to check out some threads
catch a five-dollar Chinese art flick at a rep cinema
shoot some pool with poets
hear a cool live underground band (often underground, at Spadina Hotel's Subway Room)
straggle home to recently reclaimed bricks-n-beams lofts after fabulous coffees and gelato

I was assured by my new Ottawa crowd, many of whom worked on the Hill (including a quiet, earnest guy named Jim Watson, now Ottawa's far more communicative, earnest Mayor) that all of the above was possible. We'd just have to watch the newsapers closely, tune into Carleton U's CKCU-FM, and strategically plot our culture calendar over the course of a month. But, it'd just be a whole lot easier if we dropped the bohemian schtick and went to the Prescott Hotel for beers and meatball sandwiches while we watched a football game.

Even situated in Chinatown, I lasted about a year-and-a-half, then quit my great Ottawa tech job just before the IPO and did the banana-split back to Toronto to launch a career as a freelance business writer. I simply could not reconcile the lack of a thriving live music scene, the endless pub-grub, and general un-hip-ness of The City That Fun Forgot. Oh, and there was a woman I was chasing.

Fast-foward. While Toronto traffic, smog, expense and daily grind forced me (and a growing family with that same woman, the chase was well worth the IPO bucks) out. Remembering the good stuff about the Ottawa Valley but still cautious about the 90s version of Ottawa, we fled first to culture-laden Wakefield, PQ, then to mega-culture-laden Almonte, ON. And now, with a walk-to-work lifestyle amongst the bricks-n-beams located just a few kilometers from city limits, my little bullet list of regret from the 80s has become totally achievable in 21st century Ottawa most days of the week, with same-day service.

And it's going to get even better. Yesterday I attended an unconference called OpenOttawaLibre PURPOSEFULLY CREATED to "position Ottawa as a centre of creativity and innovation". They didn't wedge the word "fun" into that statement, but the open-minded, open-hearted unconferencees absolutely got the F-word. My face still hurts from laughing and smiling so much with them.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Richard Florida (who to be fair, has recognized and graciously categorized Ottawa's nation-leading creative class status for several years now).

The unconference was a multi-disciplinary gathering of 100-plus invited guests trying to, in Ottawa Valley Speak, git er done! Held at Arts Court, the event was hosted by the City of Ottawa's Culture & Heritage Services Branch with the Regional Innovation Centre for Ottawa and Eastern Ontario as its major partner. Below, in true unconference style, was the list of priorities and opportunities identified by our group.

If you want to dive deeper into The City Where Fun Began's cultural ambitions, check out a City of Ottawa discussion paper about Culture and the Creative Economy that introduces five potential strategies for consideration in the new action plan for culture.

So what are you waiting for? Check out Ottawa tonight and go shoot some pool with a poet!

(Nathan Rudyk is President and CEO with market2world communications inc., the public relations and product marketing agency for global innovators.)

OCRI invites media to meet the organization’s new President tomorrow morning!

2011-09-29T15:45:20Z

OTTAWA, ON – Sept. 29, 2011 – OCRI Chairman Jeff Westeinde will present OCRI’s new President at the organization’s offices on Queensview Drive, Friday, September 30, at 11:40 AM. OCRI’s Board of Directors has endorsed a strategy for the organization taking on a focussed role in keeping with the City of Ottawa’s Partnerships for Prosperity economic development plan.

OCRI’s new President will discuss introducing cultural change to his organization, and a more inclusive, collaborative approach with various economic development stakeholders to make Ottawa the number one city in Canada to start and grow a knowledge-based business.

WHEN:
Friday, September 30, 2011 - 11:40 a.m.
11:45 a.m. – Jeff Westeinde, OCRI Chairman
11:55 a.m. – OCRI President and CEO
12:00 p.m. – Q&A/photos/interviews

WHERE:
OCRI offices
2625 Queensview Drive, Suite 200
Ottawa, Ontario

MEDIA CONTACT:
Jill McCubbin
market2world communications inc.
www.market2world.com
P: 1.613.256.3939
E: jill@market2world.com

Canadian Innovation Exchange launches Hottest Innovative Companies contest

2011-09-26T19:36:46Z

By Paul Brent

There was a cool contest announced and some interesting crystal ball gazing last week in Ottawa when the Canadian Innovation Exchange and Ernst and Young Inc. brought a national series of panel discussions on tech trends to the capital on Sept. 20.

The Canadian Innovation Exchange invited all entrepreneurs who think their firm qualifies as a top-drawer innovator to register online at the Exchange's WEB site by Oct. 14 for the CIX Top 20 Hottest Innovative Companies contest. Winners will be announced at the annual Innovation Exchange conference on Dec. 1.

Now into last Tuesday evening’s crystal ball:

Brian Forbes Executive Director of Ottawa's Coral CEA spoke about the rapid shift of what were consumer items, like the iPad into enterprise. The challenge he says is,” How to bring in something that is public and open into the more secure enterprise space.” He sees an acceleration of real-time communications capabilities and that’s where Coral CEA can help.

Rob Woodbridge, co-founder of Ottawa’s Mercury Launch that helps start-ups said, "North America is behind much of the world in terms of creating innovative ideas" and companies should look to bring ideas from other parts of the world to North America.

On the key issue of investment money Eugene Siklos the head of direct investing with Export Development Canada said, "Venture capital funding is no longer the model for funding in fact the model is broken and we need to develop a new one." Brian Forbes worked for the last 15 years in the United States and raised over $130 million dollars said, "It's much easier to get money in the United States".

Brian Forbes speaks at panel discussion hosted by Canadian Innovation Exchange in Ottawa Sept. 20, 2011

Thanks to CIX for inviting Brian Forbes, who is one of market2world’s most aggressive clients in the field of innovation building. There was a lot of interest at the session about what Coral CEA offers, so let me elaborate: Coral CEA is funded to the tune of $9.3 million over five years by the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation and fosters commercialization through Open Innovation – a business model that combines best practices from both Open Source and commercial development to allow software developers to share risk and return while creating Communications Enabled Applications. Brian said Open Innovation means companies, “Don’t have to re-invent everything but leverage what has gone before." Brian added they also offer "tough love" to teach members they need to get customers and create a solid business plan.

As my colleague Nathan Rudyk pointed out in his blog post last week, what Coral CEA provides is solid advice on how to get to market faster. Coral CEA’s results so far include:

Partnered with 50 companies – nine of them brand new firms
In August 2011 member firm Cliniconex Inc. of Ottawa launched its first product
Helped create over 60 new software jobs in Ontario
Invested $850,000 dollars in public sector funding
Leveraged its public funding into a total of $30 million of in-kind services and cash from private sector member companies from start-ups to multinationals

(Paul Brent is Senior Communications Strategist with market2world communications inc. the public relations and product marketing agency for global innovators.)

Ottawa's innovation engine pumping power into life science and software clusters

2011-09-20T18:19:38Z

By Nathan Rudyk

Ottawa, the city that urban guru Richard Florida rates as “Best Overall” in Canada on his Creative Class Index, is making its contribution to the province and the entire country better known this week as its innovation engine pumps power into the the life science and software clusters.

In life sciences, the Ottawa Life Sciences Cluster, an industry-driven team being steered by OCRI's Global Marketing group, is working hard to drive more collaboration among 90-plus companies, institutes and research centres located in the region. The goal is a new generation of globally-focused companies like Ottawa's eSight Corp., which makes electronically assisted vision systems set to eclipse the multi-billion dollar hearing-aid market in just a few years.

Chart from Cities Grow Ontario: Urban Challenges and Prospects

Several Ottawa valley medical institutions have helped eSight with crucial clinical testing. eSight is actively engaging Ottawa-area ophthalmologists and optometrists who will recommend its ALIVIOS product to patients and low vision rehabilitation therapists. Early testing of the ALIVIOS prototype at the University of Ottawa Eye Institute at The Ottawa Hospital shows dramatic improvements in key metrics such as contrast sensitivity, facial recognition, and reading speed.

To turn the company’s ALIVIOS Intelligent Eyewear from an R&D idea to a commercial product, eSight also tapped into Ottawa’s strong executive talent pool. President and CEO Kevin Rankin, worked closely with Mr. Lewis at Newbridge Networks, then went on to found Tropic Networks Inc. Rob Hilkes, VP of Marketing and Business Development has held senior positions in several Ottawa technology firms including MOSAID Technologies Inc., Tundra Semiconductor Corp., and UBM TechInsights.

There is equally interesting innovation coming out of Ottawa's software cluster where the team at Coral CEA is also pumping hard. This brainchild of Carleton University Professor Tony Bailetti is now funded with $9.3 million over five years by the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation (MRI), Carleton University, IBM, GENBAND, Eclipse Foundation and ITAC. Headed by enterprise tech product strategy and development veteran Brian Forbes, Coral CEA is teaching the trade secrets of building Open Innovation software ecosystems across the province.

The immediate prize for Ontario software companies is speed-to-market on adding Communcations Enabled Applications (the "CEA" in which the "Coral" can grow) to software applications that can then be used by people to spontaneously collaborate and even speak in real-time. The grand prize is that large institutions and software companies in Ontario can learn to build not just a few apps with CEA inside, but application ecosystems akin to what ICT pioneers like Salesforce.com and Apple have done to huge effect.

Since receiving its first provincial funding Coral CEA has:

Partnered with 50 companies across Ontario, nine of them brand new firms (In August 2011, one of those new firms, Cliniconex Inc. of Ottawa launched its first product)
Helped create over 60 new software jobs in Ontario
Invested $850,000 dollars in public sector funding
Leveraged its public funding into a total of $30 million of in-kind services and cash from private sector member companies from start-ups to multinationals

Innovation lives in Ottawa! If you want to read more about the progress of the Ottawa Life Sciences Cluster click here to read market2world's press release. For more on Coral CEA, click here to read our press release. And if you want to know where that gorgeous chart above comes from that shows Ottawa's amazing concentration of Creative Class workers compared to the rest of Ontario, click here. That last click will take you to an report timed to the Ontario election called Cities Grow Ontario.

Here's an excerpt from the report, prepared by the University of Toronto's The Cities Centre, Innis Urban Studies Program, and Martin Prosperity Institute along with contributors from several other universities across Ontario:

Cities grow Ontario. It’s not just that the growth of cities increases the population of the entire province. In cities, both individuals and companies are more productive, creative and innovative. Cities have more trained and educated people. And, they earn more money, not just because the cost of living is higher. Cities generate provincial and federal tax revenues in amounts greater than their proportion of the population. As Ontario’s cities grow and prosper, the entire province benefits.

Growing cities are growing markets for agricultural and other goods produced across the non-metropolitan portions of Ontario. Cities provide the employment and income for people who then spend their money and their weekends at the cottage or enjoying one of the many recreational opportunities in abundance across the province. While the cities are home to manufacturing facilities and other traded industries, cities are more likely to have the home office and management. Cities are providing the infrastructure that enables non-metropolitan manufacturing establishments to be successful.

(Nathan Rudyk is President and CEO with market2world communications inc., the public relations and product marketing agency for global innovators.)

market2world welcomes newest team member: Award-winning CTV technology specialist Paul Brent

2011-07-06T18:01:14Z

Former CTV Ottawa technology specialist and Tech Now Reporter/Producer Paul Brent has joined market2world communications inc. as a Senior Communications Strategist. market2world bills itself as a public relations and product marketing resource for global innovators. The company has experienced 50% growth over the past year as its reputation for promoting knowledge-based products and services has attracted new clients in Ontario, across Canada, and internationally.

Award-winning CTV tech specialist Paul Brent joins market2world communications inc. as Senior Communications Strategist“I intend to add a strong dose of video storytelling and production expertise to market2world,” stated Brent. More than 85 percent of browsers support screen resolutions higher than 1024x768, and those browsers are now found on hand-held smartphones and tablets, not just laptops and PCs. When you add Internet-connected smart TVs into the mix, it’s easy to see that the YouTube online video revolution now extends to every device owned by today’s consumer.”

Brent enjoyed an award-winning career in the news business prior to joining to market2world. Since 2001 he was CTV’s technology specialist, covering the technology industry in his popular Tech Now weekly program that looks at consumer innovations that permeate daily life. He reported from aboard the space shuttle, inside a Japanese car plant, the country's top tech labs and the streets of Silicon Valley, California. In 2001 he was named Technology and Science Reporter of the year by Canada's largest tech organization, the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance. In 2005, he won the award for "Best News Story" of the year from the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation. In 2008 Ottawa Life magazine named Paul one of Ottawa’s 50 Most Influential People.”

“With our roots in social media and Web 2.0 communications outreach and the overriding trend to B2B and B2C streaming video sites, we needed an experienced, video communications pro on our team,” said market2world President & CEO Nathan Rudyk, who founded the firm in 2005 after a 20-year career marketing innovation on a global basis. “I started working with Paul as a guest commentator on his show between 2002 and 2004. When he contacted me to discuss the “2.0” extension of his distinguished career, it didn’t take us long to agree that he should join market2world.”

In the past 12 months, market2world has provided PR and product marketing services for clients including:

Bullion Management Group Inc.
ConsiderCanada.com and CanadaEntete.com
Coral CEA
Evizone Ltd.
Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance
Homesol Building Solutions Inc.
International Credit Brokers Alliance
The Ottawa Centre for Regional Innovation (OCRI)
Ontario Automotive Communities Alliance
Ontario Clean Technology Alliance
Ontario Food Cluster
Ontario Technology Corridor
Pyramidal Technologies Ltd.
The RGB Group