What is B-roll? It is an edited package of video that shows your company and/or your product and is offered to media for use as part of its reporting. The term is a holdover from the days of film when there was both an A and a B roll. Interviews were normally on the A reel and visuals were on the B reel as a story went to air. Over time the term has come to mean a source of supplemental video content.  

Last week one of our clients, Skyreader Media Inc. led by its marketing team leader, Andrew Jackson from Knowmads Inc., launched an innovative new children’s eBook app on the iPad called Draw Along Pip. market2world produced a PR campaign that included a video package report about Pip the Penguin and its author/creator Leslie McGuirk with three B-roll segments.

The B-roll was used extensively by CTV’s Canada AM in a five minute interview with Skyreader’s CEO Kevin Gillis and Leslie McGuirk.

CTV’s producers started their interview segment using Skyreader’s B-Roll of a parent and children using the app in a very natural way. They also used another Skyreader-supplied B-Roll segment for three in-show promotions about the upcoming interview segment.

The B-roll helped CTV show its TV audience what the app is all about. Increasingly, all media platforms (including online newspapers) are looking for video that allows them to offer their audiences additional value. In Skyreader’s case, CTV also posted the video interview segment as one of their Top Picks of the Day.

Our B-roll content also found its way on to the Skyreader Media YouTube Channel.

These video clips show an assortment of screen shots and the full story about the app and the company, plus other content Skyreader Media has developed.

It’s noteworthy that adding video to text content makes that content 53 more times likely to be on the first page of a search. 55% of people who view a video also visit the company’s website and 24% make a purchase as a result of watching.  

Some quick advice about creating effective B-roll as part of your PR effort:

• As with any statement to media, provide truthful and trustworthy video that accurately reflects the company and its products
• Provide natural sound (the relevant sound i.e. people talking, equipment operating), after all video is about pictures AND sound. Silence is not golden with B-roll!
• Don’t make individual shots too short, or too long (aim for six or seven seconds per shot, which producers may cut in half)   
• Make your B-roll easily accessible via YouTube on your own channel so all your videos are in one place, but be prepared to deliver digital video files directly to media outlets if that is the way they want it
• There is no guarantee the B-roll will be used, but in the case of Skyreader Media it was not only used in the interview segment but as part of promo for that segment as well

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

It's one of those "Just watch us now!" moments at Invest Ottawa as the city's new entrepreneur-focused economic development agency today announces what CEO Bruce Lazenby calls his "dream team", including three new Entrepreneurs in Residence ready and willing to help take regional companies to the next level.

Meet the team: 

Kevin Carroll, Managing Director of Innovation

Kevin Carroll heads the Invest Ottawa Innovation team that provides services ranging from helping budding entrepreneurs get their small business ideas off the ground, to an innovation acceleration service for technology companies offered in a new 75-seat business accelerator facility at Invest Ottawa’s premises. He has a track record of business achievement spanning more than 20 years, helping shape technology commercialization by bringing together the right teams to grow knowledge-based companies across the province.

Kevin has worked with over 200 companies and raised over $100 million in private and public seed financing. Kevin was previously the Director of Commercialization at the Centre of Commercialization of Research at the Ontario Centres of Excellence. This Federally funded Centre is focused on helping new technology based firms across Ontario grow and expand into foreign markets. He has also recently served as Interim CEO at Launch Lab, the Innovation Centre in Kingston, Ontario.

“I love working with companies and helping them get to from prototype to market-ready product”, he said. “I see the increased desire to support Ottawa’s entrepreneurs and my team, including our three new Entrepreneurs in Residence, are in place to accelerate the growth of startups across our knowledge-based sectors.”

Three New Entrepreneurs in Residence

Invest Ottawa's EIRs work on a part-time basis and bring a wide range of real-world business experience to share with entrepreneurs across Eastern Ontario and enable companies to accelerate growth on a global basis. The three new EIRs are:

• Chris Johnson, a former software company CEO and marketing communications expert
• Andrew Jackson, a consultant and virtual CMO to startups in digital media, with C-level experience in high tech and financial services
• Andrew Moffatt, an enterprise software company founder who for the last eight years has funded and advised start-ups
• The three new EIRs join Bob Huggins, a globally recognized Web-based media pioneer, who has worked as an EIR for the past three years

Walter Hutchings, Managing Director of Investment and Trade

Walt Hutchings brings more than 30 years of banking and international business development experience to help expand and retain existing Ottawa companies while attracting new enterprises to the city. His previous position was with Export Development Canada (EDC) where as Group Vice President, International Business Development he nurtured high level contacts across Canada and worldwide from 15 sales offices spread around the globe.

In 2010, Walt’s team at EDC originated and signed business valued at $22 billion. In areas where he started new operating groups, business volume grew by as much as 500% per year.

“My team’s job is to match high growth companies with high growth markets. Our sector specialists are going to develop in-depth understanding of our local companies and then develop leads for those companies by working with partners like Canadian government trade commissioners, EDC, and trade and investment resources in key growth markets like China and Brazil.”

Jennifer Chorlton, Director of Marketing and Communications

Jennifer Chorlton takes ownership of Invest Ottawa’s new brand and ongoing communications strategy. Deeply involved in Ottawa’s marketing community for the last 15 years, for the last four years she was Director of Publishing at Magmic Games Inc., a global Ottawa-based success in the mobile video games industry.

Geneviève Ménard Hayles, Commissioner of Film, TV and Digital Media

Geneviève Ménard Hayles joined Invest Ottawa in January 2012. She had previously been the Executive Director of the Canadian Tulip Festival for 2011. She also served as the Events and Filming Group Manager for Westminster City Council in London where they facilitate over 850 events and 2500 filming activities per year.

Every once in awhile someone sums up an era/societal movement and "nails it". For me, this editorial from the New York Times is one of those occasions. I'm not saying this assessment of a post-industrial, social-networked society by David Brooks is right or wrong, but I am saying it's a thought-provoking piece that resonates like the low note on a masterfully played cello. Here's an excerpt:

Today, the fast flexible and diverse networks allow the ambitious and the gifted to surf through amazing possibilities. They are able to construct richer, more varied lives. They are able to enjoy interesting information-age workplaces ...

On the other hand, people who lack social capital are more likely to fall through the cracks. It takes effort, organization and a certain set of skills to surf these new, protean social networks. People who are unable to make the effort or lack social capital are more likely to be alone ...

Over all, we’ve made life richer for the people who have the social capital to create their own worlds. We’ve also made it harder for the people who don’t ...

These trends are not going to reverse themselves. So maybe it’s time to acknowledge a core reality: People with skills can really thrive in this tenuous, networked society. People without those advantages would probably be better off if we could build new versions of the settled, stable and thick arrangements we’ve left behind.

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

As the Ottawa Citizen announced today in an editorial entitled Life after OCRI,"The timing is right for Ottawa’s new entrepreneurial push."

Yesterday, with Invest Ottawa's with co-Chairs Jeff Westeinde and Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson beaming in front of hundreds of well-wishers, the economic development agency's CEO Bruce Lazenby took the big-screen wraps off of the new logo created by market2world.

The new Invest Ottawa logo highlights the one economic advantage not shared by any other city in Canada – that Ottawa is the nation's capital. This exclusive value proposition is a global marketing asset, and Invest Ottawa's now taking advantage of that asset. The logo incorporates an internationally known Ottawa landmark, the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill, while rising bar graphs indicating a cityscape in colour-of-money green project growth and a positive future.

The market2world team also led a launch-related PR effort that has so far resulted in 36 55 positive articles, broadcasts, podcasts, and blog posts, and 100-plus tweets and other social networking posts as we built buzz before, during and after the Invest Ottawa launch event. If you weren't fortunate enough to attend this high-energy celebration, have a look at the launch-day video we produced and meet some of Ottawa's best and brightest entrepreneurs:

We are extraordinarily proud of the logo and our PR results, and thankful to the hard-working Invest Ottawa team who guided us, including Andrew Jackson (also of Knowmads Inc.), Jeff Elyea, Alex Pugh, Terry D'Angelo, Kathy Mahoney and Margot Sunter – and this is a partial list. We also had solid and timely input from the City of Ottawa's collegial and collaborative team including Saad Bashir, Robin Ludlow, Stephanie lafelice, Don Lonie, and Robert Manion.

market2world's Invest Ottawa launch team included Jill McCubbin (PR outreach), Paul Brent and Hasi Eldib (video storytelling and production), Jessica Rousseau (logo design) and Jo Danaher (who keeps us and our suppliers paid).

As Mayor Watson emphasized in his speech at yesteday's jam-packed event, this launch represented more than a rebranding exercise for the proud 27-year tradition that was the Ottawa Centre for Regional Innovation, or OCRI. One of the people listening intently to Watson was Dr. Michael Caughey, a good friend, who told me the change to Ottawa's leading economic development agency was welcome and bodes well for the city's future.

That fundamental change involves pointing Invest Ottawa at the eye of the prize, with no OCRI-like distractions from worthy but non-essential programs and projects. The prize is more jobs and significant wealth creation by dint of hard work and imagination by the city's risk-takers. They not only have to be entrepreneurs (a tall order, and trust me I know – market2world is the third startup of my own creation and the fifth I've been part of), but must inspire, mentor and help fund the next generation of money-minded community builders.

Speaking of community builders, what I love about working with Bruce Lazenby is his consistently motivational challenge to "step up" and do something to help Ottawa's entrepreneurs succeed: Become an angel investor. Join a working group to help build one of our exciting new clusters like digital media, film and television, cleantech or life sciences. Encourage a company to apply for one of the coveted spots in the new Invest Ottawa Accelerator Program. Participate in the annual Ottawa Entrepreneur Week. Get involved in an outbound trade mission to China or Brazil. And last but not least, START A COMPANY.

As Shopify Inc.'s Chief Platform Officer Harley Finkelstein pointed out in his frank, humorous, heartfelt speech at yesterday's launch, and backed by ample research stats from the Kauffman Foundation, "startups aren't everything when it comes to job growth, they're the only thing."

Amen. Go entrepreneurs go! And all the best of success for the Invest Ottawa team. We need you to succeed.

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

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.)

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.)

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.)

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.)

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.)

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.)

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.)

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.)

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.)

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.)

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.)