ABCtech #185 26JAN20 Growing Alberta Forward – 2020 Vision

DRAFT

“Growing Alberta Forward” – 2020 Vision

The issue of Access to Capital is always popular among business advocates particularly if free government money can be accessed. But any discussion of GOVERNMENT intervention for increasing access to capital needs to be addressed in the context of:

1. The Alberta economy and the role of government in innovation in diversification

2. Deal flow and impediments to development of the innovation ecosystem

3. Failure of the private sector in engaging Albertans directly as investors.

I’m not aware of there being any debate or discussion of these 3 issues.

The economic transition in Alberta has begun. The energy industry is in transition and government public services are being personalized. Oil and gas revenues and public sector austerity are expected to help finance the transition; but the hurdle for change is very high and the vision of “What next?” is missing. An alignment and the joint participation of both the public and private sectors is essential.

Recommendations follow.

A. Vision and leadership. Conduct a pan-Alberta Congress for establishing and supporting a 2050 Agency for championing and monitoring progress in attaining the vision of a diversified more resilient economy and effective innovation ecosystem

B. Innovation. Nurture networks for expediting the commercialization of emerging technologies and the evolution of entirely new industries and management processes

C. People. Incentivize educational and research institutions for reallocating existing resources dedicated to specific workforce and implementation targets

D. Community. Enable municipalities to incentivize residential and commercial transitions.

ALSO consider:

Diversification of oil and gas economies is rare particularly when the industry is a primary financer of public services

Proclamations of a climate crisis are motivating change in workforce preparation, the allocation of capital, and innovation.

The survival, growth, and retention of SMEs in Alberta are weak. Alberta’s economic ecosystem supporting SMEs is immature, undeveloped and overly oriented to public services and capital intensive raw resources extraction and distribution.

There are today over 23,000 non-profit associations and more each day – sourced as charities by volunteers and gaming revenue. When is enough enough? Many are struggling to survive with little relief in sight. Their shear volume fragments efforts at advocacy and their operational effectiveness.

The value of tangible assets has been rapidly overtaken by accounting for and financing of intangible assets. This “revolution” is already fueling the transition away from supply driven extraction and distribution to the demand driven, data enabled, personalization of services.

Fraud undermines trust impeding early stage private financing. This is particularly relevant when regulations cannot keep pace with change.

The intergenerational transfer of $Ts of baby boomer private wealth is pending. This transition can be used by government to pay off public debt through a wealth transfer tax and/or personal financing of wealth creation. The debate is overdue.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Be patient – Alberta’s innovation ecosystem is a “system”, immature, and comprised of many elements. Capital while a prime element, is only one element in the system. Experience is another element essential for emerging industry networks and investors, entrepreneurs and the public.

1. Incentivize the investment of private capital in Alberta enterprise:

1.1 Targeting individual Albertans and the pending multi-$B intergenerational wealth transfer

1.2 Offering incentives for attraction and retention, merging and growth, of Alberta SMEs and NGOs

1.3 Gradually increase the age of retirement allowing more pooling of both public and private capital

2. Hold public research institutions and agencies accountable for applied economic contributions

2.1 Align public research funding to strategic fields essential for diversifying Alberta’s economy

2.2 Temper extended careers of tenured staff and associated salary levels

3. Promote industry-specific innovations

3.1 Open data/machine learning/AI. Note as an Alberta advantage and need to resolve dominance by multi-nationals and fragmentation of Alberta’s IT sector

3.2 AgriTech and agriculture. Note the relevance of growing interest in industrial hemp and food security

3.3 Deregulation of forestry allowing more private entries and economuc diversification

3.4 Increased electrification and automation of transportation

3.5 Adoption of cleanTech and advanced energy alternatives

3.6 Healthcare…see next

4. Increase emphasis on personalizing healthcare services and the role of data and competition, the consumer and private capital, in stiring innovation and quality service implementation

5. Expect educational institutions to prepare themselves and their students for change by de-emphasizing content and increasing emphasis on learning processes and the application of emerging technologies

6. Encourage relational skills – humanism, in the recruiting and training of professionals and employing AI for the automation of skills and knowledge management. This means making a concerted effort to bridge the liberal arts and science.

7. Engage administrators and contractors for recommending improvements in the conduct of public procurement that both administrators and suppliers view as failing at every level

8. Introduce legislation for more severe consequences for criminal investment fraud.

Finally, manage expectations – way too much is expected of governments for diversifying Alberta’s economy.

9. Establish a standing partnership with representatives of Alberta’s innovation ecosystem appointed by independent industry NGOs. The body would be to engage stakeholders of the ecosystem for advising government AND industry on measures for increasing Alberta’s economic resilience and the development of an effective innovation ecosystem.

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