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ABCtech #59 20FEB16 Creating the New Alberta – Just Imagine! and Leaders in Innovation
The article makes a strong point several times that Alberta needs "vision and leadership" to fix and create a new economy - an economy that needs to replace $60B+ in lost oil and gas industry revenue.
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ABCtech #59 20FEB16 Creating the New Alberta – Just Imagine! and Leaders in Innovation
We have rarely had such a massive or immediate response to any single editorial – so we are resending this one adding some clarity. The article makes a strong point several times that Alberta needs “vision and leadership” to fix and create a new economy – an economy that needs to replace $60B+ in lost oil and gas industry revenue. While not mentioned below, a recent survey of the Edmonton Region identified “vision and leadership” as the most significant impediment to economic development. THIS can be resolved and is a challenge for us – industry and government, to solve together. Esir shares the resolutions derived from last year’s conferences in Edmonton and Calgary, the results of several surveys and 10 yeasrs of consultation. – Editor
Creating the new Alberta! – Just imagine by Esir Pretne
Alberta and Canadas’ rise to global prominence as a super-energy economy was swift and extraordinary. Keys to success were a shared industry-government vision and leadership, innovation and engineering. Mining evolved from surface extraction to employing the province’s abundance of natural gas as a source of heat, creating steam and liquifying sub-surface oil for extraction and export to a globe desperate for energy. Attractive royalties attracted $billions in global capital creating jobs and profits shared across the nation Low taxes and quality public services attracted the labour critical for Alberta’s industry development. The government-industry partnership assured sustained prosperity
A planned network of pipelines connecting Alberta to the globe was to further ensure prosperity for Alberta and Canada, Fort MacMurray and Calgary for decades. The former US President, Bill Clinton when he visited Edmonton proclaimed, “Alberta, you are now on a world stage. Don’t waste the moment!” That was then; this is now.
Alberta and Canada, have fallen victim to a singular vision of sustained prosperity dependent on the supply/ demand cycle of a single commodity. Today oil-for-energy economies are suffering from declining demand and over-production driving down the price/value of oil. In addition, oil has lost its social license. The industry, once the darling of government, is now having to adapt to governments vying for popular support in saving the planet from climate change.
Alberta and industry have become the targets of those advocating for “resourcefulness” and diversification, aboriginal rights and climate change. The interdependency between government and the oil industry has become decoupled, further undermined by complex geo-political events far beyond the control of either. Regardless, it is naïve and pure politics for Canada or Alberta to abruptly abandon their prime economic resource. THAT is not visionary or leadership. What to do?
The Status Quo option – waiting for the “inevitable” rebound in oil prices must be discounted. Why? The cycle is broken overwhelmed by new technologies – fracking, declining demand and over-production, and the geo-politics of climate change. Even worse, while existing sources of production will continue to generate revenue – though well below projections, future investment in extraction and upgrading is unlikely as Alberta is a high cost producer in a world of cheaper and more accessible sources of supply.
Change is indeed warranted, but at a steady pace as the world transitions off carbon-for-energy with coal early-out followed by the oil sands that is: expensive to produce, difficult to transport, and environmentally sensitive. Tis time for vision and leadership to guide the complex transition: mitigating current pain, supplanting current sources of revenue – est. $60B+, AND ensuring future economic resilience.
In considering Alberta’s options the role for government must be clear. Governments have accumulated enormous power over the economy, industry and welfare. And though “Who to trust?” is shaky – witness the results of recent elections and that pending in the US, our democratic form of government is not negotiable nor should be the environment or our children’s future. Further considerations must take into account the inherent features of Alberta, its distance to market and carbon aplenty in energy, agriculture and forestry; small but highly urbanized and well-educated population; well-developed public service infrastructure; and current variables including: low debt, interest rates and the Cdn dollar; rising unemployment; and the lack of an alternative vision to carbon-for-energy.
Vision & Leadership – Creating the new Alberta!
What is Alberta to do? The key elements for creating a more resilient economy now follow.
ENERGY TRANSITIONS
– status quo still remains. For Alberta to sustain prosperity and jobs, without going deeper into debt, Alberta needs to replace $Bs in declining oil revenues. A low-carbon future means that Alberta invest(s) in tourism, agriculture and forestry and the requisite, more acceptable options for value-added processing and export. Note, a constraint on value-added processing of carbon is that Alberta’s current markets are a considerable distance away and they want unprocessed carbon for processing and preserving their own markets.
Short term help will come from technologies reducing production and distribution costs and the growing market for renewables – solar and wind, biofuels and hydro. However, the storage of energy is a significant technical issue confronting solar and wind; and hydro is very disruptive to the environment. Also, essential subsidies to expedite market development should be entertained with extreme caution – they often prove to very disruptive as apparent now in Ontario and as the US witnessed when subsidies were intoduced for biofuels.
Environmental monitoring should be an Alberta strength and municipalities should be encouraged to get engaged on cleantech. The technology and market for microgrids and cleantech are rapidly maturing.
The oil and gas industry is itself reducing the emission of GHGs aided by the reallocation of “carbon taxes”, production of value-added petro-chemicals and proposing the requisite infrastructure – east/west, north/south.
But a low-carbon economy still leaves Alberta vulnerable to geo-political forces that have amassed to protect forests, supply food, and opt for clean energy.
A “no-carbon” long-term option – the transition from coal to natural gas and renewables is well underway and hardly needs much of a push. Nuclear energy is receiving renewed interest in Europe and Asia. And we continue to monitor and advocate for Alberta to lead Canada in joining Asia, Europe and the USA in their quest to introduce and prepare for fusion energy. To participae in the $trillion fusion industry will require advanced development of associated engineering intensive industries supplying advanced materials – read nano technology, and photonics, to name a few. Alberta’s missing ingredient – vision and leadership.
LEADERSHIP IN INNOVATION
Personalization – most tempting is to capitalize on the market trend of “everything for everybody”, that is – the trend to personalize/ customize products and services. Social media has disrupted/disintermediated mass media, reinforcing that people count, with institutions and professions being viewed as “self-serving” and “defensive”, having forgotten their reason for being. Clients are becoming consumers, demanding more than knowledge. They want a relationship; they demand to be heard and cared about.
The personalization of public and professional services is well underway – driven by people. People getting more, expect more, creating new markets. More education increases their buying power and market influence. Increased access to information and knowledge is itself empowering. The “personalization” movement is being driven by advanced research and applications in infotech and biotech addressing problems in healthcare and education and creating markets once the exclusive domain of government and regulated professions.
– attending to the client transition to consumer may serve to reduce costs, improve service quality, “personalize” public services of healthcare and education and expedite community enterprise. The increase in democracy is expected to give voice to the individual, allowing new markets to evolve.
Healthcare. Ageing of the population and the cost of degenerative disease, shrinking public revenues and rising costs, make health a perfect target for attracting disruptive technologies and regulatory reform. Hence our interest in the promise of cell therapies, meta-biologics and genetic engineering offering to “heal thyself”. Robotics as a medical device and analytics in health care management are emerging rapidly. As for regulatory reform, approval of assisted suicide is further evidence of the “personalization” and de-programming/ de-institutionalization of healthcare.
Alberta has a distinct advantage having one delivery system – AHS, so it is well positioned for leadership and managed reform. There are $billions to be saved, $billions to be procured from Alberta companies with guarantees of lower costs, improved service and a better quality of life from Alberta’s emerging healthcare industry. The industry is young and should breed innovation, new devices, and applications for export. The missing ingredient – vision and leadership.
Let’s stop tinkering and get back to basics. We want our youth to be socialized and to be good citizens, to be innovative and curious, and to learn to read. Take the cell phone out of the classroom. Arm the teacher, the parent, the school with modern tools of learning. By this we mean, adopting emerging analytics applications for expediting learning, communication and socialization and knowledge exchange. Alberta needs to get on the offensive, deinstitutionalizing the education community, aligning and engaging superintendents and teachers, parents and youth in a campaign to learn to read – achieving 100% literacy. The missing ingredient – vision and leadership.
Community enterprise. Often ignored – possibly because it is so fragmented, is the role of NGOs – non-government organizations/ non-profit societies, in community building. These organizations now number over 20,000 in Alberta, one for every 150 citizens. Their fragmentation undermines their role as an influential change agent, as does their loss of independence as they compete for and rely on government grants. In addition,
Community enterprise requires that Alberta’s communities be connected with access to the internet with adequate capacity to handle high volume traffic.
Transportation. Uber is not an aberration. Uber – the creature of the internet and recognition of the excess capacity of vehicles and unemployed drivers, is signaling what is on the way: electric and automated vehicles. We can expect soon, mobile offices; safe, environmentally compatible and cost-efficient hi-speed rail for cargo and mass passenger transit. The impacts on real estate, urban design and access to global markets would be enormous. Alberta companies are well placed to be manufacturing the components. And Alberta industries and municipalities are leaders in logistics. The missing ingredient – vision and leadership.
THE INNOVATION ECO-SYSTEM
Alberta needs SMEs to survive, to grow, to stay. The innovation eco-system is more than the sum of its parts. For the “system” to function, all elements need to be present and integrated. Alberta’s eco-system is still “under developed” to support innovation.
Advanced education. Alberta needs its applied institutions to ensure graduates are competent in contemporary technologies, entrepreneurial and ready for continuous learning as emerging technologies change Alberta’s economy. And our universities must be nimble, bridging arts and science, engaged in community with a global perspective, embracing change and producing future leaders skilled in discourse on our values and institutions. The missing ingredient – vision and leadership.
Access to capital. Funding continues to be a major and poorly understood issue for SMEs. Continuity of funding is an issue for growing SMEs traversing the “valley of death”, plus current sources of funding for SMEs are risk-averse. Banks want tangible assets for security, and most early-stage enterprises have intangible assets that are not counted. Venture Capitalists seek out market-ready enterprises. Angels and their syndication at regional levels remains undeveloped. Crowd funding and the exempt markets are new, but may be the answer to seed SMEs as vehicles for an inter-generational wealth transfer. Tax advantages today attract Alberta enterprise to British Columbia. Many growing companies find themselves stranded for funding and exit to Waterloo in Ontario and Silicon Valley in California where their innovation eco-systems are well-developed.
Alberta’s incubators need a scorecard, a budge, increased performance expectations. It is also about time Alberta’s Regions consider targeted innovation clusters linked to global knowledge exchange channels such as Brainport in the Netherlands, for attracting local enterprise and appealing to local investors. And much has been learned about how to expedite the distribution of new knowledge and stir innovation through incubators and what are referred to as accelerators. These are low cost, effective local economic development generators.
Finally, Alberta needs to tell its stories – broadcasting within and beyond its borders the opportunities, the innovations, and innovators that feature its emerging economy. And let’s not overlook networking, innovation requires way too much for any organization to grow that operates in isolation. Relationships are key to understanding the customer and critical for on-time delivery of the various resources required to survive and grow.
The Timing is Now – we have a provincial government desperate for answers on how to diversify the economy and wanting to earn re-election. We have a rising number of unemployed engineers and new graduates to serve as a rich source entrepeneurs. Plus, there is capital on the sidelines – local, ready for an inter-generational transfer, and globally seeking the next big thing. And what might that be?
Stay-tuned … our “Vision & Leadership Conference – Creating the new Alberta!” this fall in Red Deer will feature the new Alberta!: Alberta-made presentations, workshops and our knowledge channels into Europe, the USA and Asia, and “the next big things” emerging in Alberta’s public services and industries. It’s all about vision and leadership! Click HERE for more and if interested in assembling a panel, delivering a presentation or displaying your wares.
Alberta Technology Industry Directory
General – $100
Students/Seniors – $25
REGISTER HERE
Get connected HERE to ABCtech’s Network and create your own Special Interest Group
SURVEY UNDERWAY
Growth of Alberta’s SMEs
HERE
EVENTS
February 29th – Edmonton
Northlands – EXPO CEntre
March 2 & 3rd – Edmonton and Calgary
Western Business Outlook 2016
Wednesday March 2
The Westin Edmonton.
Thursday March 3
The Westin Calgary
March 8 Edmonton
Celebrating Women in Investing
International Women’s Day Conference
The Maxim Hotel
March 10th & 11th- Banff
Alberta by Design”
A Socio-Economic Forum for Applying Your Ideas and Creating A Preferred Future for Alberta
April 12th & 13th – Banff<
Smart City Symposium
Contact us HERE for information on speaking and sponsorship opportunities!
Edmonton
“Moonlight in the Meadows”
Contact us HERE re Hospitality Suites
Phone (780)990-5874 or TF 1(866)241-7535
FUNDING NOTICES
Western Innovation Initiative – Call for Proposals – Information Sessions
On March 14, 2016, Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) will be launching a call for proposals for the Western Innovation (WINN) Initiative. The objective of WINN is to assist small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in commercializing new technology-based products, processes and services.
WINN is a $100 million, five-year federal funding initiative that provides to SMEs located in Western Canada. WINN complements WD’s existing programs and supports an environment where local businesses can thrive and innovate. WD will be accepting online applications from March 14, 2016 to April 13, 2016.
FOR MORE including a schedule of information session in Edmonton and Calgary
;Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) Opens New Round of Funding and Issues Call to Action to Canadian Cleantech Companies
SDTC’s portfolio is comprised of 285 clean technology projects representing an investment of over $740 million and a market capitalization of over $2 billion. SDTC’s funding of cleantech drives job creation, productivity and economic prosperity. To become part of the SDTC portfolio of companies, please submit your application on or before April 13th, 2016 by midnight EST. To apply, you must contact a Funding Advisor (contact information below) to initiate the funding process prior to completing a Statement of Interest.
Further information on our funds and funding portal can be found online HERE
