ABCtech #63 25APR16 Alberta Has Been Wacked

ABCEtech #63 07APR16 Alberta Has Been Wacked

Prosperity lost – disruptive options warranted! For 10 years we have been preparing for the time when Alberta would have to address it’s loss of prosperity due to an over-reliance on a single industry and the associated sense of utopia, entitlement and heady expectations. That time is now; and tis not for the timid!

Our recent survey and REPORT assessing Alberta’s economic resilience and the effectiveness of it’s innovation eco-system was sobering and provided some hints as to what to do:

• The widespread and severe impact on jobs and corporate investment regardless of region or industry other than legal services and human resources
• The ineffectiveness of Alberta’s innovation ecosystem for supporting SMEs, particularly in access to capital ….
• Banks and VCs are too risk averse to help SMEs.  Note. Recent GOA announcement of increased access to capital through ATB and BDC, AIMCO and AEC and the Job Plan for creating jobs has further clipped Alberta’s credit rating HERE

Our REPORT also cited:

• Alberta Industries with the most promise to aid short, mid-, and long term economic recovery and increase economic diversification.

How serious is this?  Replacing $60B or 25% of lost GDP and tens of ‘000s of jobs is new and BIG.  The fix requires vision and leadership for the adoption of bold possibly disruptive initiatives, initiatives that were once thought unimaginable for Alberta or at least unnecessary!. Everything should be on the table, last of all ideology!

Indeed this IS different – a calling for Alberta to go where others dared not go before! A sales tax? Clean-tech energy options? Reconsidering nuclear? Value-added manufacturing? Targeted procurement? High-speed rail corridors? Regional consolidation? Asset revaluation? Compensation and entitlements review? Reinventing the health and education systems? Others?

There are just too many black swans to give comfort that recovery means waiting for the traditional cycle to rebound. Or that a couple of years of EI and government spending will get us through. This is not about recovery HERE; this is about Creating the new Alberta, generating new wealth to the tune of $60B!  The forces and sources of change are monumental: emerging technologies, special interests, geo-politics, Alberta’s remoteness and hi-costs, and climate change! Traditional measures and existing institutions will not do the trick!

ABCtech has scheduled several apolitical events to facilitate change and continues to invite big ideas – the bolder the better!  – Emir Prente