ABCtech #155 26JUN12 Growing and Fixing Alberta

ABCtech #155 26JUN12 Growing and Fixing Alberta

“Twilight in the Meadows” – shined again.  Moonlight forecast for 2013 

Thanks to the sun gods, over 150 enjoyed the all-industry networking and an insightful and rich keynote from Todd Hirsch, economist with ATB, on economic diversification and the relevance of innovation and increasing productivity to economic sustainability.  The AGM and Tech Industry Celebration were again held in the meadows of Edmonton’s river valley – courtesy WELCA, featured bistros and beverages – Ambers Brewing, about 150 guests, several sponsored hospitality suites – ICT Association, Canadian Cloud Council, Strathcona County, NABI, WELCA, ABCtech; entertainment – courtesy of Edmonton Tourism and TransAlta, smiling and engaging volunteers – ABCampus, and global broadcasting – Fused Logic. If you have photos, send’em our way.

Next year’s all-industry Celebration will feature the full moon arising on August 20th, 2013 with an additional collaborative feature. So mark your 2013 calendars now – promising to be a grand affair..

Growing Alberta’s Analytics Industry – call for input  Note.  Conference Proceedings and presentations are posted at BESTofANALYTICS.com

“Analytics and Alberta’s Future” was the topic of a speakers and facilitators workshop” at the April “Analytics, Big Data, and The Cloud Conference”.  The outcome of the session was five resolutions for developing Alberta as an Analytics market place:

1. Institute privacy policies and education that foster appropriate access to and uses of data.
2. Create a center for the commercialization of Analytics technologies and intellectual property.
3. Establish procurement incentives for buyers and providers of Analytics services and technologies.
4. Demonstrable University and college leadership in innovation and commercialization of Analytics services and technologies.
5. A coordinated marketing campaign to government, private sector, and consumers demystifying Analytics and articulating the Analytics value proposition for each constituency.

ABCtech is seeking to provide a forum for coordinating, facilitating, and communicating efforts that are being applied to these resolutions. If you are already active in one of the areas of above or would like to be please contact ABCtech’s Analytics Director, Darryl Humphrey, at the email below.  Based on the nature of the responses, ABCtech will bring forward a more detailed offer of assistance to those pursuing these resolutions.

• Darryl G. Humphrey, Ph.D.            DG Humphrey and Associates, Ltd.
• (780)399-7255    darryl.humphrey@dghumphrey.com

Five Additions to ABCtech’s Board of Directors – 2013 

Stuart Lomas will be serving as the new President of the Alberta Council of Technologies, with Perry Kinkaide stepping back as the Past President. Stepping down are: John Pinsent with St. Arnaud Pinsent, Klaas Rodenberg with Stantec, Allan Bly with ViTel COnsulting, and Ryan Saunders representing the ABCampus Society. Newly elected are: Mark Bernard with MNP, Nathan Armstrong with Motive Industries, Javier Cuervo with ABCampus, Yvonne Fizer with Farm-On, and Haley Simons with Creative Alberta.  Welcome all and note that ABCtech will be entertaining this year the introduction of additional benefits to its subscribers triggering introduction of an associated Membership fee.

Alison Redford’s Vision  (RED highlighting by ABCtech) 

The following letter was sent from Premier Alison Redford to her Cabinet team, setting a vision for the Government of Alberta:

June 4, 2012

Albertans have given this government a clear mandate — change how government works to better reflect their needs and the realities of the province in today’s world. Delivering that change will require listening to Albertans, increasing transparency and accountability, and building strong collaborative relationships with all our partners. This letter outlines my expectations of you as Minister (completed in original) and a member of our Cabinet team in serving Albertans so they can reach their full potential.

The next four years will unquestionably require hard work. We will build on a solid foundation and ensure Alberta continues to be the finest place in the world to live, work and raise a family. We will deliver on the commitments we have made to Albertans and exceed their expectations.

All our actions will be rooted in fiscal responsibility and discipline. With a results-based budgeting approach, we will assess the essential services Albertans depend on to ensure they are delivered in the most effective and efficient way possible. Reviewing all government activities during the next three years will allow us to re-establish government budgets from the ground up and ensure money is allocated to areas of highest need. This marks a clean break from the incremental spending increases of the past decade.

Albertans expect the best services and best value for their tax dollars across government. As such, I expect you to take an active role in assessing your Ministry’s programs and services and to work closely with your Cabinet colleagues in reviewing activities that span multiple ministries. Changing government’s approach to budgeting will require leadership and each Minister to look beyond the mandate of his or her ministry.

Focusing on the efficiency and effectiveness of government services is not enough.

Strategic decisions are needed to position Alberta for the future. There are a few critical areas where special attention, discipline and effort are required to drive meaningful change and results. The success of this government and Cabinet will be evaluated on the basis of our collective progress in delivering on the following priority initiatives:

1. Early Childhood Development: sets the course for a child’s future. It determines how well children will do in school, their physical and mental health, behaviour, relationships and general well-being.
   1. Improve measures of child and infant health and development by age five — e.g. infant mortality, birth weight, prevalence of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, language skills and physical health.
2. Primary Health Care: is the first point of contact for Albertans with services related to their health. 
   1. All Albertans should be attached to a primary health care team allowing them faster access to a defined set of services that meet their needs.
   2. Establish 140 Family Care Clinics.
3. Education and Entrepreneurship: are the cornerstones of a dynamic economy, which Albertans build through knowledge, adaptability and an entrepreneurial spirit. 
   1. Close the participation gap of underrepresented groups in post-secondary and increase high school graduation rates. 
   2. Increase business start-ups and the commercialization of technology.
4. Rebalanced Fiscal Framework: reduces the reliance on volatile non-renewable resource revenue in funding essential programs and services for Albertans.
   1. Restore the Sustainability Fund and, with Albertans’ input, renew the Alberta Heritage Savings Fund.
   2. Review all government programs and services through Results-based Budgeting.
5. Integrated Resource System: sets and achieves the environmental, economic and social outcomes Albertans expect from resource development and maintains the social licence to develop resources.
   1. Complete regional plans and the implementation of the Regulatory Enhancement Project, including the development of a single regulator for oil and gas.
   2. Develop a world-class monitoring system to provide transparent, reliable information on achievement of outcomes.
6. Expanded Market Access: contributes to the sustainability of the province’s export driven economy.
   1. Develop new access (e.g. through pipelines and rail) to markets outside the United States.

Our focus during the next four years will be to work together in each of these critical areas to make significant progress. To drive transparency and accountability, performance measures will be established for each priority in discussion with Albertans and stakeholders. By establishing these clear outcomes and by reporting progress, Albertans will be able to see how we are honouring our commitments.

We can achieve great things for our province if we work together with Albertans, delivery agencies and the private and nonprofit/voluntary sectors. I welcome you to Cabinet and look forward to working together with you to deliver the results that help Alberta and Albertans reach their full potential.

Yours truly,

Alison M. Redford, QC

Prompting Innovation in Canada? Your input’s invited!  This survey link has been added to www.ABCtech.ca

Received Jun 19, 2012 from Sorin Cohn  scohn@conferenceboard.ca:

First the work of the past… Your subscribers and Alberta’s focus groups made a great contribution to last year’s study on the commercialization of innovations – visit  Executive Summary

Second, the present and the future… This is a formal request for ABCtech to invite its subscribers in Alberta to participate in the Center for Business Innovation Study on Innovation Metrics and Management by completing the

On-line CBI Survey

To understand competitiveness and innovation in business firms and provide advice on interacting with capital markets and public policy authorities, the Conference Board of Canada has created a Center for Business Innovation (CBI). Recently, CBI has launched an extensive industry study to determine why Canada is not a leader in business innovation and to develop methodologies and approaches for helping Canada boost its industrial competitiveness.  The survey also invites you to suggest what more can be done to create an environment that enables more innovation by Canadian companies and helps them succeed in the global market.

Notably, the Conference Board defines innovation beyond simply R&D to encompass business strategies, organization capabilities and the culture that is so essential for achieving a high degree of competitiveness and market leadership. “Innovation is a process through which economic and social value is extracted from knowledge through the generation, development, and implementation of ideas to produce new or improved strategies, capabilities, products, services, or processes.”

Despite policy changes in tax and regulatory regimes intended to promote innovation, Canada languishes in the bottom ranks among its peers in assessments of competitiveness and national innovation performance. In the Conference Board’s 2012 CEO Challenges Survey, Canadian CEOs identified innovation as a low priority challenge (7th), while global CEOs ranked innovation as their number-one challenge.  Real progress on competitiveness and innovation requires a better understanding of how firms themselves behave, how they manage their resources, how they interact with capital markets and how effective public policies are in creating an auspicious environment for the industry.

Please direct survey questions, concerns or suggestions to:

Dr. Sorin Cohn

Leader Innovation Metrics,

Centre for Business Innovation, Conference Board of Canada

T: +1. (613) 526-3280 ext 270 C: +1.613.301-0066 cohn@conferenceboard.ca <mailto:scohn@cata.ca< span=””></mailto:scohn@cata.ca>

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