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What's Inside
Letter from ED
Countdown, tell them a story, and the tipping point for BC wireless & new media.
As you read this, the official countdown clock for the 2010 Olympic Games continues to tick (www.theolympicgamescountdown.com). They will begin in less than 157 days, 12 hours, 0 minutes and 43 seconds!
Why is the countdown important to WINBC or to New Media BC? Why does it matter to our members...to you?
First, we must be ready to welcome the world and "wow" the CEOs of global companies, business VIPs, potential investors, media and our own community with our 2010 Showcase & Services at the 2010 BC Showcase. We may also have a similar opportunity at the newly announced BC Canada Pavilion, housed at the Vancouver Art Gallery in Robson Square.
We worked all summer to plan the best possible digital and interactive experiences, ever, during any Olympics to date. To add depth and excitement we are inviting EA, Penguin Club, PIXAR, Rainmaker Entertainment and other heavyweights, plus new start ups from Vancouver Island and the BC Interior tech community and student projects from UBC, SFU, UVic and BCIT to present their innovations at the BC Demo Day II on Thursday, October 22 at Vancity Theatre. Between September 8 and October 22 there are just 44 days, 8 hours, 36 minutes and 12 seconds left until then. Make a note so you don't miss it.
Second, the countdown is important because it forces us to change the way we look at ourselves and our place in the world. If pushes all of us – industry, academia, government, First Nations, BC residents, Canadians – to think about the story we want to tell to the world so it can "listen, share and play" with us.
Paradoxically, to tell the story of the future of wireless and digital media in BC, we've had to go back in time. There we discovered incredible stories about amazing people and companies. Along the way, we also discovered several unique characteristics about our technology cluster that made me think that – maybe, just maybe - we might be close to a Tipping Point that will put the BC digital media and mobile industry on the world stage along with Canadian winter Olympians ("Own the Podium 2010" will help Canada to be the number one nation in the world by number of medals). Here are three things to consider:
- BC has a rich history in innovation in mobile data solutions going back to 1969 and a proven, 20-year track record in creating world class gaming, entertainment and social media. Growing consumer power, convergence, mobile broadband and LTE are now driving the future of those industries. As Gregg Sauter, Global Director Publishing and Partnerships Media and Games at NOKIA Vancouver, told me in a recent email "mobile is new media".
- BC has a critical mass of mobile and digital media companies. If you add 250 wireless companies, 6,000 people, generating $1.2B/year to 1,100 digital media companies, 16,000 people, generating $2.8B/year you have a powerful group of 22,000 people working for 1350 companies generating $4B/year.
- BC is in the right place (Gateway to Asia Pacific) at the right time (the eyes of the world will be on Vancouver for the next couple of years) to be able to grow and “spread” our content quickly to the US, Asia Pacific and Western Europe. We can become a powerhouse.
Here are a few highlights of what else has caught my attention and kept your association busy over the past month:
- Continued planning and developing our 2010 Showcase & Services initiative and started planning BC Demo Day II.
- Participated in the "U-Health in the world" panel discussion at UBC's Instructional Research Centre. Thanks to Dr. Kendall Ho at UBC.
- Continued working on the BC Wireless Health and Life Sciences initiative by organizing a trade and technology mission to San Diego, (Oct. 5-9). Thank you to Qualcomm and CTIA for their generous support.
- Started discussions with PICNIC Amsterdam to bring their successful green tech conference to Vancouver in May 2010. I'll keep you posted.
- Attended the Vancouver City Economic Strategic Discussion together with 70 other business leaders to learn about VEDC's plan for economic development. Excellent event, kudos to Phil Heard and his team.
- Worked with the Asia Pacific Centre and STED to bring Samsung Digital Media Group to Vancouver for a Face_Time event, Oct. 15-16. We expect they'll meet with 8-10 SMEs from our membership.
- Participated in Wavefront's grand opening for their new location and testing facilities. Mr. Ian Black, Minister of Small Business, Technology and Economic Development (STED), made a great speech and promised continuing support by the BC government for our wireless industry.
- This month FORTUNE Magazine announced that RIM is the "Fastest Growing Company in the World".
- Fierce Wireless nominated Caroline Lewko, Founder & CEO of WIP Connector one of the Top 10 most influential women in wireless in the world. Congratulations Caroline!
- Business in Vancouver published two interesting articles about Canpages's successful growth and the opening of testing labs at Wavefront and Tranzeo EMC.
Got any ideas or suggestions on the above topics, or any others? Let me know about them. Remember, we have less than 157 days before the Games begin!
Thank you for reading,
Michael Bidu
Executive Director, WINBC
What does convergence mean for me? The evolving consumer-centric experience
Convergence makes consumer experiences more personal and relevant. We talked to two of our members, Rob McGarry, Director of R&D at Nokia Vancouver, and Jeff Von Ende, Vice President of Sales at Alcatel-Lucent about what convergence means for their customers.
 Nokia, the largest mobile device maker in the world, has just jumped into the "PC game" with the release of its 3G Notebook, and though the notebook is not yet as functional as a laptop, today's "devices are more powerful and the gap between the computer in a traditional sense and a mobile device is narrowing" (Rob McGarry, Nokia). For example, users of the N97 report that they already do more from their device than before: they log into their desktops/laptops less because they can check e-mail, open attachments, type long responses and interact in a more complete way from their devices. They also can consume media or have a full Internet experience without ever having to go to a computer.
Solutions can also be more tailor-made in a way they have not been done in the past on a computer; your needs as a user can be more thoroughly addressed. "Without sounding all far-fetched sci-fi, your experience as a user is more personal and relevant. The device knows you and can adapt better to the way you consume media" (Rob McGarry, Nokia).
At Alcatel-Lucent, convergence has been about solutions that combine the elements service providers require to deliver multimedia services to their customers in a simple, consistent experience across all services, networks and devices. "We are looking at devices being agnostic to networks and services. We are beginning to create that environment." (Jeff Von Ende, Alcatel-Lucent). Consumers want a seamless "It's all about me" entertainment and communications experience. Service providers want to drive customers onto networks and keep them engaged and satisfied.
The emerging concept of the "multi-screen experience", or the ability to create and consume content across multiple devices, enables this personalized experience and allows consumer to become the "Network to the power of me": the power to move from place to place and device to device freely, and get their content whenever and wherever they want it. Providing a multi-screen service experience requires service providers to evolve towards a smarter network - one that knows the subscriber's preferences, devices, service entitlements, etc. - and tailors the content in real time to the subscriber and the device.
Closing the gap knowledge gap – New Sales Leadership courses premiering this fall
Technology industry leaders in BC have consistently identified the lack of trained and experienced sales talent as an impediment to growth and to success in international markets. In response to this, the BC Innovation Council and UBC's Sauder School of Business Executive Education have created two new certificate programs in sales leadership and sales management in order to fill this knowledge gap.  Dean Rockwell, CEO of the BC Innovation Council to tell us more:
What is the current state of "need" in the BC tech community?
The specific gap that was identified was at the senior sales leadership and sales management level. These are people with experience in long sales cycle, highly complex, business-to-business sales relationships and transactions. Success in tough global markets depends on sophisticated sales strategies and techniques.
And although there is a tremendous body of knowledge in industry on the topic, individuals tend to learn it through years of on the job training; it has never been formalized into an academic curriculum. The idea was to create a program to train senior sales leaders in a more formal environment and shorten the learning curve by an order of magnitude and get these trained leaders into the workforce faster.
In your research for developing these programs, what were the common problems that tech SMEs were having?
The tech industry in BC, including ICT, wireless and digital media is maturing and is very fast paced and highly competitive, and many SMEs are start-ups with relatively flat organizational structures. Many leaders come up through the technical side, scientists and engineers, and have not received any specific training in sales leadership or sales management. This combined with the inability to build long-term relationships with large customers are major impediments to a company's growth. SMEs needing to reach out to large customers often hit a wall, decide they simply can't "go it alone" and look to exit prematurely.
» Find out more or register today. Team discounts are available for all of these programs.
Smile, MoMoVan is back September 14!
 The 4th season of MoMoVan begins September 14. Come and kick-off the year with us and build on three years of Collaboration, Community, and Convergence. Let's celebrate, let's talk, let's get together and get the ideas flowing and the connections sparking. Come catch-up with old friends and make new ones.
We will have a competition to engage your renowned innovative side; we will thank Amielle Lake (Tagga) for being the Face of MoMoVan and we will find the smiling mug to see us through season 4. There will be fast pitches, there will be prizes and of course, there will be our legendary Granville Island beer and Flying Wedge pizza. All this with a one of a kind panoramic view of Vanier Park, English Bay, Coast Mountains, West End, Downtown and Stanley Park.
Free for members of WINBC and New Media BC.
» Registration and event details here.
Save the date – next MoMoVan October 5, 2009
BC Wireless Health goes to CTIA
WINBC, LifeSciences BC and 4 BC companies: Intrinsyc Software, Guard RFID, Wireless 2000 and Simba Technologies are heading to San Diego October 5-9, 2009 to meet with top executives from CommNexus, Qualcomm, the West Wireless Health Institute and others. It is an opportunity to connect BC to our San Diego partners and to wireless health opportunities before and during CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2009.
The mission is part of a year-long BC Wireless Health & Life Sciences initiative designed to create opportunities for BC wireless companies in the health space and to develop a strategic roadmap to position BC as a centre of wireless health excellence in Canada. In May 2010 we will host the world's wireless health leaders at the Wireless Health Summit at the International Vancouver Digital Week.
WINBC Face_Time - October 15 - 16, 2009 with Samsung Electronics
 WINBC in partnership with BC Invest is bringing top executives from Samsung's Digital Media Group to Vancouver October 15-16. Samsung's Digital Media group, as well as their 2010 Olympic Marketing group, outline their strategic initiatives and give you a sense of how you can work with one of the largest handset manufacturers on the planet. Q&A and networking will follow. Select WINBC and New Media BC member companies will also have the opportunity to sit down with Samsung representatives for one-on-one meetings.
Samsung is a major Olympic sponsor and has shown interest in what BC wireless and digital media companies can offer. They will be looking for innovative or advanced technologies that are either ready for commercialization or in pre-commercial stage in order to help differentiate itself from the competition. Details of the event to follow.
BC Demo Day II – October 22, 2009
 We are doing it again. WINBC and New Media BC will hold BC Demo Day II featuring 30 presentations from the best and brightest in the wireless and digital media space. We are inviting EA, Disney Interactive, Rainmaker Entertainment, Blast Radius and other innovators from Vancouver Island and the BC Interior tech community. The afternoon with focus on universities and will showcase some of the research and innovative ideas being dreamt up on our local campuses. Once again it is an opportunity to see just what our community is up to and to allow for relevant connections and collaborations to form. It all takes place at the Vancity Theatre October 22, 2009 (9:00am - 4:00pm).
BC Wireless Industry News
BC's Wavefront Opens New Location
Vancouver, BC, August 19, 2009 — Wavefront celebrated the opening of its 7,000-square foot facility. More
Canpages featured on front page of Business in Vancouver (Aug 25 - 31) – "Grappling with Google"
Vancouver, BC, August 27, 2009 — Canpages' fourth acquisition its 2009 arms it with more weapons to battle Internet-search Goliath in the increasingly competitive video-mapping arena. More
WebTech Wireless Receives Order for 3,500 Locators From Cybit for the European Fleet Telematics Market
Vancouver, BC, August 25, 2009 — WebTech Wireless announced that it has received an order for 3,500 model WT5000 Locators from UK-based Cybit Ltd., one of Europe's leading providers of fleet telematics solutions. More
Tranzeo and TRG Produce 2.3GHz WiMAX Solution for the Indonesian Market
Vancouver, BC, August 13, 2009 — Tranzeo Wireless Technologies and PT. Teknologi Riset Global have cooperated on the development of a family of WiMAX subscriber units that operate in the recently awarded 2.3GHz spectrum. More
Sierra Wireless Devices Certified
Vancouver, BC, August 11, 2009 — Sierra Wireless announced the Sierra Wireless AirCard 402 2-in-1 data card, Compass 885 and USB 598 modems, and MC5728 and MC5728V embedded modules have passed Microsoft certification tests. More
WebTech Wireless to Acquire Grey Island Systems
Vancouver, BC, August 7, 2009 — WebTech Wireless and Grey Island Systems announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement providing for the acquisition by WebTech Wireless of all the issued and outstanding common shares of Grey Island. More
SFU Surrey to Expand Research and Teaching Space
Vancouver, BC, August 7, 2009 — Science and technology research and teaching south of the Fraser will benefit from a $10-million government grant to Simon Fraser University's Surrey campus, says campus director Joanne Curry. More
Sierra Wireless to Launch Hosted Remote Management Service for AirLink Product Line
Vancouver, BC, August 5, 2009 — Sierra Wireless today announced the latest enhancement to its suite of ACEware web-based device management platforms, ACEnet Services edition using a software-as-a-service model. More
Tranzeo Wireless Launches Tranzeo EMC
Vancouver, BC, August 5, 2009 — Tranzeo Wireless Technologies announced that it has created an off-shoot company, Tranzeo EMC, to open its state-of-the-art ElectroMagnetic Compatability testing facilities for use by electronic and wireless companies. More
Upcoming Events
September 9, 2009 - IEEE Industry Workshop on Ultra-Wideband Wireless Technology, Vancouver
This FREE workshop will be held from 2:00pm - 6:00pm at the Hyatt-Regency (655 Burrard Street) in downtown Vancouver. The workshop will include presentations on UWB Industrial Applications (Dave Michelson - UBC), UWB Measurement Technology (Mark Lombardi - Agilent, Colorado Springs), UWB Antennas (Zhining Chen - Institute for Infocomm Research, Singapore), Ground Penetrating Radar (Csaba Ekes, Terraprobe Geoscience) and technical exhibits by Agilent Technologies, Xsens, Novelda, the European Ultra-Wideband Organization and Project WALTER. Pre-register by September 8, 2009 at: IEEE.UWB@gmail.com
September 10, 2009 – Free EDC Webinar "Opportunity to Connect with Verizon"
Export Development Canada (EDC) wants you to learn more on how to do business with Verizon, a leading global communications company. Learn how you can contribute to the next generation of wireless, broadband, and global IP networks; about the business procurements of Verizon; about specific technologies requirement for Verizon projects; how your solution can fit within the Verizon network. September 10, 2009 – 3:00 to 4:10 p.m. (EDT). Details and registration: Free EDC Webinar.
September 9-11, 2009 - IEEE International Conference on Ultra-Wideband, Vancouver, BC
This conference provides a forum for the latest UWB systems, technologies and applications in both microwave and millimeter wave bands. The ICUWB program of 2009 will feature invited plenary sessions and symposia by international experts and new product displays by market leaders in the field. Prospective authors are invited to submit technical papers until 23 February 2009. For more information visit the 2009 ICUWB website www.icuwb2009.org.
September 30, 2009 – WiTec Breakfast, Calgary, AB
Sponsored by SAIT's RFID Applications Development Lab, this breakfast features: Ambrose Tam of Wireless Dynamics on the future of RFID markets; Lew Turnquist of Kirchner Private Capital on the “Exit” as a designed rather than reactive outcome; Paul Leroux of Deloitte on managing in volatile times. More information and to register: WiTec Networking Breakfast.
October 7-9, 2009 - CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment, San Diego, CA
The international conference that brings a community of users, carriers, developers and manufacturers together to generate dialogue, share ideas and debate the economics of mobile business; all with a focus on applications, network architecture and technologies such as LBS, machine-to-machine and WiMAX. For more information and registration at: www.wirelessit.com.
October 8, 2009 - WIPJAM @ CTIA, San Diego, CA
Plans are underway for another great WIPJam at CTIA. Stay tuned for regular updates. Jam Sessions are interactive and definitely not boring. We mean it when we say No PPT, No Panels and No Ties! WIP Jam sessions are a unique format for mobile and wireless developers, where we blend ‘unpanels', with intimate discussion groups led by industry leaders and developers alike. And it's really very interactive - we make sure everyone gets a chance to be heard. For more information: www.wipjam/ctia.
October 19, 2009 - Connect '09, Vancouver, BC
BC Innovation Council's Premier Event for Technology Start-ups and Innovator. Learn directly from prominent BC technology leaders invited for the vital purpose of sharing their experience with technology start-ups and innovators. Learn the techniques and strategies from industry experts and entrepreneurial case studies that directly impact a start-up's success. For more information and registration: www.bcic.ca/connect.
November 10, 2009 - Health Information Exchange Summit, Philadelphia, PA
Do you want to identify future partnerships, uncover sales opportunities, increase market intelligence and create greater visibility in the U.S. market! Canadian eHealth companies are invited to attend and demonstrate their solutions to an invited audience of U.S. decision makers and health care professionals from the most important hospitals and medical research centres in the region. Invited Keynotes include: The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, P.C., M.P. Minister of Health (Canada) and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. For more information and registration: Canadian Consulate Philadelphia.
November 23-24, 2009 - TechnologyWorld09, Coventry, UK
TechnologyWorld09, one of the largest technology 'speed meeting' events in the UK, and facilitates international business opportunities for over 500 companies each year. It brings together UK and non-UK based companies from across the globe to do business during two days of focused 1-2-1 meetings, seminar/panel discussion programs, exhibition showcase, networking events, and hands-on support on setting up or expanding in the UK from UK Trade & Investment advisors and other relevant organizations. For more information: TechnologyWorld09.
November 26-29, 2009 - G-Star Game Show, Busan, Korea
Korea's largest gaming trade show and conference, G-Star attracts over 200,000 visitors, with a particular focus on mobile and online gaming. Selected BC companies participating in G-Star will have access to BC booth space, the International Content Creator's Conference (ICON), as well as networking and business-matching opportunities organized by BC's representative office in Korea. For more information about G-Star, contact: Ms. Soo Kyung Ahn at: 604-660-5916 or SooKyung.Ahn@gov.bc.ca.
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Don't miss our MoMoVan Season Kick-off Sept. 14th! |
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Come kick-start the season with us and build on three years of Collaboration, Community, and Convergence.
Let's celebrate, let's talk, let's get together and get the ideas flowing and the connections sparking.
Museum of Vancouver
5:30pm - 8:30pm |
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INDUSTRY EVENTS
Free IEEE Industry Workshop
Ultra-Wideband Wireless Technology - Vancouver, BC
Pre-register by: Sept 8, 2009
Free EDC Webinar
Opportunity to connect with Verizon - Sept 10, 2009
IEEE International Conference
Conference on Ultra-Wideband
Vancouver, BC - Sept 9-11, 2009
WiTec Breakfast
Networking Event
Calgary, AB - Sept 30, 2009
CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment
Share ideas and debate the economics of Mobile Business
San Diego, CA - Oct 7-9, 2009
WIPJAM @ CTIA
No PPT, No Panels and No Ties!
San Diego, CA - Oct 8, 2009
Connect '09
BC Innovation Council's Premier Event for Technology Start-ups and Innovator
Vancouver, BC - Oct 19, 2009
Health Summit
Information Exchange Summit
Philadelphia, PA - Nov 10, 2009
TechnologyWorld09
Largest speed meeting event in UK
Conventry, UK - Nov 23-24, 2009
G Star Game Show
Korea's largest gaming tradeshow - Busan, Korea
Nov 26-29, 2009
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