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1
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- Helping Technology Entrepreneurs Succeed
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2
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- Okanagan Partnership research found a significant “Cluster”
of Technology Companies.
- The Technology Industry met the requirements of the Okanagan Partnership
Mandate:
- keep the Valley Green
- conserve limited Land and Water
- provide well-paying Jobs, and keep our Young Professionals in the
Valley
- Be Globally Competitive
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3
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- Provincial and Federal Government have shown a strong commitment to
supporting the technology sector
- They realize that Canada cannot rely solely on a resource based economy
and we cannot compete with developing world in conventional low-cost
manufacturing; we must develop new knowledge based businesses
- We have a world class university (UBCO) and college (OC)
- And a New Engineering faculty that is working closely with local
business to build hi-tech industry
- OC offers engineering technician Diplomas and computer science Degrees
- We have world class research facilities like PARC and DRAO
- DRAO now has a technology commercialization incubator for the wireless
sector ORIC (Okanagan Research and Innovation Center)
- Technology Companies tend to be progressive
- They are often located in high rise buildings or campuses; pay high
salaries, and employees tend to be environmentally conscious
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4
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- Sources of Funding:
- Today - Okanagan Capital Fund; Okanagan Innovation Fund; Business
Development Bank; Community Futures; Okanagan Angel Group, Government
grants, loans and tax subsidies, etc.
- Human Resources:
- UBC-O and OC campuses and EDC participation in immigration tradeshows
new HR businesses
- Community Development:
- University Industry Liaison Office – UILO, The Innovation
Okanagan Network - ION, Okanagan Research and Innovation Center - ORIC
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5
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- Technology Entrepreneurs
- - are very talented in a relatively narrow field, they have technical
and/or domain expertise, but often lack business expertise.
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6
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- Earlier this year the Okanagan Science and Technology Council (OSTEC)
presented a proposal for a mentoring initiative to Western Economic
Diversification and several regional companies and organizations. As a
result, OSTEC has been able to obtain enough public and private funding
to launch OkanaganMentors.com.
- We could not have done it without the following sponsors:
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7
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8
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- Doc Holloway: Built a flight simulator and had orders before he had a
company
- Corehealth Technologies: Developed software for personal trainers and
businesses that has significant government application - see KickStart
Kelowna
- Rent-a-Geek: Built a great local business that is now scaling up for a
worldwide opportunity
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9
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- Doc Holloway was featured on the Discovery Channel Monday Sept 18,
2006.
- The Daily Planet Show had a contest to discover the most creative
"mad scientist" in Canada....guess who won?
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10
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- Risky lifestyles cost B.C. $1.8B a year!
- The B.C. government spends more than twice as much in medical costs --
as much as $1.8 billion annually -- on people who are inactive,
overweight and smoke than it does on those who exercise, don't smoke and
aren't overweight, according to preliminary results in a provincial
report.
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11
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12
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- A Business Coach
- Business planning, Strategic planning,
- A Network of Mentors who have “Been There, Done That!”
- A single point of reference to all the sources of information a
developing business needs
- Peer-to-Peer mentoring roundtables
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13
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- Business Plans and investor presentations
- Sales and Marketing
- Human Resources
- Intellectual Property
- Finance and Accounting
- Growing their business
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14
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15
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16
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Notes
