Technology Clusters: By Accident or Design?

Greg Barratt is the President of Communitech Technology Association Inc. He took over on April 10, 2000. Communitech is the technology association for the Waterloo area including Cambridge, Guelph, Kitchener, and Waterloo. This five-year old association has 270 members, and provides the voice and activity the exciting local technology industry needs to build critical mass. Counted amongst its members are software developers, IT service providers, systems integrators, telecommunications companies, advanced manufacturers, and professional services providers. Major initiatives of Communitech include: advocacy, events for networking and information sharing, peer-to-peer groups, investment readiness assistance for emerging firms, and public relations. Prior to joining Communitech, Greg spent four years as the Regional Director of Sales and Marketing for Ernst & Young, Kitchener Regional Office. Before that Greg spent two years as a Senior Consultant for the marketing communications/strategy firm, Taaz Communications. In the earlier part of Greg’s career, he spent ten years at IBM Canada in Hamilton and Kitchener in senior sales positions. A graduate in Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University. Greg is a Director of the Chamber of Commerce of Kitchener-Waterloo.

Norman Betts, a lifelong resident of Doaktown, received a bachelor of business administration from the University of New Brunswick in 1978, became a chartered accountant in 1981, and earned a PhD in management (accounting and finance) from Queen’s University in Kingston, in 1991. Since 1986, Mr. Betts has held the position of Associate Professor in the Faculty of Administration at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. In addition to teaching, he has served in research and administrative positions, including Assistant Dean of the MBA program and Associate Dean of the Faculty. He has the designation of FCA (Fellow of the New Brunswick Institute of Chartered Accountants). He was actively involved in numerous management advisory and executive development programs, and has international executive development experience in the Caribbean and Europe. From 1978 to 1986, Mr. Betts worked as a chartered accountant, practicing in Fredericton. Mr. Betts was elected to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick on June 7, 1999 as MLA, Southwest Miramichi. He was sworn in as Minister of Finance on June 21, 1999. On Oct. 9, 2001, Mr. Betts became Minister of Business New Brunswick and Minister responsible for Service New Brunswick, and is Chairman of Provincial Holdings Ltd.

Michael Bordt is the Chief of the Intellectual Property and Human Resources Section in Statistics Canada’s Science, Innovation and Electronic Information Division. In this position, he is responsible for developing measures linking knowledge creation, transfer and application. This has included developing surveys on intellectual property management in public institutions, analysing S&T skills and the brain drain issue as well as developing innovative analytical approaches such as mapping S&T indicators. Michael is also editor-in-chief of Statistics Canada’s Innovation Analysis Bulletin. He holds a B.Sc. in Biology from Queen’s University and an MES (Master’s in Environmental Studies) from York University. Since joining Statistics Canada in 1980, he has been instrumental in the development of the Social Policy Simulation Database and Model (SPSD/M) and Statistics Canada’s Environmental Information System.

Dale Botting was born and raised in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. A graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, Dale’s career includes a broad mix of experience in both the private and public sectors. He helped to create and lead the former Department of Science and Technology from 1983-85. Dale joined the Canadian Federation of Independent Business later in 1985 and served this organization for 11 years as its high profile spokesman across the Prairies. In 1996, Dale became Chief Executive Officer of the Saskatchewan Association of Rehabilitation Centres, including SARCAN Recycling, returning to the field of economic development as the Executive Director of Business Development in the Saskatchewan Department of Economic and Cooperative Development in 1999. In April 2000, Dale was pleased to return to his Saskatoon roots and focus more specifically on his home community as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority Inc. (SREDA). He now dedicates his efforts towards serving the many private sector investors and communities to make the Saskatoon region the best place to live, work and invest in all of Canada!

Ron is a seasoned executive and corporate director with 25 years experience in the alternative energy and synthetics sectors. Dr. Britton’s management career includes eight years with Methanex Corporation, most recently as Senior Vice President, Emerging Energy Applications. As Senior Vice President at Methanex, he led the organization into new market and technology areas with a focus on methanol as a fuel and key potential hydrogen source. As the first Chairman of the Board of Fuel Cells Canada, and one of the founders of the organization, Dr. Britton played a key role in promoting the benefits of fuel cells and allied technologies, as well as the need to enhance Canada’s world leading fuel cell capabilities. Now as President and CEO of that same organization, Ron has turned his attention full time to enhancing the role that the fuel cell industry can play in the Canadian economy and as a major contributor toward Global environmental solutions. Ron holds a Ph.D in Organic Chemical Synthesis (University of British Columbia), an MA in Organic Synthetic Methods (Dartmouth College), and a Bachelor of Science (University of Victoria).

Alain Caillé is a graduate of Université de Montréal in physics. He completed his Masters and Ph.D programs in theoretical solid state physics at McGill University, respectively in 1969 and 1971. In 1971 and 1972, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Université de Paris-Orsay and Collège de France in the condensed matter laboratory of Professor Pierre Gilles de Gennes. He received a scholarship and fellowship from the National Research Council of Canada. Since 1973, Alain Caillé has been conducting a research program, receiving financial support from the National Research Council of Canada (1973-1978) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (1978-2005). He is best known for his prediction of the nonclassical behaviour of the Bragg maximums in smectic liquid crystals. He is the author of more than 110 publications in the area of condensed matter physics. He was Vice President (Research) at Université de Sherbrooke from 1989 to 1996 and has been in a similar position at Université de Montréal since 1998. Alain Caillé has served on many national and international administrative boards of research councils. He was elected to the Academy of Sciences of the Royal Society of Canada in 1990. His present research program is on the structural properties of soft matter, in particular columnar liquid crystals.

Charles joined BDC Venture Capital in 2001 as Managing Director, Life Sciences. As Vice President, he is currently responsible for direct investments made by the BDC specialty groups. Charles has over 15 years of venture capital experience as well as banking and M & A experience. Most recently, Charles was Vice President of Accès Capital, a subsidiary of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of numerous public and private companies and was recently appointed to the Board of Réseau Capital. For several years, he was an Instructor of Finance at École des Hautes Études Commerciales in Montreal. Charles holds an MBA from the University of Western Ontario, a Master of Science in Biology from Laurentian University and an Honors Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Waterloo.

Jeffrey Crelinsten is CEO of Research Money Inc. and publisher of RE$EARCH MONEY. He is also President and CEO of The Impact Group, a consultancy he co-founded in 1987, specializing in science, technology and innovation policy, communications and education. Jeffrey has been studying challenges facing tech entrepreneurs and the innovation ecosystems that try to support them for over 25 years. He developed the R$ conferences to bring together leaders from the private and public sector to address critical issues around innovation policy and knowledge-based commerce.

Before founding The Impact Group, Jeffrey taught science and human affairs at Concordia University and had an active career as a science documentary writer for radio and television.

Jeffrey is Senior Research Fellow at the Innovation Policy Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. He is a founding director of the International Commercialization Alliance and is a past-President of the Canadian Science Writers Association. Jeffrey has a B.Sc. in physics from McGill University, a M.Sc. in astronomy from University of Toronto and a Ph.D. in history of science and science policy from University of Montreal.

Ottawa native Jeffery Dale, brings several years of technical and business experience to his role as President and CEO of OCRI, the City of Ottawa’s lead economic development agency. Before taking the helm at OCRI in January 2002, Jeffrey Dale leveraged the benefits of his OCRI membership to enhance his business goals at several local technology companies. Mr. Dale joined OCRI from his position as President of KOM Networks Inc. Prior to KOM, Jeffrey was Vice-President, Business Development for Peleton Photonic Systems Inc. Previously, he was the Vice- President of Sales for SHL Systemhouse (Canada/UK). Throughout his fourteen years with Systemhouse, he held numerous management positions in sales and business operations of the company. Jeffrey is an active member of the Ottawa business community and volunteers his time for a number of community service activities. Currently, Mr. Dale is a member of the Board of Directors for the Ottawa International Airport Authority, the Board of Governors for the University of Ottawa and is Chair of the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group.

Denzil Doyle is Chairman of Capital Alliance Ventures Inc., a venture capital firm specializing in high technology investing. He is also Chairman of Doyletech Corporation, a high technology consulting firm. Prior to these careers, he spent eighteen years as President of Digital Equipment of Canada Limited. He has a detailed knowledge of the high technology industry, not only in the Ottawa area, but across Canada. He has advised all three levels of government on industrial and science policy. In recognition of his pioneering efforts in the creation and development of Ottawa’s high technology industry, he received an honorary Doctorate of Engineering from Carleton University in 1981. He has been instrumental in the creation and development of several high technology companies and serves on several boards of directors. He is the author of several business articles as well as the textbook, Making Technology Happen.

Janet Eastman started her broadcasting career in grade 10 when she and some schoolmates set up a mini radio station that broadcast on the local cable TV channel. Janet received an Honours Diploma in Radio Broadcasting from Mohawk College in Hamilton. She started her radio broadcasting years at CHYR Radio Station in Leamington, and in 1984 landed a position at CHEZ 106.1 in Ottawa. During her time in radio, Janet started her volunteer career at Ottawa Cablevision. There she was responsible for club and concert listings for an entertainment program. Shortly thereafter, Janet was invited to host Soundtrack — an upbeat, rock and roll television show. At the same time, Janet provided intermission coverage/interviews at the Ottawa 67’s games. Her hockey career expanded to hosting Overtime — the official television magazine show of the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club. In November 2001, Janet became the host of Ottawa Citizen Business Television, a daily, news-style local business show. Janet provides a fresh and informed perspective of the day’s business news and newsmakers. Ottawa Citizen Business Television is currently in its second season.

Anthony Eyton has enjoyed a wide-ranging federal public service career that included: assignments abroad as Executive Director of the Asian Development Bank, Ambassador to Brazil, and Consul General in New York; assignments in the Department of Industry, Trade and Commerce as Director General of the Trade Commissioner Service and Canadian Regional Offices, and Assistant Deputy Minister (International Market Development); and assignments in the Department of External Affairs and International Trade as Assistant Deputy Minister (Personnel) and Assistant Deputy Minister (International Economic and Trade Policy). Mr. Eyton joined the ARA Consulting Group in 1997, a firm of international consultants that was subsequently integrated into KPMG Consulting in 1999. He headed up the international trade and investment consulting practice at the firm, and undertook a variety of assignments in Toronto, Ottawa, Washington, Philippines, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Bahamas and the United Arab Emirates. In April 2000, Mr. Eyton was appointed President and CEO of Precarn Associates Inc., a not-for profit, industry-driven consortium that has enjoyed unqualified success in facilitating innovation and Canadian competitiveness through the application of new intelligent systems.

Ron Freedman is co-founder of THE IMPACT GROUP and president of Research Infosource Inc., a business intelligence firm which publishes Canada’s Top 100 R&D Companies List and Canada’s Top 50 Research Universities List. He has worked as a consultant to the public and private sectors on various aspects of S&T policy and communications for 25 years. Ron’s graduate education was in the fields of environmental studies, adult education and science policy. Ron is also co-publisher of Research Money, Canada’s leading research policy newsletter. Currently, he is working on The Innovation Atlas of Canada, which will be available in Fall 2003.

A civil engineering graduate from the École Polytechnique de Montréal (1970), Camille Gagnon pursued his studies in management and technology through internships in several universities around the world. His engineering career began at IBM Canada where for 18 years he held positions in the sales, commercialization and training sectors. Appointed Vice President of Marketing for the CGI Group, he worked with major accounts as well as on cor- porate strategic development. His career path finally led him to create his own company, Innovitech Inc., where he managed important innovation projects such as the Life Sciences Cluster of Metropolitan Montreal, the Biotechnologies’ City and human health of Laval, Hexagram, the advanced terrestrial transport and the Technologies’ of Energy Valley. Camille Gagnon guides many government departments and large companies in the fields of technological development and valorization of innovation. Camille Gagnon currently sits on various Boards of directors such as Technocell (Felix Schoeller Group) and CDM Papier Décor (Kunz Group), the Polytechnique Foundation as well as the Center for Entrepreneurship (University of Montreal) and Polyvalor. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of SGF Mineral, of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and of the Mayor of Montreal’s Youth Foundation where he was President for five years.

Dr. Peter Hackett came to Canada in 1972, en route to California. After a year he decided to stay. He has been Vice- President Research and Technology Development at the National Research Council of Canada – a position he describes as “the best job in Canada” – since January 1997. During that time he has contributed to a corporate strategy emphasizing leapfrog technologies, individual entrepreneurship and regional innovation. As a result, the Council has received additional funding to enter new technology fields such as genomics, nanotechnology, photonics, and fuel cells. Its regional innovation and technology clustering strategy has also been recognized as a centrepiece of the federal government’s innovation agenda. Dr. Hackett has published 200 scientific papers and 10 patents and the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions. In addition to many federal government S&T committees, Dr. Hackett has served on many boards. Dr. Hackett is fascinated by the challenges of leading and managing the performance of creative research organizations. He was the Chair of the Millennium Conference on Creativity in the Arts and Sciences and is developing an Artist in Residence Program between NRC and the Canada Council for the Arts.

Mark has written extensively on research and innovation policy and funding issues since 1994. As the Editor of RE$EARCH MONEY, he has interviewed hundreds of industry executives, senior government officials, research managers and other leaders in Canada’s science, technology and innovation communities. Mark has worked as a journalist and editor for several publications over the past 35 years, including “Network Letter, Report on Wireless”, “Canadian Communications Reports”, “The Electronics Communicator” and “The Ottawa Citizen”. He resides in Ottawa and is an avid music and film aficionado.

Norine Heselton has been Vice President at ITAC since 1996. From 1999-2002, Norine was the first Director General of the federal government’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development Program, where she oversaw the administration of Canada’s largest federal program in support of industrial R&D and restored trust in the program as an incentive for economic development. Norine has held senior positions with MT&T, BC TEL and Stentor where she lobbied on national issues and was the architect of government relations programs. Active in the local community, Norine is the proud recipient of the Ottawa-Carleton YM/YWCA Women of Distinction Award for Outstanding Contribution in Communications and Public Service. She is an Honorary Life Member of the Greater Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, where she served on the Executive Committee and is a past Chair. She served as Trustee of the Royal Ottawa Health Group Foundation from 1996-2002 and was recently appointed to the board the Institute of Mental Health Research. Norine is also a member of the board of Axis Capital, a local venture capital company. Norine has a BA from Dalhousie and an MBA from Simon Fraser.

Mary Macdonald is President and CEO of Macdonald & Associates Limited, a Toronto-based information firm specializing in the venture capital and private equity markets. Macdonald & Associates tracks the fundraising and investment activities of more than 200 venture capital and private equity investors across the country. This data is now available online through VCReporterTM, which allows a wide array of venture capital, corporate, institutional and government clients to track trends and individual transactions in the market segments of interest to them. Twice a year Macdonald & Associates co-hosts the Canadian IT Financing Forum, which brings together many of Canada’s leading fast growing IT companies with most of the country’s IT focused venture investors. Mary has been a lead advisor in the establishment of several significant venture capital initiatives. She has served on several boards including that of the Canadian Venture Exchange and the Innovations Foundation at the University of Toronto. She has a number of publications to her credit and speaks frequently on the subject of venture capital across the country. She is a graduate of Queen’s University and was with a national management consulting firm before establish- ing the company.

Mr. McMullin is the Director, Business Attraction for Economic Development Edmonton (EDE). The Business Attraction Unit is responsible for attracting, to Greater Edmonton, trade and investment in the form of business, capital and talent. The Unit is also overseeing the development of the regional brand and the new edmonton.com Web site, marketing and regional cooperation. Kent, who joined EDE in 1998, has been involved with the Greater Edmonton Competitiveness Strategy since its inception. Greater Edmonton’s cluster strategy was launched in September 2000. He is the past Chair of the Metro Edmonton Economic Development Team, and sits on the Downtown Business Associations Downtown Economic Development Committee and is on the Board of the Economic Developers of Alberta. Mr. McMullin graduated from the University of Alberta. He has extensive experience in international trade show promotion. Before joining EDE, he served as the Vice-President of the Alberta World Trade Centre and Trade Show Manager for Edmonton Northlands.

D.G. (Greg) Mumford is currently the Chief Technology Officer for Nortel Networks. Mr. Mumford has enjoyed a varied and successful career with Nortel Networks. He joined in the exploratory digital switching development in 1971 and went on to lead the Software Development for the globally successful DMS-10 digital switch. During the first half of the 1980’s Mr. Mumford lead the product development and design teams for Nortel Networks’ Fiber Optics product line. During the second half of the 1980’s Mr. Mumford played the leadership role in Product Management for the DMS product line during Nortel Networks market making leadership in the digital switching business. Since 1991 he held leadership roles in Optical Networking beginning with brand management for Nortel Networks Optical products. Through this period, the industry has witnessed the dramatic impact of optical on networks cost, scale, quality and dependability. Nortel Networks innovation in 10 Gb/s and DWDM products and the capability to supply and turn up networks has made Nortel solutions the foundation of the world high capacity backbone networks. Prior to his appointment as CTO he held the position of President, Optical Long Haul Networks. Mr. Mumford has Bachelor and Masters of Applied Science degrees from the University of British Columbia.

Brant Popp was born in Saskatchewan. He holds an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Alberta and a Masters degree in public administration and public policy from the University of Victoria. Brant began his public service career with the Government of British Columbia, and joined the federal public service in 1982 in Ottawa. Brant has worked with the federal department of Western Economic Diversification since 1988 as a program and policy advisor on economic and regional development. Brant is currently the Director, Policy in WD Headquarters in Edmonton, Alberta.

Dr. Tony Rahilly is the Regional Director for Ontario of the National Research Council’s (NRC) Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP), responsible for the delivery of Innovation, research and development assistance to small and medium sized firms in Ontario, through a staff of 65 professional Industrial Technology Advisors.Tony has had extensive management experience in both the private and public sector, working as a quality control chemist in the food industry and sales and marketing in the pharmaceutical industry, as Director of New Product Development for one of the large pharmaceutical companies. As an academic, he has been both teacher and administrator in the community college system and university holding senior posts in both academic and support services in the college and as a professor of marketing and quantitative methods at the university level. He is the author of a textbook in introductory business statistics. Tony holds a Doctorate in administrative studies, focusing on organization theory and strategic alliances and an MBA in marketing, both from the University of Toronto, as well as a B.Sc. in chemistry from the University College Dublin, Ireland.

Dr. Stuart Lyon Smith is Chairman of the Board of Ensyn Technologies Inc., a firm that upgrades petroleum fuels and produces chemicals and clean energy from biomass. He is an independent consultant in public policy and corporate strategy, as well as a Director of several advanced technology businesses. Dr. Smith was formerly a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McMaster University Medical School, Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party and Chairman of the Science Council of Canada. In 1989, he chaired both the Peer Review and the Implementation process for the first Federal “Centres of Excellence” competition. During 1990 and 1991 he was Chairman of the AUCC Commission of Inquiry on Canadian University Education. His company, RockCliffe Research, operated the Wastewater Technology Centre of Environment Canada for five years and, from 1994 to 1997, Dr. Smith was the Founder and President of PUMC, Canada’s largest private operator of municipal water services. In July of 1995, the Prime Minister appointed him as Chair of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, in which capacity he served until June 2002. Dr. Smith is currently Chairman of the Board of Humber College in Toronto.

Andrei Sulzenko is Senior Assistant Deputy Minister for Policy at Industry Canada. He is responsible for all aspects of micro-economic policy, including industrial policy, science and technology policy, investment policy and review, international business policy, internal trade, economic marketplace framework policy and legislation and microeconomic research and analysis. His current top priority is to advance the federal government’s proposals for a national Innovation Strategy. Mr. Sulzenko has had a varied career in economic and trade policy with the Government of Canada. He has worked in the Departments of Finance, Economic Development, Foreign Affairs and Human Resources in addition to Industry, and was a principal negotiator of the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement and the federal chief negotiator for the Agreement on Internal Trade. He has a BA from McGill University and an MPA from Queen’s University.

Roger Voyer, is an Senior Associate of The Impact Group. He has more than 30 years of experience in the development of science, technology and innovation policies in both the private and public sectors. He has a broad international experience including representing Canada on the OECD Committee on Science and Technology Policy and structuring strategic alliances between Canadian and European and Japanese firms. He was Research Director at the Science Council of Canada and Executive Director of the Canadian Institute for Economic Policy. His consulting practice centers on providing strategic advice on technology and innovation policies and on knowledge-based community level industrial clustering to private and public sector clients. He has written extensively on science, technology and innovation policy matters. His latest book is The New Innovators. He is also Adjunct Professor, in the Faculty of Administration, University of Ottawa. He holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Queen’s University and the degree of Docteur Ingénieur from l’Université de Grenoble, France.

David A. Wolfe is Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto and Co-Director (with Meric S. Gertler) of the Program on Globalization and Regional Innovation Systems (PROGRIS) at the Munk Centre for International Studies. PROGRIS is the node for one of five subnetworks of the Innovation Systems Research Network (ISRN), funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and serves as the national secretariat for the Network. He is National Coordinator of the ISRN and the Principal Investigator on its Major Collaborative Research Initiative on Innovation Systems and Economic Development: The Role of Local and Regional Clusters in Canada. He holds a BA and an MA in Political Science from Carleton University and a Ph.D from the University of Toronto. His recent publications include Innovation, Institutions and Territory: Regional Innovation Systems in Canada and Knowledge, Clusters and Regional Innovation: Economic Development in Canada co-edited with J. Adam Holbrook, from McGill-Queen’s University Press and Innovation and Social Learning: Institutional Adaptation in an Era of Technological Change, co-edited with Meric S. Gertler, from Palgrave Macmillan.