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Tech community growing on Coast

SC Tech Hub
tech
Graham Truax, executive in residence for Innovation Island, was on the Coast to give a talk and workshops on developing a tech-based business.

The nature of the tech industry can be somewhat isolated, especially away from large tech centres like Silicon Valley in California. Richard Hoath found this to be the case when he moved to the Sunshine Coast from Vancouver, which is why he co-founded the Sunshine Coast Tech Hub two years ago.

“So many of us – when we lived in Vancouver – were used to running into people at the local coffee shop or leaning over the cubicle wall to the person working next to us. That’s not possible on the Coast,” Hoath said. “[SC Tech Hub] gives the opportunity to meet up with people locally, to collaborate on ideas locally and to potentially work on ideas for clients who are beyond the Coast.”

Hoath described SC Tech Hub as a kind of peer support group for anyone living on the Coast who works in the “digital sector or knowledge economy,” as he put it.

SC Tech Hub started with about 10 people, but in two years has grown considerably. Hoath estimated that the total number of members is now between 50 and 80. He said they meet every couple of months to discuss anything tech related from pitch nights to deep technical dives to a look at the design side of technology.

Hoath, with District of Sechelt councillor Darnelda Siegers and communications manager Connie Jordison, invited Graham Truax, executive in residence for Innovation Island, to host a presentation and two workshops on fundraising options for businesses in, or that make use of, the tech industry – which are most businesses in this day and age, Truax said.

“If somebody said, ‘Hey, I want to open a coffee shop,’ we really don’t have a lot of program services there,” Truax said. “However – and this is with a capital H – what we’ve found is that a lot of folks are coming out from different backgrounds in the community and saying, ‘Jeez, this material fits into my business and I didn’t even realize it.’”

Innovation Island is a non-profit business association, meaning that it isn’t a company selling a product, Truax explained, but more like a facilitator that networks an assortment of different companies with each other, if there is mutual gain to be had.

“The District of Sechelt and SC Tech Hub are really working with us collaboratively. We have a variety of workshops that we do, that I teach all over the region,” Truax said. “The idea is to get some dialogue going, get people together.”

Truax is involved in two programs with Innovation Island. One is supported by the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP), part of the National Research Council. IRAP helps people to commercialize products and services by identifying the core functions of their product and the market it would be suitable for.

The other is the Venture Acceleration Program (VAP), which is subsidized by the province but requires a small fee from clients. Truax said this program is intended for people who have made it a few steps past IRAP.

“The company needs to be really close to already having a minimum viable product, or perhaps they’ve got a published patent or some key market insight,” Truax said. “They need to be a little further down the road for that program, but we deal with both.”

Truax hosted a talk on funding sources for start-ups on Jan. 28 followed by two workshops, one on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) in business and one on changing the direction of an existing company.

“It was another great Sunshine Coast connection,” Truax said. “Attendance for the round table was great, attendance for the two workshops was a little smaller, but still quite good quality.”

Compared to Innovation Island’s other regions – the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island excluding Victoria – Truax said the people of the Sunshine Coast are very consistent in attending his workshops.

The round table was attended by 20 people and about a dozen attended each of the workshops, Truax said.

“What I think resonated with the group is how these topics can really meet and serve and create value to any business,” Truax said. “Many of these topics add value to traditional and other small or medium-sized businesses that are outside of tech and innovation sectors. That’s a really great thing for any entrepreneurial community.”

For more information, see www.innovationisland.ca and www.sctechhub.ca