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The Next London: Innovative Economy, Resilient Community

The Next London: Innovative Economy, Resilient Community. Neil Bradford Huron University College, UWO CPRN Research Associate. Five Themes. Context: The World We’re In Getting our Bearings: The Big Thinkers Where Does London Fit? A City at the Crossroads

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The Next London: Innovative Economy, Resilient Community

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  1. The Next London: Innovative Economy, Resilient Community Neil Bradford Huron University College, UWO CPRN Research Associate

  2. Five Themes • Context: The World We’re In • Getting our Bearings: The Big Thinkers • Where Does London Fit? A City at the Crossroads • Learning from Others: K-W and Ottawa • Building from Within: Assets and Opportunities

  3. The World We’re In … • Crisis: Global economic downturn • Challenge: Knowledge-driven competition • Change: Canada’s branch plant legacies • Community: The Roots of Innovation “In a world of global competition, sources of competitive advantage are becoming increasingly localized” (Michael Porter)

  4. Getting our Bearings: The Big Thinkers On Global Dynamics … • Tom Friedman and the Flat World The global economic playing field has been levelled: anyone, anywhere can innovate and compete (connectivity in space) yet • Richard Florida and the Spiky World The global economy remains driven by urban mega regions: ‘talent-rich, high metabolism places' 'collaboration in place) 

  5. Getting our Bearings: The Big Thinkers On Local Responses … • Thomas Homer-Dixon and the Ingenuity Gap The world is too complex and too fast-paced to manage: the supply of good ideas is lagging yet • Robert Putnam and the Networked Society Social networks for ‘bonding and bridging’ create resilient communities that continuously adapt to change

  6. The Takeaway? Five Game-changing Ideas • Innovation Matters: New Ideas and their Successful Application are key to success in global economy • Place Matters: People, Capital, Ideas clustering in certain city-regions • Community Matters: Innovation through social networking • Successful Places: Innovative Economies and Resilient Communities • Choice Matters: Local places succeed not by accident or luck but by purposeful collective action

  7. The Ideas in Action … Innovation, Place, Community: At Different Scales • City: MaRS Centre for Business Incubation and Social Innovation in Toronto’s Discovery District • Province: Ontario Commercialization Network for taking leading edge ideas to market • Region: Southwest Ontario Angel Group for supporting start-ups and investor best practices

  8. What About London? A City at the Crossroads It has been said (in the past!) about London … • A complacent, conservative culture • A fractious polity • A business community in search of an identity or brand • A citizenry disengaged from civic life • A university detached from the local community and economy

  9. A City at the Crossroads: Choosing Success A new collective purpose: London is one of North America’s most dynamic mid-sized cities How to move from ‘good to great’? No ‘magic bullet or secret sauce’ but research identifies certain key steps and ingredients 1. Learn from others (history/culture; academic institutions; collaborative networks; civic leadership; capitalization and commercialization) 2. Build from within (tap existing assets, leverage emerging opportunities)

  10. Innovation and Resilience in Waterloo Region: Learning from Others (1) Canada’s Technology Triangle A Dynamic Cluster • 455 companies in high tech sector • Employs 26,000 people • 10% of employment in the region • 45% of the region’s recent job growth • Anchor firms: RIM, Open Text

  11. Waterloo Region: Success Factors? • Role of History/Culture: advanced manufacturing tradition and distinctive regional entrepreneurial culture of ‘quality and connectivity’ • Role of Universities/Colleges: University of Waterloo a 50 year track record in creating talent pool, technology transfer, collaborative research, spin-offs, and combining engineering with business education/training (Wilfred Laurier and Conestoga College)

  12. Waterloo Region: Success Factors… • Role of Supporting Institutions: vibrant social networks and sense of community through business networking that transfers knowledge and creates opportunity (skills, information, contacts, promotion); eg. Communitech • Role of Civic Entrepreneurs: local champions with visions beyond single firm success who ‘give back’ to their sector (mentoring, philanthropy, representation) and who build bridges across private, public, civic sectors; eg. Prosperity Council • Role of Capitalization and Commercialization: Venture capital and angel investors, eg. TechCapital Partners Inc.

  13. Innovation and Resilience in Ottawa-Carleton: Learning from Others (2) Silicon Valley North A Dynamic Cluster • 1,800 companies in high tech sector • Employs 82,000 people • Second largest concentration of science and technology employment in North American cities • $4.7 billion Venture Capital invested in sector over last decade • Anchor firms: Mitel, Nortel

  14. Ottawa: Success Factors? • Role of History/Culture: early postwar research and development for federal government (Defence, NRC, Telecommunications) provided foundation for international technology hub in 1980s • Role of Supporting Institutions: OCRI formed in 1984 to promote interaction among academic institutions and technology industry; evolved over time to full service economic development agency with an innovative focus on a continuum of technology learning (eg. K12; Science Camps; Industrial Research Chairs; OCRInet)

  15. Ottawa: Success Factors… • Role of Universities/Colleges: three founding members of OCRI (Algonquin College Professor second OCRI President), ran the Industrial Research Chair Program, participated in OCRI Commercialization Task Force and moderated Executive Forums • Role of Civic Entrepreneurs: OCRI has leveraged other economic partnerships to ensure the resilience of the technology cluster: Ottawa Talent Initiative to meet needs of 20,000 laid off high tech workers in 2004; 3P Ottawa Innovation Hub “to go global” focused on VC investment, commercialization and export • Role of Capitalization and Commercialization: Venture capital and angel investors, eg. Ottawa Angel Alliance

  16. Innovation and Resilience: Building from Within London’s Assets and Opportunities: Some Ideas • History/Culture: Economic diversity, entrepreneurial track record, institutional innovation in technology transfer • Universities and Colleges: UWO/Ivey/Fanshawe nexus of knowledge production and dissemination • Supporting Institutions: TechAlliance, LEDC, UWO Research Park/Stiller/Robarts/ World Discoveries, Small Business Centre • Civic Entrepreneurship:Within Business: TechAlliance, SWOAG; Inter-sectoral: Creative City Task Force, Emerging Leaders Initiative, Pillar Network

  17. London: Many Promising Developments • Entrepreneurial history: Labbatts, Trojan, Ellis Don, London Life • Diversity of industry: IT, Manufacturing, Life Sciences, Finance • IT Sector: 260 companies, 5000 employed/2000 in corporate IT • Clustering: Digital Gaming Cluster; Business-led Medical Device Consortium; Ivey Centre for Health Innovation and Leadership • Globally branded companies: IBM, 3M, General Dynamics, Bell Canada • Support institutions: LEDC, TechAlliance, Stiller Centre, Research Park, National Research Council, Small Business Centre, World Discoveriies, SWOAG • Service Infrastructure: data centres, telecommunications, international airport

  18. London: Many Promising Developments Growing investment/engagement of London’s tech community • TechAlliance membership base: 31 (2002) to 150(2009) • TechAlliance: Leveraged $500,000 in in-kind contributions by local business community for next generation entrepreneurs and SME’s • Establishment of business-led Technology Leadership Council (TLC) Digital gaming cluster – one of the largest in Ontario • DIG London digital game conference (2008/2009) • Significant players: Autodata, TV Works, StarTech.com, Phoenix Interactive, PFW Systems, ActivPlant, iLookabout, Conversys, EK3 technologies, Digital Extremes, Big Blue Bubble

  19. Challenges Remain … • The various pieces are here, but not yet fully ‘assembled, aligned, and announced’ • An Emerging London Narrative: Think Global, Act Local, Lead Regional (SWEA-SODA opportunity) • Getting on the Global Map: Know Your Story and Tell Your Story • Growing/Recognizing/Supporting our own Civic Entrepreneurs: Leadership

  20. Making it Work: Three Key Sources to Learn From Not the ‘ big thinkers’ but stories from the economic and community front lines …  • Grass Roots Leaders for the New Economy: How Civic Entrepreneurs are Building Prosperous Communities (Henton, Melville and Walelsh, 1997) • MegaCommunities: How Leaders of Government, Business and Non-Profits Can Tackle Today’s Global Challenges Together (Gerencser, Van Lee, Napolitano, and Kelly, 2008) • Civic Revolutionaries: Igniting the Passion for Change in America’s Communities (Henton, Melville, Walesh, 2004)

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