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

Five Themes 1. Context: The World We’re In 2. Getting our Bearings: The Big Thinkers 3. Where Does London Fit? A City at the Crossroads 4. Learning from Others: K-W and Ottawa 5. Building from Within: Assets and Opportunities

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)

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)

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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)

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.

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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)