Canada needs more jobs and more job-creators. To get them, it needs new strategies, new products, and even new industries. In short, Canada needs innovation.
At last night´s WSIC event, we heard from a pair of experts whose passion-and job description-is making innovation happen.
Up first: Dr. Ilse Treurnicht, CEO of MaRS Discovery District, an innovation centre located in Toronto. Dr. Treurnicht oversees development and operations at MaRS, meaning she´s in charge of providing people-power, funding, and physical space to entrepreneurs looking to do business, or provide products and services, in new ways. For her, innovation is an everyday concern.
Dr. Treurnicht spoke only briefly. Innovation allows Canadians to get maximum value from the industries we´re in, she said; it also allows us to develop new industries and exploit their value. It helps us adapt to change.
But the issue for Canada, right now, is job creation. Not just how many jobs we can create, but how fast. Dr. Treurnicht explained to us that the majority of new jobs are created by just a few young, high-growth companies. These companies develop and thrive in communities that celebrate and encourage innovative thinking. In turn, innovation gives us the toolkit to built vibrant communities. It´s ultimately about creating value and opportunities for our children and grandchildren.
Mark Sales took the mike next. Sales is founder of Prodal G, a company benefitting from MaRS support. Prodal G is an environmentally progressive company, developing the means to profitably produce biofuels from microalgae. “Our theme is clean air, clean water, clean fuel,” he said. The idea had its roots at the University of Waterloo, but without use of the wet lab provided by MaRS, Prodal G would have struggled to get off the ground. Only at MaRS could he use the CO2 tanks, spill the algae, and leak and drain the materials he needed, for a reasonable cost.
Sales, like Dr. Treurnicht, spoke for only a few minutes. Then the floor was opened to questions, and there were many.
The first audience member to speak asked an obvious, but crucial question: how successful are the companies that benefit from MaRS resources? The companies´ combined revenue is over $100 million now, Dr. Treurnicht replied, but patience is required. “I´m not a patient person myself,” she said, to laughter. But the fact is that businesses like this must be given time to develop, without the pressure of demands for immediate results. Already, she added, we´re seeing these entrepreneurs-as young as they are-mentoring the generation following them.
Another audience member wanted to know how we can create a true Culture of Innovation in this country. Dr. Treurnicht suggested that the readiness and willingness to embrace change is a good start-and that an economic crisis can trigger such a shift in attitude. She doesn´t quite buy the stereotype of Canadians being risk-averse, over-cautious; but insofar as it is true, we can defeat it by celebrating entrepreneurship among the young.
The questions continued. One gentleman wanted to hear more about a stat Dr. Treurnicht mentioned earlier: that 52 per cent of companies are started by foreign grad students. Another brought up federal government interests in continued fossil-fuel development, and how that might conflict with some of the speakers´ goals.
Following up on an earlier question, another audience member asked about the challenges of managing a project with an expected payoff far down the road. Sales fielded this one, explaining that Prodal G´s first plant probably wouldn´t be operational until 2017 or 2018.
“That can be tough to get your head around,” he said. “It requires conviction and confidence.” But the people at MaRS aren´t a bunch of cynics, he added. They look forward to the opportunity to create thousands of new jobs, and to do it in a way that benefits the planet too.