March 15, 2009
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A recent Rand report , “The Global Technology Revolution 2020″, looks at 16 upcoming key technologies and the ability of 29 countries to acquire and to implement. The following chart identified the key technology applications -
Only three of the 29 countries examined by Rand were identified as being able to acquire and implement all 16 key technology applications – the United States and Canada in North America and Germany in Western Europe.
March 14, 2009
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The Ontario Commercialization Network Steering Committee Report was delivered to the Minister late February. PWC produced a report on OCN prior to the Steering Committee Report but it was not made public.
The report makes some blunt assessments of serious problems with Ontario’s current approach to economic development and commercialization. Some key findings include:
Key recommendations include specifics related to:
The report was one of the best i’ve seen so far – it cuts directly to the issues and provides some very rational recommendations.
March 13, 2009
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In 2002, Carleton University ran a survey to look at stress among tech workers – “Coping with Job Uncertainty : A Survey of Employed and Unemployed High Technology Workers”. The report identified numerous interesting results, however the one that I found particularly noteworthy was the fact they found that people who have an optimistic predisposition have a natural buffer against stress. In fact, the more optimistic one’s nature, the less stress they reported.
The full report is available here.
March 12, 2009
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Industry Canada reports that foreign VC investment in Canada is down 53% in 3Q08 compared to 3Q07.
The bulk of investment is going towards ICT and Life Sciences deals.
Ontario, Quebec and BC account for the majority of deals, with only Quebec showing growth in number of deals. 
The good news is that BDC investments of tax payer money continue to get good leverage -
March 9, 2009
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An article in the Toronto Star today highlights where there is still hiring happening in Canada:
… 31,000 jobs added to the health care and social services sectors in February alone.
Recession-proof jobs are identified as including: education, health care, the public service. Civil engineering and construction jobs are also considered safe due to government stimulus spending on physical infrastructure such as roads and bridges.
March 4, 2009
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From the US Patent Office -Nortel was ranked 68th overall relative to US patent filings in 2007, details are shown in the table below.
McKinsey recently published an article summarizing their analysis of US patent filings as a proxy to predict/identify centers/clusters of innovation. Volume of patents is reflected by the size of the bubble, growth in patents and diversity of patent filing companies are the two axis.
| 2007 | All Years | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION | Patents By Year of Grant: | 3125 | 3125 |
| SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 2723 | 2723 |
| CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA | Patents By Year of Grant: | 1983 | 1983 |
| MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 1910 | 1910 |
| INTEL CORPORATION | Patents By Year of Grant: | 1864 | 1864 |
| MICROSOFT CORPORATION | Patents By Year of Grant: | 1637 | 1637 |
| TOSHIBA CORPORATION | Patents By Year of Grant: | 1519 | 1519 |
| MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 1476 | 1476 |
| HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 1466 | 1466 |
| SONY CORPORATION | Patents By Year of Grant: | 1454 | 1454 |
| HITACHI, LTD | Patents By Year of Grant: | 1381 | 1381 |
| FUJITSU LIMITED | Patents By Year of Grant: | 1293 | 1293 |
| SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION | Patents By Year of Grant: | 1205 | 1205 |
| GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY | Patents By Year of Grant: | 911 | 911 |
| INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES AG | Patents By Year of Grant: | 847 | 847 |
| DENSO CORPORATION | Patents By Year of Grant: | 753 | 753 |
| TEXAS INSTRUMENTS, INCORPORATED | Patents By Year of Grant: | 749 | 749 |
| RICOH COMPANY, LTD. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 727 | 727 |
| SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT | Patents By Year of Grant: | 698 | 698 |
| LG ELECTRONICS INC. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 682 | 682 |
| NOKIA CORPORATION | Patents By Year of Grant: | 679 | 679 |
| HONDA GIKEN KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA (HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.) | Patents By Year of Grant: | 677 | 677 |
| Fujifilm Corporation | Patents By Year of Grant: | 660 | 660 |
| SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA (SHARP CORPORATION) | Patents By Year of Grant: | 646 | 646 |
| SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 610 | 610 |
| NEC CORPORATION | Patents By Year of Grant: | 600 | 600 |
| CISCO TECHNOLOGY, INC. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 580 | 580 |
| ROBERT BOSCH GMBH | Patents By Year of Grant: | 568 | 568 |
| KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS ELECTRONICS N.V. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 547 | 547 |
| HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 538 | 538 |
| BROADCOM CORPORATION | Patents By Year of Grant: | 533 | 533 |
| SILVERBROOK RESEARCH PTY. LTD | Patents By Year of Grant: | 533 | 533 |
| XEROX CORPORATION | Patents By Year of Grant: | 514 | 514 |
| RENESAS TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION | Patents By Year of Grant: | 505 | 505 |
| EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY | Patents By Year of Grant: | 492 | 492 |
| TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 467 | 467 |
| 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY | Patents By Year of Grant: | 459 | 459 |
| MITSUBISHI DENKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA | Patents By Year of Grant: | 459 | 459 |
| SANYO ELECTRIC CO., LTD. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 454 | 454 |
| LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 432 | 432 |
| BOEING COMPANY | Patents By Year of Grant: | 428 | 428 |
| LG. PHILIPS LCD CO., LTD. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 418 | 418 |
| SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 413 | 413 |
| MOTOROLA, INC. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 411 | 411 |
| HYNIX SEMICONDUCTOR INC. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 405 | 405 |
| E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY | Patents By Year of Grant: | 369 | 369 |
| DELPHI TECHNOLOGIES, INC. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 356 | 356 |
| TOYOTA JIDOSHA K.K. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 351 | 351 |
| GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION | Patents By Year of Grant: | 343 | 343 |
| TDK CORPORATION | Patents By Year of Grant: | 338 | 338 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, THE REGENTS OF | Patents By Year of Grant: | 333 | 333 |
| BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA | Patents By Year of Grant: | 325 | 325 |
| FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR, INC. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 322 | 322 |
| HITACHI GLOBAL STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES NETHERLANDS B.V. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 322 | 322 |
| HON HAI PRECISION IND. CO., LTD. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 321 | 321 |
| FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, L.L.C. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 315 | 315 |
| SAMSUNG SDI CO., LTD. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 315 | 315 |
| FUJI XEROX CO., LTD. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 313 | 313 |
| ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES, INC. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 304 | 304 |
| FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD | Patents By Year of Grant: | 294 | 294 |
| APPLIED MATERIALS, INC. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 285 | 285 |
| HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICES, INC. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 284 | 284 |
| AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 282 | 282 |
| GENENTECH, INC. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 281 | 281 |
| OKI ELECTRIC INDUSTRY CO., LTD. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 279 | 279 |
| QUALCOMM, INC. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 278 | 278 |
| AT&T CORP. | Patents By Year of Grant: | 273 | 273 |
| NORTEL NETWORKS LIMITED | Patents By Year of Grant: | 272 | 272 |
| ALTERA CORPORATION | Patents By Year of Grant: | 268 | 268 |
March 3, 2009
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The 2008 report on Canadian R&D spending from Research Infosource identifies the following top 10 R&D spenders -
| Nortel | $1.851B |
| BCE | $1.26B |
| Magna | $.725B |
| Pratt and Whitney | $.444B |
| IBM | $.377B |
| Atomic Energy of Canada | $.228B |
| RIM | $.253B |
| Alcatel-Lucent | $.236B |
| Sanofi-Aventis Group | $.207B |
| Apotex Inc | $.181B |
Nortel currently accounts for 32% of the R&D spend in the top 10 spenders in Canada, and Magna (automotive parts) currently accounts for 13%. Over 45% of the R&D spend of the top 10 spenders in Canada is in decline and at risk of evaporating to nothing.
Unfortunately – RIM which is always held up as the shining tech light for Canada – isn’t even in the same league as Nortel and never will be. It could be argued that RIM is likely to rapidly diminish in size/scope over the coming years as technologies such as the iPhone and Android continue to see rapid adoption.
March 2, 2009
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According to new study results released by Pew on Feb 15th:
Fully 80% say that jobs are difficult to find in their local communities – up seven points since December and 16 points since early October. Overall views of the national economy, already quite negative at the end of last year, have declined further; 30% say the country is in a depression, up from 20% as recently as December.
Related data is follows:
March 1, 2009
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There are an increasing number of articles cronicling the human toll that the job losses are having the United States.
The New York Times and Mercury News have both published articles recently that reflects the significant impacts the the downturn continues to have on families and individuals.
The Silicon Beat has a regular feature Pink Slip 2.o which chronicles layoffs in Silicon Valley.
There are also a number of sites that have started to tally the layoffs and associated carnage, including: Layoff Blog, Fucked Startups, Techcrunch Layoffs, Pinks Slips on Wallstreet and Screwdd.
In Canada, Stats Canada has published data on the impact of past tech layoffs that are good predictors for the present.
February 28, 2009
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I have the first and second edition of this book on my bookshelf. It is concise, practical advice for starting and running a technology/knowledge-based company… and it is written by a local tech leader – Denzil Doyle! For those trying to figure out where to start and what to do I recommend this book as a good place to start reading.
Making Technology Happen describes in detail the techniques used to identify and exploit technology and how to build and manage a technology-intensive company around that technology. It covers such activities as ‘go-to market’ strategy development, general management, investment analysis, organizational development, and competitive market analysis – all from the perspective of a technology-intensive enterprise. It is used by governments and technology transfer professionals across North America, as well as by entrepreneurs and business executives
February 28, 2009
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A friend in California sent me an article today that was very disconcerting. The article was reflecting on a recent report published in Europe relative to the impacts and consequences of the economic situation:
According to the European think tank, LEAP/Europe 2020, two factors make the US a likely candidate for civil violence: the absence of a strong social safety net and the presence of hundreds of millions of firearms.
The full article is here (it’s in French, so you’ll need to use Google Translation if you want to read it in English).
Former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski has publicly expressed his fears about impending civil unrest with MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough :
JOE SCARBOROUGH: You also talked about the possibility of class conflict.
ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI: I was worrying about it because we’re going to have millions and millions of unemployed, people really facing dire straits. And we’re going to be having that for some period of time before things hopefully improve. And at the same time there is public awareness of this extraordinary wealth that was transferred to a few individuals at levels without historical precedent in America….
And you sort of say to yourself: what’s going to happen in this society when these people are without jobs, when their families hurt, when they lose their homes, and so forth?
We have the government trying to repair: repair the banking system, to bail the housing out. But what about the rich guys?… Where is the monied class today? Why aren’t they doing something: the people who made billions, millions…. there’s going to be growing conflict between the classes and if people are unemployed and really hurting, hell, there could be even riots!
Perhaps this will drive up immigration from the US to Canada? Entreprenuers, VC’s (only those with a large fund and money to invest mind you) and leaders of large multi-national companies (only those companies that are profitable with no past history of government teat suckling) can go straight to the front of the line….
And the unrest is not expected to be restricted to the US. On Feb 23rd, London Police expressed public concern over the possibility of a “summer of rage” in the UK -
Police said on Monday they feared a “summer of rage” with mass protests over the economic crisis…
There is evidence that governments are already preparing for the possibility of civil unrest.
And on a lighter note, Colbert takes an extreme look at future possibilities.
February 28, 2009
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The Citizen published an article on the key role Nortel has had on the Ottawa high tech market, noting that there are no replacements for Nortel waiting in the wings to step-in to the void.
Here is a list of potential impacts on the City of Ottawa in a post-Nortel scenario:
Ottawa may soon be the “Flint Michigan of Canada” when it comes to high tech.
Of course, there are always career opportunities available in ceramics and pottery.
February 27, 2009
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Stats Canada published a report in December 2008 – “Immigrant Economic and Social Outcomes in Canada“, that called out some interesting facts, including:
Census statistics from 2001 provides a broader overview of immigrant origin in Canada:
I personally believe this is a great advantage for Canada. The more ties we have with other countries, the more likely that business relationships will be developed.
February 25, 2009
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With all the talk of government stimulus and spending it is disappointing to see the government not using programs that have already been approved and rolled-out.
Last year, the Ontario Government’s Next Generation of Jobs Fund was rolled out by McGuinty with much fanfare and promises of how his government would be fast tracking the program to “Git’r Done”. The Next Generation of Jobs Fund is a five-year, $1.15 billion fund intended to create new highly skilled jobs.
“We’re stepping up because Ontario is not going to let others steal our future out from under us - we will produce the next wave of clean technologies that create jobs and clean up the environment,” said Premier McGuinty.
“We’re sending the message to companies around the world that if you’ve got a project that will grow your business and create jobs, we’ll make it happen in Ontario,” said Minister of Economic Development and Trade Sandra Pupatello.
“This fund is about building on our strengths to ensure Ontario can compete and win in the global economy - and create a better standard of living for Ontario families,” said Minister of Research and Innovation John Wilkinson.
There was also much noise made about how:
Companies are guaranteed a decision within 45 days of submitting a complete proposal.
So, since being announced a year ago…. nothing has happened.
Furthermore, last summer – Nortel, IBM and Carleton University submitted a proposal to establish and collaborate on a project called “Coral CEA”. The group’s proposal was to setup an organization to focus on development of communications enabled applications with the objective of spinning-off companies and jobs. In-spite of being under bankruptcy protection Nortel remained committed to the proposal because of it’s strategic value.
This was a proposal from two of Canada’s top innovators and Ottawa’s leading University… and nothing has happened.
In fact, worse then nothing has happened – good ideas have been submitted and no action has been taken.
It appears that the only jobs that the NGoJF is creating are jobs for government organ grinders whose purpose is to turn our “Creative Class” into dancing monkeys for the bureaucracy -
If McGuinty is serious about his commitment to innovation and the NGoJF – he needs to roll up his sleeves and take direct personal action in his government. Right now McGuinty and his government fall into the category of “Big Hat, No Cattle”.
UPDATE: The Strategic Opportunity Program (part of NGoJF) has been very quietly shut-down …
February 25, 2009
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In the UK, University applications are up 8%, with some Universities are up significantly higher:
Applications to Oxford and Cambridge rose 9.9%. The University of Exeter said it had an 18% increase in applications from British students and 88% rise in those outside the EU. New universities and smaller specialist institutions also reported record rises. Bedfordshire University had a 24% rise in home applications.
Enrollment/application numbers for Universities in the US and Canada for late 2008/early 2009 are hard to find, however here is what has been published so far:
In Canada, there is concern that recession impacts on post-secondary institutions may include decreasing endowment funds, reduced/weakened fund raising, halted or delayed development projects and less government funding.
In US, Universities share similar concerns as in Canada. In the US there is particular concern regarding decreasing endowment funds which are due mainly to the stock market decline:
… the average college endowment lost 2.7 percent in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2008, according to Commonfund, an organization that manages many colleges’ endowments. A follow-up survey found endowments lost another 22.5 percent in the five months that ended Dec. 1, 2008.
In the US and Canada, Universities are likely to be beneficiaries of the various stimulus packages, which should off-set some of the concerns that are currently being expressed.
February 25, 2009
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Sun has developed Sun Small Programable Object Technology (SPOT). It’s an experimental platform to inspire developers to build the next great toy, sensor, communication device — who knows — using Sun technology. The Sun SPOT devices make include a flexible hardware platform as well as the software and tools to make it easy to innovate, experiment, and prototype whatever a developer can imagine.
The Sun SPOT Device is a small, wireless, battery powered experimental platform. It is programmed almost entirely in Java to allow regular programmers to create projects that used to require specialized embedded system development skills. The hardware platform includes a range of built-in sensors as well as the ability to easily interface to external devices.
This little platform is full of potential for “Creative Class” people to base a microbusiness on.
February 24, 2009
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There is more data and complexity everyday. There are a number of very interesting sites on the web that present visualization of data on a wide variety to topics, including:
I particularly like the site “Visual Literacy” which provides online training on methods to represent information visually. They have an interactive diagram which summarizes, with examples, all the various various visualization techniques. Not to be missed!
February 24, 2009
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There are a vast, and increasing, number of technical certifications available. A big question many people have is what is the value – if any – of an individual spending the time and money to obtain a certification. Will the certification increase prospects for employment? Will the certification increase the salary of the holder?
A study published by TechRepublic “2008 IT skills and salary report“, gives some insight into the salaries of various certification holders:
TechRepublic also published another report identifying the following IT-specific certifications as being the “Top 10″ relative to increasing employment opportunities:
CompTIA has a comprehensive list of IT/Technical certifications.
February 24, 2009
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For local tech job seekers – be sure to pickup your copy of the Ottawa Business Journal’s Ottawa Technology Magazine which hit the newstands this week. The magazine features more than 1,300 technology company listings in clean tech, life sciences, high technology and other sectors.
February 23, 2009
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A report from Insala provides some interesting insights into a business sector that is growing and expected to continue to grow in 2009:
Providing outplacement support to exiting employees has become standard business practice for many companies. The demand for such services is increasing in this heavy job-cutting market. This is evidenced by the following research:
- 81% of employers engage help from external outplacement providers (The Value of Outplacement, Reed Consulting).
- 50% of employers use only external outplacement providers (The Value of Outplacement, Reed Consulting).
- 34.1% of surveyed organizations offer outplacement services to certain classifications of employees, while 13.6% offer it to all of their employees (HRfocus Termination Survey 2008).
- 30% of 600 surveyed companies outsource outplacement services (H.R. Department Benchmarks and Analysis 2008, Bureau of National Affairs).
With this increasing usage, the outplacement industry has grown to a 3 billion dollar industry, and some sources state it is as high as 10 billion.
Financial performance data on individual outplacement firms is extremely limited due to the fact that the majority of firms are private. One public firm however recently reported a 25% increase in net revenue this year compared to last year. In September, Penna Consulting, a U.K. based public limited company reported their net revenue to be approximately 25% ahead of the same period last year and pre-tax profits earned in the first six months of this year will be higher than those of the full 2007/8 year. Consequently, they are projecting that market expectations for the full year ending in March 2009 will be materially exceeded.
Additionally, a recent news article, Area Braces for Upsurge in the Ranks of Jobless, reported Lee Hecht Harrison’s outplacement business was up 50% over the same time last year.
February 22, 2009
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Business incubation has been identified as a means of meeting a variety of economic and socioeconomic policy needs, which may include:
Business incubators typically provide a range of services to clients that may include:
Stats Canada released a report in late 2008 “The Business of Nurturing Businesses” which takes a look at business incubators in Canada based on survey data taken in 2005. Some key findings from the report include:
There are various lists of incubators in Canada, unfortunately none up-to-date, including:
In Ottawa, we have the following business incubators:
Unfortunately, with the exception of Carleton University’s Tony Bailetti, there is little/no information available on the public incubators relative to return on investment of the tax money in the operation of the incubators – which would lead me to believe that compelling results do not exist.
From the perspective of efficiency, it appears that our tax money is being spent a bit recklessly relative to overlapping mandates and services. The Ontario government and Ottawa Municipal government have both being doing a review of how they are funding and delivering their economic development programs. I hope that as part of this review, they look towards stronger collaboration and reduced overlap of services between Provincial and Municipal programs.
A future blog entry will examine how business incubators role will evolve/change in the context of Business Ecosystems.
References:
February 18, 2009
2 Comments
For a start-up, one of the biggest challenge is gaining access to customers and being able to transact business with them as easily and quickly as possible. In the last 5 years, new business models have been emerging that help reduce that challenge, referred to as Ecosystem business models.
These new business models are providing knowledge workers (aka the “Creative Class“) access to ready-made delivery platforms and selling channels to a well-defined market.
These emerging channels to market typically provide a means to connect suppliers with consumers, usually handling the transaction between the two as a trusted mediator (taking a percentage in return for the channel services, e.g. selling platform, marketing, customer management, fulfillment, transaction handling):
One channel which can be very significant for Microbusinesses is Paypal -
February 15, 2009
7 Comments
Stats Canada released an interesting report in 2007 that seems to have gone almost un-noticed. The report itself highlights the impact that the high tech downturn in 2000 had. The report contained a few very interesting facts that were, and still are, relevant to Ottawa, including:
Among laid-off high-tech workers, about four out of five did not locate employment in high-tech, and about one out of three moved to another city. In Ottawa–Gatineau, about two in five laid-off high-tech workers left the city.
With the ongoing layoffs this trend will continue – resulting in the ongoing erosion of Ottawa’s tech workforce and capability – unless action is taken.
February 13, 2009
3 Comments
On Feb 12th, during a presentation at MaRS in Toronto, Tony Bailetti announced the launch of the Lead to Win Ecosystem.
The Lead to Win ecosystem will be headquartered in Ottawa, it is focused on:
The Lead to Win ecosystem is based on the 2002 Lead to Win program which was extraordinarily successful in delivering meaningful and measurable economic development results to the Ottawa region.
If you are interested in more information on the Lead to Win ecosystem or want to be a part of it – drop a note to Tony Bailetti, and read the material on Business Ecosystems on this site.
February 10, 2009
2 Comments
There are two interesting new ideas that I find very promising, and if the City of Ottawa is able to capitalize on them, it may create a major new source of growth for our local economy.
Richard Florida is a professor at the Rotman School of Management in Toronto. His primary area of research is that of the “Creative Class”. Dr Florida argues that the economy is shifting away from routine-oriented jobs to creativity-based occupations. He also argues that the ability of an economy to adapt and weather disruptions are greater for a creativity-based economy compared to routine-jobs based economy. Dr Florida recently delivered a report to the Ontario government on this topic - it is interesting reading.
In Ottawa, we have Tony Bailetti, a professor at Carleton University. His primary area of research is that of “Ecosystems”. He argues that the business models of the world are changing. During the Industrial Age – companies were vertically integrated. During the Technology Age – companies were horizontally integrated with outsourced partners. In the emerging Ecosystem Age – Dr Bailetti argues that it is all about creative knowledge workers and collaboration. An ecosystem is not a single company, but rather is a collaborative community formed around a central keystone organization that facilitates collaborative relationships and access to wide established markets. And this is more then just a theory – Ecosystems exist today and their numbers are growing. A leader in this emerging Ecosystem business model is headquartered in our city! The Eclipse Foundation is a very successful keystone organization — they are at the heart of the worlds most successful Integrated Development Environment platform.
Ecosystems are a means of organizing and enabling knowledge workers, leveling the playing field against established Technology Age and Industrial Age competition, and flattening the world relative to allowing world-wide virtual teams to come together to create innovation, wealth and economic growth. Ecosystems effectively give a practical framework around how we can capitalize on the power of the “Creative Class”.
Dr Florida and Dr Bailetti’s work have evolved independently but are very complimentary and timely.
I would love to see Tony and Richard get together as their ground-breaking ideas represent a strong opportunity for Ottawa, Ontario and Canada to re-invent itself.
If you are one of those people who is planning to create their own microbusiness and you are looking for ideas to pursue – you would be wise to learn more about what Ecosystems are and how you can capitalize on them. The good news is that Tony is planning to make an important announcement on Thursday about a new initiative related to Ecosystems that you will want to know about – because it can help you - I’ll post an update to this post on Friday.
