Jill Tipping, , sat down with Black Press Media legislature reporter Tom Fletcher this week to talk about the rapid rise of technology and her industryB次元官网网址檚 work to help companies grow.

TF: You have lots of corporate partners, how did the association get started?

JT: WeB次元官网网址檙e 25 years old this year, and mostly private sector funded. ThatB次元官网网址檚 a bit unusual, about 60 per cent of our funding, and about 40 per cent is from the federal government. We havenB次元官网网址檛 any provincial funding but weB次元官网网址檙e hoping to change that.

We focus on helping tech companies grow and scale, making sure that the ecosystem in B.C. can support everybody, whether youB次元官网网址檙e a small company or a growing company or a big company.

TF: One of the things that the federal government acknowledged a couple of years ago is that they had too many innovation programs. How has that evolved?

JT: I think itB次元官网网址檚 a natural progression. At first there are so many people who are enthusiastic and they see what could change and what could be better. And that encourages in our sector a really entrepreneurial attitude, so everybody creates a new organization and says, B次元官网网址榣et me help.B次元官网网址� And the federal government says B次元官网网址榣etB次元官网网址檚 create a new program for every problem that we have.B次元官网网址� But over time we get a bit more mature, and we say, if we focus and prioritize we can have a bigger impact.

You see that in the federal programs, where there has been a tightening of the focus and streamlining of the approach so that weB次元官网网址檙e focused on just a few problems, scaling problems in particular sectors where Canada is strong. And weB次元官网网址檙e starting to see the same thing in B.C., where weB次元官网网址檙e coming together to focus on fewer things that are really critically important.

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There two key things for B.C. One is access to talent. ItB次元官网网址檚 the number one problem every company will talk to you about. The other thing is we donB次元官网网址檛 have as many companies achieving scale success.

TF: What are the jobs to train for in technology these days?

JT: Tech jobs are technical jobs and those are always in demand. So web designers and coders and deep data scientists. Those are really in demand. WhatB次元官网网址檚 also interesting is user design, so experiential learning, design thinking, marketing, finance. There are so many growth areas in tech, thereB次元官网网址檚 a role for everyone.

TF: One of the difficulties with media reports is youB次元官网网址檒l see this one-line summary about machine learning and artificial intelligence, and that itB次元官网网址檚 going to revolutionize the world. What does that actually mean, today at least?

JT: Let me give you a practical example, in medical imaging. We used to put an X-ray on the screen and expert eyes would look at it and see what they could find, and they found most things. What we can now do is take multiple different shots, and examine a database that can spot the things that the human mind and human eye might not see.

So now weB次元官网网址檙e spotting many more problems and weB次元官网网址檙e able to fix them sooner in medicine. ItB次元官网网址檚 a great example of how machine learning and analyzing deep data sets can help to do things.

TF: So itB次元官网网址檚 not a robot that can do your kidB次元官网网址檚 homework.

JT: Or tidy their room. The history of machines, from the very beginning, whether we think of it as farming implements or whatever, has always been to help human beings do things that human beings either donB次元官网网址檛 enjoy or arenB次元官网网址檛 particularly good at. But the human beings will stay in control.

TF: Your organization is focused on attracting skilled people. The U.S. has lowered its corporate taxes. B.C. and Canada have increased their top personal income rates, so the combined income tax for a high-level executive or entrepreneur is more than 50 per cent. WhatB次元官网网址檚 the effect of that?

JT: One of the interesting things for our sector is that everything in the world thatB次元官网网址檚 thriving in tech and innovation is in a place thatB次元官网网址檚 got a high cost of housing, high cost of living and high taxes, like California. This is an industry thatB次元官网网址檚 had to thrive despite those setbacks.

And it does it because what itB次元官网网址檚 mining is human brains and human intelligence, and human beings like to live in delightful, lovely places, so they really value quality of life taken as a whole.

Some of the things where Canada and B.C. in particular has a real advantage is our health system and our education system are fantastic advantages. Tech workers tend to be fairly cosmopolitan, so they like the atmosphere in Canada.

ItB次元官网网址檚 one of the reasons IB次元官网网址檓 bullish about Canada as a tech economy. In a challenging world, our brand and what we stand for and the kind of place we are to live is going to be really attractive.

Not everything is the best it can possibly be, but weB次元官网网址檝e got some great advantages.

tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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