Tech needs more to flourish
Photo: Twitter/TwoHatHQ
The Okanagan Valley has established itself as a hub for technological innovation in B.C., but one entrepreneur says more needs to be done for the region to reach its full potential.
As Andrew Greer of Accelerate Okanagan recently pointed out, technology is the fastest growing sector in the Okanagan. Its 6,500 employees represent more than mining, oil, gas, and forestry industries combined.
Chris Priebe, the CEO of Kelowna’s Two Hat Security, says he’s encouraged by the rapid growth of the industry but that growth only represents a fraction of what it could be.
Options vital for recruitment
Priebe says the “big upswell” of technology companies popping up in the Okanagan is good for businesses like his, because it helps when he’s recruiting.
More successful companies means new recruits are more likely to come, because they have other options if the job they move for doesn’t work out.
And that has been an issue in the past.
Keith MacIntyre, the founder of Big Bear Software, said the one thing that almost stopped him from leaving Calgary for Penticton in 2011 was the dearth of options outside the company that hired him.
“One of the big things that almost held me back from working here was that if it didn’t work out with that company there wasn’t enough technical jobs out here,” MacIntyre said.
The ‘Club Penguin Effect’
Today, however, MacIntyre says that’s no longer the case. Priebe chalks that change up to the “Club Penguin effect.”
A whole group of tech talent that started at Club Penguin (one of the first large tech companies to establish itself in Kelowna) have now left to start their own tech businesses.
As this “second wave” of companies grow they are hiring more talent. Eventually, that young talent will leave those businesses and start their own. It will be that “third wave” of companies will really drive the sector’s momentum.
“Eventually it’s going to become a tidal wave,” Priebe says. “That’s when Kelowna and the Okanagan can really take off.”
But in order for that to truly happen Priebe he says cities like Kelowna will have to make some incredibly significant investments.
Knock down city hall
One thing he says will be vital is a tech campus, with a university extension, where startups and students can gather and learn from one another.
The new Okanagan Centre for Innovation is a good start, but what he would really like to see is for the city to knock down city hall, or maybe a lumber yard, to build a Google-esque complex.
“I’m not kidding, I do think they should tear down one of those two locations and put a tech campus in,” he says.
Priebe also says the city needs to funnel more money into the sector by offering incentives for companies to relocate.
Offer the right incentives, Priebe says, and Silicone Valley and San Francisco companies will come to Kelowna, much like they did to Vancouver when it started offering incentives to film industry businesses.
Kelowna should think hard about what kind of expertise it wants to attract, and subsidize that heavily, “then, all of the sudden, you get massive hiring,” Priebe says.
The problem is that so far he hasn’t “seen a lot of movement from the city on any of this.”
They can’t build apps
Priebe’s other worry is the “calibre of education” currently offered in the Okanagan.
He says the programs here are a “good foundation” but aren’t graduating students with enough “hands-on skills.”
He says he would hesitate to hire students graduating in the Okanagan because he wouldn’t be sure they could perform at the level he needs.
“I’m not sure coming out of school they can even build a mobile app,” he says.
If local graduates that can’t rise to the level that companies like TwoHat need it will continue to limit tech sector’s growth.
Despite these concerns, however, Priebe is excited about the future of the industry. He sees progress being made and says there are some very impressive and very talented people in the Okanagan.
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