Microsoft president touts Cascadia Innovation Corridor
The cities of Vancouver and Seattle have been getting some renewed attention in the last year about the things they share — a love of the outdoors, an abundance of rain — and what they could become together: a hub for technology companies and research that would rival the likes of Boston and Tel Aviv.
On Wednesday, Seattle-based Microsoft president Brad Smith made a renewed pitch, arguing that “mixed reality” companies in Vancouver that develop applications for use in video games, but also health care, engineering, real estate, architecture and education, exemplify the potential.
These areas are a sweet spot for a company such as Microsoft that is looking around the world and wants to make “a few big bets. Not one, not 20, but a few. How can we learn from (what we have seen in) other cities?” said Smith.
He pointed to Boston, which tapped nearby universities to excel in life science and biotechnology-related research and is now the second-largest venture capital market in the U.S. And there is Tel Aviv, where cybersecurity companies account for 10 per cent of the world’s $80-billion market.
Last fall, talk started about a socalled Cascadia Innovation Corridor. At the core would be universities and companies in Seattle and Vancouver working together to support and share research.
There have long been pie-in-thesky ideas for tighter co-operation along the West Coast, but Smith is focused on a checklist of projects and steps to keep up momentum.
In February, Microsoft invested $1 million in an Urban Analytics Cooperative at the University of B.C. to foster collaborative research projects with the University of Washington. In May, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose government has a $950-million (over five years) plan to invest in “innovation superclusters” attended the high-profile Microsoft CEO Summit in Seattle. There is a Microsoft training program at the B.C. Institute of Technology for “at-risk communities.”
Smith said he has told Washington state that Microsoft would support conducting a preliminary study into building a 400 km/h high-speed rail line between Vancouver and Seattle, and maybe as far south as Portland. He is also hailing the prospect of seaplane service between Vancouver and Seattle.
“Can we please each get on seaplanes and end up in each other’s harbours? We can each get to Victoria on seaplanes. We shouldn’t have to fly to Victoria to get across the border. ... As a company, we are prepared to book some business for our employees.”
Microsoft’s new initiatives at the university level sets them up to be “big supporters of the next generation of Hootsuites and companies of that size,” said Bill Tam, CEO of the B.C. Tech Association.
Tam is bringing together 30 or so very small companies, “grassroots enthusiasts” that work in “augmented and mixed reality.” With Microsoft’s support, they will set up a space in Vancouver’s Railtown district that will be “like a sandbox,” where these upcoming ventures can “learn best practices and get the hands-on component,” said Tam.
It means that when “bigger industries are wondering, ‘How do I digitally transform my business?’ they will also know where to go and who to ask.”