Tackling the myth of resource vs. tech economies
The two go hand-in-hand in B.C., Stewart Muir writes.
It’s common mythology that B.C.’s traditional natural resource economy has reached its endgame and is being replaced by a “new economy” based on technology and innovation. The iconic logger has been replaced in our imagination by a computer programmer, miners supplanted by lab techs.
As is usually the case with such convenient scenarios, the truth is not that simple.
B.C.’s “old” sectors like forestry and mining are driving technological innovations being put to work here and exported around the globe. Resource-based expertise from this province is pouring into the global knowledge economy, creating employment and opportunities for people from Vancouver’s Howe Street to downtown Fort St. John.
This is being driven by smaller companies at the cutting edge of value-added fields like filtration, satellites, GPS, and digital analysis and simulation. They are partnering with larger resource firms to create innovations that have already made B.C.’s resource companies a beacon of green, diversified expertise.
Some of our homegrown companies are working in surprising places. The cold, grey waters of Howe Sound and the sunny, tropical fishing ponds around Danang, Vietnam, are connected by the thread of B.C. innovation spun by West Vancouver-based Hatfield Consultants. They’re using technology and expertise first developed 30 years ago for B.C.’s pulp and paper mills to help today’s Vietnamese government grapple with the deadly legacy of Agent Orange.
Hatfield Consultants’ president and senior environmental chemist Grant Bruce says not only are companies like his exporting high-tech and green solutions to an international market, they’re also exporting our environmental rules and regulations. He cites Indonesia, which has recently developed an environmental assessment process based on the Canadian model.
You can also look at Surrey-based SOFTAC Systems Ltd., which has always been on the cutting edge of forest industry technology. Now the B.C. firm is making waves around the globe as an innovator in seismic detection and water treatment technologies.
Or you can look up — way, way up — at the satellite system being launched by Burnaby’s Helios Wire, which will allow tracking and communication with up to five billion devices worldwide and make the internet of things more affordable for small, medium and large organizations alike.
Scott Larson of Helios Wire, and SOFTAC Systems’ Tom Jansen will each tell you while B.C. is home to a host of innovative firms — nearly 200 small- and medium-sized companies that support the resource industry in key technology fields alone — they also say more needs to be done before B.C. can become a hightech hub rivalling San Francisco. Government can always do more to assist high-tech firms, especially at the startup phase. More high-tech infrastructure and increased access to markets would also help.
They’ll get their chance to engage in that conversation with Fazil Mihlar, B.C.’s Deputy Minister of Jobs, Trade and Technology, in Vancouver on Nov. 29 at the Naturally Resourceful: B.C.’s Export Future in Natural Resources Tech luncheon at the Hyatt Regency. Mihlar is the keynote speaker at the event, which will also feature a panel of leading thinkers in resource sector innovation and technology, and recognize emerging technology companies like Hatfield, Helios Wire and others.
The divide between rural and urban B.C. has never seemed wider. We may agree that we all want both environmental sustainability and a strong economy, but we disagree, often vehemently, on how to get there.
Resource Works hopes Naturally Resourceful will be the beginning of a new conversation about how we can continue to benefit from B.C.’s natural resources while meeting ambitious environmental goals; about how we can hone our high-tech competitive edge to ensure our shared prosperity and a healthy planet.
B.C.’s ‘old’ sectors like forestry and mining are driving technological innovations.