Tech businesses open doors to attendees
Some hope to attract investors, others want to showcase innovative work
Inventor and scientist Andre Boulet isn’t given to showing off his company’s proprietary research into capturing and storing carbon.
His Burnaby- based Inventys Thermal Technologies has developed a commercial model for efficiently capturing carbon dioxide from heat sources and selling it back to the oil and gas industry.
Boulet’s company doesn’t seek publicity. It opened itself a crack last year when it announced Nobel physicist Steven Chu — U. S. President Barack Obama’s first energy secretary — had agreed to join Inventys’ board of directors.
But today, Boulet’s company is opening the door wider, inviting some of the attendees at TED — the technology, education and design conference — to tour the facility.
Inventys is one of a number of B. C. tech and green industry companies that have agreed to show a bit of themselves to some of the inquisitive minds attending TED’s inaugural conference in Vancouver.
For some, such as Tony Yu, owner of the fledgling Nanotips company — which is developing a liquid that allows users of touch screens such as smartphones to use gloves — it may be a chance to snag an angel investor or two. After all, many of TED’s attendees are wealthy venture capitalists, philanthropists and successful entrepreneurs in their own right.
Vancouver- based Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital and the provincially owned B. C. Innovation Council have organized the two tours for TED attendees. Chrysalix, which bills itself as “the most active cleantech venture investor network in the world,” put together a daylong tour of Inventys, D- Wave Systems — creator of the world’s first quantum computers — and General Fusion, which is developing a small, commercially viable fusion reactor using proprietary technology.
The BCIC, which helps companies develop advanced and innovative technologies, organized an event for a dozen small and medium- sized green and tech companies hosted at HootSuite, the social media dashboard company. The list runs from carbon offset giant Offsetters and Ecotrust, a sustainable food systems company, down to Change Heroes, a crowdfunding platform for building schools in developing countries.
For Boulet, one of four cofounders of Inventys, allowing TEDsters to see the company’s unique method of cheaply capturing carbon is about sharing knowledge.
“We’re not really looking to get anything out of it. Certainly it is an opportunity to showcase what the company is doing and is all about. But we really aren’t looking for publicity and we tend to be quite the opposite,” he said.
“Part of the reason I’m supportive of giving this TED tour is what TED stands for. You look at the types of people they have speaking and the type of messages they are trying to get out there. This is the opportunity for Inventys to do the same thing.”
Greg Klassen, a senior vicepresident at the Canadian Tourism Commission, which was instrumental in bringing TED to Vancouver, said these kinds of tours have powerful potential for B. C. and Canadian companies.
“Do you know how hard it is to get the attention of these venture capitalists? It is impossible. You have to fly down to where they are. But these guys are in this city, and while they are they will spend time checking out our businesses,” he said.
“That, in and of itself, is way more important than filling hotel rooms and convention centres, even though that’s the business we’re in.”
Chris Anderson, curator of TED, said the organization doesn’t expressly organize such non- conference events. But he said it is a natural byproduct of having such a powerful audience in town and if investment deals for innovative ideas are done, so much the better.
“We would be thrilled to see that happen. To further that goal we have done something we have never done before, which is to open up the content to a number of organizations in Vancouver — schools, universities, organizations and even the public space Jumbotron at BC Place,” Anderson said.
Michael Delage, General Fusion’s vice- president of strategy and corporate development, said his company’s research is of interest to TED. That’s why its chief scientist, Michel Laberge, is one of TED’s main speakers this week.
“TED is a great forum for new ideas and it makes sense that their attendees would be interested in the work General Fusion is doing,” Delage said.
“We’re not looking to make any investor pitches. That’s not the purpose of our collaboration with Inventys and D- Wave. But we know that venture capital is at TED, and there is always a potential for new investors.”
“TED in Vancouver provides an unparalleled opportunity to showcase British Columbia as a major hub of technology,” added Greg Caws, CEO of BCIC.
TED’s concepts fit tightly with Vancouver’s strategy of putting muscle into its green and tech jobs sector. But the city isn’t doing much directly around TED, other than to hold some private meetings, according to Mayor Gregor Robertson.
That may be in part because access to TED is fairly difficult, and the organization is careful to position itself first as a place to spread and discuss ideas.
Robertson said Vancouver will benefit from that concept.
Robertson said he will be holding some “structured meetings” with TED participants around trying to bring investment to the city’s growing tech and green economy businesses.
However, Robertson said the city’s goal is not to come on too strong. “I certainly expect to advance Vancouver’s interest with key influencers. We hope this is a long- term partnership with TED, and we are not doing the hard sell pitch.
“TED’s global presence online is massive. Those ideas emanating from TED Vancouver is going to be a boost to our brand,” he said in an interview last week. “Bringing TED to Vancouver is only going to help our exposure. I am really excited for Vancouver and the opportunity of hosting it.”