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Start-ups, new media ventures, tech companies, social media empires; they’re here in Vancouver, with more joining the ranks all the time. “DigiVan” is an ongoing column that profiles the digital people, professions, products and places that are making a mark on the West Coast and across the world. |
It could be a decade before General Fusion knows if the technology that they are working on today will change the world. However, their tech’s awesome potential to produce cheap, abundant and clean energy, as well as their approach to building the right company culture to make it happen, was enough to win the four-year old start-up the Gold Place Award at NextBC last Thursday night.
Held inside TELUS World of Science (still better known to Vancouverites as Science World), NextBC was a showcase of our province’s cream of the crop in high tech, next gen hardware and software and digital culture. Presented by DigiBC, which helps promote and celebrate BC’s cutting edge companies, NextBC showcased 25 businesses that showed innovation doesn’t always require big bucks. Having a big brain – a cool idea – can be better.
Five judges whittled down the top candidates for most innovative company down to a shortlist of five: the already-mentioned General Fusion (HQ’ed in Burnaby); D-Wave, makers of quantum computer technology; Avigilon, a maker of cutting-edge surveillance equipment; CapTherm Systems, who make high-performance CPU cooling systems; and UrtheCast, who beam high def images of our planet down from orbit.
General Fusion took home top honours, with D-Wave capturing silver and Avigilion the bronze spot. Fusion Pipe Software netted the audience choice award for their approach to making more secure wireless connections.
It’s Time for Us to Make Some Noise
This is what D-Wave’s quantum computer chip looks like. It needs to be supercooled well below zero for the quantum processing to happen. (Photo by Patrick Sauriol)
From walking among the booths and speaking with the founders of these 25 companies selected by NextBC, my impression is that there is a lot of potential quietly bubbling in the industrial parks and garage start-up offices scattered around our neighborhoods. So why are all of these world-shaking ideas and revolutionary companies still relatively unknown?
Howard Donaldson addressed this in his opening remarks during the judging portion of the event. “British Columbia has a wealth of exceptional talent building innovative ideas. We need to do more to recognize these people and help them build towards success,” he said to the crowd of 350+ sitting inside Science World’s IMAX theatre. “I hope that we get to do this kind of event every year.”
Indeed, it’s not just the HootSuites of Vancouver that have the potential to become the next Apple or Microsoft. While Ryan Holmes’ social media empire is currently the equivalent of George Clooney in our city’s high tech social scene, the companies showcased by NextBC as well as many other stealth mode start-ups are quickly rising in clout and cool factor.
I’m willing to bet that there are several companies right now being bootstrapped by friends, family and the passion of their partners that will put Vancouver on the map in the same way that HootSuite has, but each with their own unique spin with green energy development, wearable smart technology, biotech that extends our health and bodies, hyper-realistic digital worlds or a new way of solving an old problem.
Whether you call your home Vancouver or Kelowna, Victoria or Whistler, BC is never going to be another Silicon Valley. Instead, we have the opportunity to be something else, possibly even something bigger and brighter than the Valley. The talent is here. So is the will, the money and the beginnings of a culture like the ones that gave us Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Tim Berners-Lee or Elon Musk.
NextBC is just one sign that it can happen.
DigiVan covers Vancouver's burgeoning start-up, technology, new media and digital scene. Work at a local company that's developing something cool? Contact Patrick Sauriol on Twitter @ Arcane_Bimmer.
