CARTI at North Island College – supporting business innovation and economic development

Watch for the survey link coming soon – that’s how you can enter to win #FlavourSept21 tickets!

Got a business on the North Island? Naomi Tabata wants to hear from you – and she wants to give away a pair of tickets to #FlavourSept21 to someone who completes her short 5 minute survey (link coming this week).

How to win? Give 5 minutes of input  

To find out how to win, and how to help Naomi support business innovation on the Island, watch for my #NIC_CARTI interview with Naomi this week. That’s when she’ll be releasing the link to the survey. Follow CARTI on Twitter @NIC_CARTI or me @hanspetermeyer for up-to-date intel.

Who is Naomi Tabata? 

Naomi’s with North Island College’s Centre for Applied Research, Technology, and Innovation (CARTI). In September CARTI is launching a research project that will help NIC connect with business innovators in the region.

An example: One of the businesses that CARTI is helping to grow is Island Telemetrics, based in Cumberland. Island Telemetrics’s founder Steve Morgan talks about how NIC helped build their innovative business in this short video clip.

It’s Not Just Tech!

Naomi says CARTI isn’t just interested in tech innovation. They’re interested in any business innovations that they can help – with research, expertise, what have you.

Your business could be in

• food, 
• tourism, 
• manufacturing, 
• forestry, 
• aquaculture – there is no limit. 

CARTI needs to hear from you to find out how they can better support business innovation and economic development on the North Island.

Why Am I So Keen?

CARTI is a client, so I’m doing my part to get the word out with content and survey strategy (that’s some of what I do at hanspetermeyer.ca). But there’s more to it. I genially work with clients I think are “good things” for my community or region. I think CARTI is one of those.

As some of you know, I used to work with the Communities Institute of BC (1992-1999), an initiative that started at North Island College as a community outreach project – connecting post-secondary resources with “learning about community issues.” I was thrilled to meet Naomi and hear about CARTI. I’m particularly excited that she’s invited me to be a small part of what CARTI is.

If this clicks for you, or if you want to see business innovation and economic development on the North Island, please share this post with business owners and managers in the greater North Vancouver Island region.

For More Information

FMI about CARTI see the website.
You can also follow them on Twitter at @NIC_CARTI. Watch for the survey link coming soon!

FMI about Island Telemetrics see the website. You can also follow them on Twitter @IslandTele. Watch for the Island Telemetrics profile coming soon to CVWebPosse.com – part of the CVWebPosse “rich” profile series, promoting the region’s web / tech sector.

-hpm
August 31, 2014

Why is big data important to water sustainability? Content from a startup client

The most important part of this post is here: Steve Morgan talking about a new Vancouver Island startup that’s addressing an important issue: water sustainability. He’s a client, and I’m thrilled to be working with him. I tell you why in the paragraphs that follow. Then I invite you to contact me to talk about how content marketing can help your business. But first, the important stuff:

Steve Morgan is a Silicon Valley veteran who though he’d retire to the Comox Valley. After working with NGOs in stream stewardship and community planning, however, Steve saw a “pain point” that needed addressing: the lack of big data to tell the story about how watersheds and off-shore waters are being affected by development, deforestation, and climate change, among others. That led to the founding of IslandTelemetrics.com, a startup that connects remote sensor technology, big data, and the cloud. In this video, Steve talks the importance of Island Telemetrics’ technology in the context of climate change.

Content marketing, startups, and sustainability

This video is part of a series profiling the tech / web sector in the Comox Valley, produced by me and and CVWebPosse.com. It’s a content marketing project that will draw attention to the Comox Valley as a place where talented entrepreneurs are doing good things with technology.

It’s been said that startups don’t need marketing, they need sales. Putting a finer point on it, startups need targeted marketing that leads to sales. Content is part of that. For example, in this video Steve outlines why the products and services at Island Telemetrics are important in a world where

• we don’t have very good baseline environmental data;
• things are changing fast – whether that’s due to human developments, deforestation, climate change, or whatever.

In other short videos Steve describes what his startup does and how it helps address the “pain points” being felt by business, conservation organizations, and government as they try to get a handle on changing environmental conditions. The videos give Steve a good way to tell about Island Telemetrics. They give a human voice and context to abstract things like “big data” and “telemetry.” That’s how content marketing can work for a startup.

We’re going to be using other tools to help connect Island Telemetrics with strategic markets. But the first place is to have Steve tell his story and invite others to be part of the process.

You can find out more about Island Telemetrics at IslandTelemetrics.com. Be in touch via Twitter at @IslandTele.

Contact me about content

I’m a writer, photographer, interviewer – a content marketer who’s passionate about sustainability on Vancouver Island. If you’re interested in how content can help differentiate you from others in your sector, be in touch via this form. You can also setup a call via my Clarity.fm advice line ($2/minute – all proceeds go to the Pat Glazner Fund at the Comox Valley Land Trust).

E-mail *

Message *

hpm
—
hanspetermeyer.ca
@hanspetermeyer on Twitter

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Jared Shaw, the Town of Qualicum Beach, and growing a new economy with young entrepreneurs

I interviewed Jared Shaw in May 2014 about the Town of Qualicum’s support for a centre for digital entrepreneurs, part of their strategy to attract and retain young families.  It’s an example of creative community economic development, one that other “amenity-rich” communities would do well to emulate. Our video interview is embedded below.

Kudos to small communities with imagination

I don’t think of Qualicum Beach as a place for innovation. But they’ve shown me to be very wrong in my assumptions. They’ve got a strategy to retain and attract young entrepreneurs. They’ve done a cultural assessment that tells them they need to support creatives (traditional artists, as well as digital start up types and entrepreneurs). Kudos to the Town of Qualicum Beach. And kudos to Jared Shaw and his collaborators for making good things happen in this little Vancouver Island town. You can find out more about what the Town of QB and Jared Shaw are up to by visiting QBWorkstation.com.

One of the things they’re doing is actively growing their smarts by bringing in other smart people. The next event on the horizon is Boris Mann‘s visit on June 26. Boris is a bit of a startup rockstar in the greater Vancouver region and I’ve found it very worthwhile to pay attention to what he has to say about business development. More on what Boris is about at FullStack.ca.

Innovators. #makingshfthappen in QB

The very idea that a sleepy, rapidly grey-ing little retirement community is doing something like this begs several questions. For example:

• Can we make something like this happen here, in my community, the Comox Valley?
• Is there a local government or an economic/business development body willing to step into a leadership role like the Town of QB has?
• Are we ready to do the kind of cultural inventory/assessment they’ve done?
• Are we ready to start promoting local talent – as a community?
• Could we turn our downtown Courtenay into a centre for innovation and startups rather than a slowly fading boutique shopping district?

Big things to think about – and to vote on!

This year (2014) is a good year to think about these questions. On November 15, 2014 we the citizens (and taxpayers) of the Comox Valley (and other towns and cities in BC) get to decide who’s going to sit around the Council tables for the coming 3 years. Do we elect imaginative, forward-looking leaders? Or do we let the same-old, same-old tired ideas ruin the places we love?

Think on it. And then get out the vote on November 15. You’ll see me reminding folks by using this #tag: #VoteNov15. I encourage you to borrow it and share it around. We desperately need to get more people engaged in the future of our small communities.

Innovators on Vancouver Island: people #makingshfthappen 

My interview with Jared Shaw is part of a series on Vancouver Island innovators  that I’ll be producing in 2014. I’m very interested in people who are innovating – in all aspects of our communities: tech, business, governance, environment, forestry, food. These people are  #makingshfthappen – and I want to support them.

hpm
—
hanspetermeyer.ca
@hanspetermeyer on Twitter

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