1. Innovation and Economic Development Sherbrooke-IDES changes its name to SHERBROOKE INNOPOLE

    January 29, 2010 by AURP Canada

    Previously known as Innovation and Economic Development Sherbrooke – IDES, an IASP Full member in Sherbrooke, Canada, has unveiled their strategic plan of action and new name: SHERBROOKE INNOPOLE.

    The announcement was made on 8th January by Executive Director Mr. Pierre Bélanger, who was accompanied by Luce Samoisette, Rector of Sherbrooke University, Sherbrooke city councillors, directors of the former IDES, and regional economic leaders.

    According to Mr. Bélanger, the new name reflects the positioning sought for Sherbrooke better, clearly identifying it as a city of innovation. The new name is but one element in a larger action strategy to ensure Sherbrooke’s development efforts. Other aspects of the action plan include a new communications strategy, including the development of a new website using Web 2.0 technologies that will be launched next June, and new cooperation tools between the city and the main institutions forming the University Cluster.

    We congratulate our colleagues and look forward to hearing about further progress and achievements at Sherbrooke Innopole.
    URL: http://www.sherbrooke-innopole.com/

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  2. Canadian R&D is Feedstock for Other Nations’ Growth – Terry Matthews Calls for Pan Canadian Innovation Plan: community mobilization for a new Vision of Canada

    January 27, 2010 by AURP Canada

    Ottawa, January 25, 2010…CATAAlliance National Spokesperson, Sir Terence Matthews is calling on political parties and all Canadians to adopt a new vision for Canada, an Innovation Nation vision that will lead us  from 13th to 1st place or an A grade in Innovation performance.

     “The award of national prosperity will go to those countries that can generate international confidence in their ability to lead in the design, development, production and distribution of goods and services. These countries will attract and retain investment. For Canada to prosper we must become a leading Innovation Nation; we all need to do our part to get there.” 

     Canada’s Innovation Gap is a fundamental challenge to Canada’s economic growth in a world where our competitors are focused on becoming the world’s innovators.  In their report highlighting the Innovation Gap, the Council of Canadian Academies emphasized [1] that Canadians are good at research but are equally weak when it comes to leveraging the results into successful businesses that mature to become world class.  Canada’s technologies and researchers have become the feedstock for our competitors’ growth. 

     In a September 2009 Update, CATA highlighted the Federal Government’s emerging commitment to developing a “High-Tech Plan” to address Canada’s Innovation Gap.  However, there is still no plan to discuss.

     Matthews added, “While we recognize that there have been a number of distractions and that significant discussions are occurring on whether a structural budget deficit exists, everyone agrees that Canada has a structural deficit in innovation that continues to impede growth in many of our communities across the country.”

     Russ Roberts, CATA’s Senior Vice President, Tax and Finance, points out, “The decades-long inability of Canada’s governing leaders to provide a coherent and effective innovation policy framework for leveraging our creativity as scientists and technologists into viable business ventures is a critical challenge.”

     He notes that “This is particularly true as the Canadian dollar approaches and likely exceeds parity with the U.S. dollar, a situation that is expected to remain for some time.  CATA finds that the economics of investing in Canadian innovations are becoming less favourable.  Over 40% of the respondents to a recent CATA poll indicated that it is likely they will have to move their R&D offshore to counteract the high cost of doing R&D in Canada.”

     CATA’s Board of Directors calls on all Members of Parliament to step back while they look at the options for managing the deficit and focus on the national benefits of immediately tabling an Innovation Plan that addresses the negative impact of the Innovation Gap on their constituencies and local business.  

     We do know that the Government is taking a close look at its investment in the SR&ED Tax Incentive Program.  Extensive discussions have taken place with the community on behalf of the former Minister of National Revenue and Minister of State for (Agriculture and Agra-Food) The Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn. 

     CATA has been consulted.  Our experience with these discussions and the feedback we have received from members who were consulted is that the review of the SR&ED Program appears to be thorough. 

     However, as Russ notes, “We understand that changes to the SR&ED Program are being announced but we have not seen any comprehensive, transparent plan.  The community is looking for a comprehensive plan, given the systemic and long entrenched nature of the issues being brought forward to the Minister.” 

     On the venture financing front, CATA has just received commitments that barriers to obtaining clearance certificates exempting foreign investors (particularly U.S. investors) from withholding taxes on their Canadian venture investments will be addressed by the Department of Finance.

     While a little encouraging, improvements to the administration of the SR&ED tax incentives and clearance certificates are only a couple pieces and only the beginning of the puzzle for solving the Innovation Gap. 

     What Is Needed?

     CATAAlliance is looking for a plan that goes well beyond SR&ED and piecemeal fixes – here and there interventions.  CATA is looking for an Innovation Plan that clearly addresses the country’s systemic imbalances and focuses on how to leverage the creativity of Canada’s science and technology capital into successful, internationally competitive technology intensive businesses.

     John Reid, President, CATA, stresses, “At this critical crossroad in Canada’s economic history, we urge all Members of Parliament to not lose focus on the broader challenge of crafting the environment needed to dig Canada out of its perennial Innovation Gap.”

    Canada needs a comprehensive, coherent and effective Innovation Plan that reflects CATA’s “Innovation Nation” Plan, a plan which:

    •  effectively fosters the creation, retention and growth of IP such that Canadians obtain the full benefits of the country’s investment;
       
    • addresses the dearth of funding available for early stage businesses and for the financing of growth opportunities in established businesses;
       
    • promotes a regulatory climate that is not a drag on innovation; one that encourages Canadians to lead as creators, innovators and adapters of next generation technologies; and
       
    • promotes trade relations that permit Canadian firms to compete, and to seek success and growth in global markets effectively.

     

     The plan includes a comprehensive set of recommendations that enable Canada to become a leader as an Innovation Nation.  Sir Terence Matthews, together with CATA, is currently promoting dialogue by outlining the risks for Canada of inaction and the advantages of action.

     Matthews concludes, “Governments at all levels and all Members of Parliament need to hear that it is time to put a cohesive Innovation Plan on the table.”

     Call to Action:

     MP and Community Mobilization
    Please send electronically and/or print out and fax this communiqué and follow up with a phone call to your local MP at the federal and provincial levels, elected officials, such as, the Mayor of your  City and Counselors,  media and network of public and private sector contacts, inclusive of posting on your social media. This will help us get across the need for change and the consequences to your firms and communities if they do not act.  

    Organizational Mobilization
    Please circulate this communique internally to all your employees and alumni and ask them to engage in the MP and Community Mobilization.

     [1] “Canada’s Innovation Gap  Estimating Its Size; Explaining Its Causes” by Peter J. Nicholson, President, The Council of Canadian Academies, Presentation to Socio-Economic Conference 2009, Gatineau, QC, 5 May, 2009�
    Read: Tycoon plans fund to fill Nortel void Matthews seeks $100M-$200M to finance startups before ex-Nortel staff leave area (Ottawa Citizen, Bert Hill)

    Media Contact: Emily Boucher, at email eboucher@cata.ca  or John Reid at jreid@cata.ca

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  3. Canadian digital gaming industry on a roll with new companies, jobs

    January 15, 2010 by AURP Canada

    A recent report by Game Developer Research uncovers a Canadian digital gaming scene that’s extraordinarily bright.  Despite the recession, there’s a thriving gaming industry in Canada with new development studios and job opportunities.

    1/5/2010

    by Alex Wawro and Joaquim P. Menezes

    An independent 2009 games sector census reveals a thriving industry in Canada with new development studios and job opportunities.

    The U.S. games industry, meanwhile, has shown marginal growth sine 2008.

    The U.S game industry has managed to hang on through 2009, an industry census report released by this month by Game Developer Research (GDR) indicates.

    However, it uncovers a Canadian game development scene that’s extraordinarily bright.

    In Canada, the number of game developers grew from 9,500 at the close of 2008 to more than 12,480 in 2009 – an estimated 30 percent increase.

    The fact that video gaming can be an incredible lucrative industry and potentially , a rich rewarding career for students willing to train for, was a recurring motif at the Go Into Games (GIG) Speaker Series event held at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., last year.

    The event was organized by Interactive Ontario, a non-profit trade organization representing more than 200 members in the digital media industry.

    At the event attendees were offered an overview of Canada’s gaming industry, and practical tops how to equip themselves for a career in this sector.

    “For starters, realize its something you can get paid very well to do, if you take a disciplined approach,” said Trevor Fencott, president and CEO of Toronto-based Bedlam Games Inc., a mid-sized developer of frontline console games.

    Fencott urged the students in attendance to notify the naysayers – “perhaps your parents or grandparents” – that there are valid careers in this sector. “It’s a real industry with sophisticated games, big budgets, and an enormous market.”

    At a time when other sectors were lagging, ne noted that video gaming revenues were soaring.

    This market’s 12 per cent compounded annual growth is exceptional when compared to other industries, Fencott said.  “And growth hasn’t abated though we’re in a recession or what it’s being called now.”

    According to the Game Developer Research report, much of the Canadian growth is centered in urban hugs such as Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.

    It’s being attributed to a slew of new studios popping up throughout the country, especially in Montréal and Ontario.

    With government subsidies and a deep pool of experienced talent to draw from, Canada may be poised to lead the gaming industry’s post-recession climb in 2010.

    Overall employment in the North American videogame industry improved slightly in 2009 despite declining sales throughout the latter half of the year.

    The GDR report reveals that the U.S. game development is becoming les dependent on urban hubs like San Francisco and Seattle, as many new studios psorng up in the wake of significant industry layoffs.

    Employment is marginally better at the close of 2009 that it was a year earlier, with 44,806 citizens actively working in the videogame industry (44,400 reported active employment in 2008).

    Mobile and casual games developed by small independent studios account for a significant chunk of that number.

    Casual game studios such as PopCap and Zynga led the fundraising and employment charts in 2009 (Zynga alone netted more than $200 million, including $180 million investment from Russian company Digital Sky Technologies).

    Fencott from Bedlam Games emphasizes that video gaming is an entertainment as well as a “software technology” industry – and this blend of disciplines is one reason it’s doing so well.

    But he cautioned that working in this industry isn’t all fun and games.  “It involves structure, requires a high degree of discipline, and a more than average amount of intelligence.”

    Those considering a career in videogames should plan their training now, he said.

    Another senior Bedlam executive spoke at length about the kinds of course that could equip someone for a career in the digital gaming industry.

    There are plenty of options to choose from – and much would depend upon what you want to specialize in, noted Jon Paul Schelter, technical director and lead programmer at Bedlam.

    He said core principles represented in most frontline developer teams are: Art, Code, Design, Production, Quality Assurance and Business / Management. “There’s plenty of interaction between these.”

    Frontline teams, he said, typically comprise around 50 people, while the budget for creating a frontline console game could range from $5 – $20 million.

    Of the 50 or so team members, the engineering group alone would comprise around 14 persons.

    Source: www.pcworld.com

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  4. Technology: Subsidiary Chalk Media doubling its workforce in Fredericton with government funding

    by AURP Canada

    FREDERICTON – RIM’s subsidiary Chalk Media Corp. is doubling its workforce in Fredericton making the firm more competitive, company representatives said at an announcement Monday.

    With the help of an $800,000 payroll rebate from the provincial government, over the next two years Chalk Media will hire up to 50 programmers, quality assurance workers, analysts and project managers.

    “The goal is to make sure that the product is something that is highly stable and a high-quality offering, which is why we need more software developers to bring it to a new level,” said Dave Jaworsky, Research In Motion Ltd.’s (TSX:RIM) senior director of corporate relations. The spokesman for the BlackBerry maker flew in from Waterloo, Ont. for the announcement.

    The new jobs will bring the Fredericton office to more than 100 employees, which will shorten the development cycles, said Susan Holt, a locally-based global programs advisor for RIM.

    “The product is already in the market now, but the enhancements that we’re making to it can happen more quickly,” she said.

    Holt wouldn’t say what the planned upgrades will be to the Blackberry service that allows secure access to complex content.

    RIM revolutionized communication in 2002 when they put email capabilities into a cellphone. Then in 2006 Chalk Media built off of the Blackberry innovation by adding the ability to deliver multimedia-rich content such as training programs or full-length TV shows. RIM bought Chalk Media last February.

    RIM employs about 10,000 people in offices across North America and in Europe, but when it came time to expand Chalk Media, the Waterloo, Ont.-based company wanted to keep the jobs in Fredericton.

    “We’re the kind of company that tends to grow other aspects of our company in place,” Jaworsky said. “Other companies take on a new technology and move it back to head office, but we’re not that kind of company.”

    This combined with the “partnership” with the provincial government made it “a natural evolution to continue to grow here,” he said.

    The $16,000 per worker will be given as the company completes the hires, and will be used to recoup recruitment, training, equipment and office space expense to expanding.

    Jaworsky said the money is more of a gesture.

    “The key thing is that it really demonstrates the partnership. It shows that the government cares about growing this industry,” he said. “Much like an engagement ring is for a marriage: it’s not required, but this really is a key demonstrator.”

    Without the government funding Jaworsky said the Fredericton operations would have expanded, but more gradually instead of a committed 50 jobs in two years. Recruitment for the positions began late last year and about 10 people have been hired.

    “When Jim Balsillie (co-CEO of RIM) and I talked about this acquisition,” Premier Shawn Graham said, “he said this was just the start of a long partnership, which we would see substantial growth over a long period of time. And we’re witnessing that growth.”

    With the jobs expected to be in the $60,000 to $75,000 a year range, New Brunswick computer science graduates will have a great incentive to stay in the province, said Graham.

    RIM has relationships with universities in many of the cities it has offices in and the premier said the University of New Brunswick will benefit from the expanded Chalk Media office.

    “There’s going to be unique opportunities that will show themselves in the future,” said Graham, declining to comment further.

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  5. New investments further enhance infrastructure at Huntsman Marine Science Centre

    January 11, 2010 by AURP Canada

    October 19, 2009

    St. Andrews, NB – Two levels of government and the Huntsman Marine Science Centre recently announced investments aimed at the development of a 1,858-sq-metre (20,000 sq. ft.) discovery centre to replace the existing aquarium at the Huntsman Marine Science Centre (HMSC) in St. Andrews.  The provincial and federal governments each announced commitments of $2.5 million for the project, valued at more than $8 million, to develop the discovery centre on its lower campus property.  Federal contributions are being delivered via ACOPA, under the Community Adjustment Fund (CAF), which is part of Canada’s Economic Action Plan.

    The HMSC is a registered not-for-profit which develops and transfer relevant science and technology to the private sector; contributes to the training and education of future generations of scientists and technologists; pioneers marine education for a broad range of students and the general public; and provides knowledge and service in the identification and classification of marine organisms through the Atlantic Reference Centre.

    The new discovery centre will replace the existing aquarium complex, and will include a self-guided orientation centre, a multiplex aquarium facility, a conference and lecture centre with live-video conference capabilities, and a renewable energy exhibit.  The new centre will house renewed teaching and lecturing facilities, and will become a four-season tourist destination that complements other initiatives currently underway in the Charlotte Country area of Southwestern New Brunswick.  The discovery Centre will offer improved education programs to elementary school students in New Brunswick, and improve research capabilities for universities and research organizations that partner with the HMSC.

    A recent study by BioAtlantech and its partners identified a significant marine bio-science cluster in New Brunswick, with economic activity and employment of $74 million, and 440 highly qualified persons, respectively, in 2007.  Southwestern New Brunswick alone accounts for nearly $40 million of this total.

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  6. Two New Brunswick organizations collaborate to improve outcomes in diagnostics of ovarian cancer

    by AURP Canada

    October 22, 2009

    Moncton, NB – BioProspecting NB Inc. (BPNBI) and the Atlantic Cancer Research Institute (ACRI) recently announced that they have established a formal collaboration to develop early diagnostic for ovarian cancer based on BPNBI’s unique, proprietary cancer management platform.  The research and development program is being carried out at the ACRI facility in Moncton and the BPNBI research facility in Sackville.  The unique fit between ACRI’s work with cancer biomarkers and BPNBI’s discoveries and development capabilities will allow the two to move closer to an early diagnostic test for ovarian cancer.

    There are no approved early diagnostics for ovarian cancer. The program is capitalizing on recent findings by BPNBI that could lead to an entry-level diagnostic based on a simple blood test to measure the amount of a specific biomarker, since cancer tumors shed sells that circulate in the blood. Since the shed cells contain abundant amounts of the biomarker, it can be detected. Such an increase in the amount of biomarker in the blood test would suggest to the clinician that further testing is in order.  The novel biomarker is overproduced in ovarian, breast, and prostate cancers, and increases the severity of the biomarker increases as the cancer progresses.  The initial focus of the technology will be on the management of patients with ovarian cancer.

    According to the research partners, which include company founder Dr. Jack Stewart and the CEO of the Atlantic Cancer Research Institute, Dr. Rodney Ouellette, a major diagnostic challenge with ovarian cancer is that there are no symptoms until the very late stages, and that when ovarian cancer is detected in the first two of the four stages, a patients chances of survival are usually 80 per cent or higher.

    BioProspecting NB Inc. is a private early-stage drug development company created in 2005 by Professor Jack Stewart and Paul Gunn following the discovery and development of a proprietary peptide, soricidin. Soricidin is the basis for BPNBI’s targeted cancer management program focused on an ovarian cancer therapeutic and companion diagnostic.  The company works out of their state-of-the-art lab in Sackville, New Brunswick.  The Atlantic Cancer Research Institute (ACRI) is a non-profit organization founded in 1998 and housed at the Dr. Georges L. Dumont Regional Hospital in Moncton, New Brunswick.  Thanks to its unique expertise, the ACRI has become a true centre of excellence in cancer research.  Scientists are working with partners in Canada and round the world to discover the genetic origins of cancer and pursuing three main areas of development: early screening; enhanced diagnosis; and targeted treatment.

    A recent study by BioAtlantech and its partners identified New Brunswick’s most significant bio-medical research cluster in Moncton / Southeast NB, with economic activity and employment of $22 million and 212, respectively in 2007. These robust figures represent only discovery-based bioscience research in the public and private sector, and exclude health services and other health sectors, such as e-health. Southeastern New Brunswick is home to two significant universities.

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  7. Recent investments in bioinformatics by the National Research Council of Canada bode will for New Brunswick’s genomics researchers

    January 8, 2010 by AURP Canada

    December 4, 2009

    Moncton, NB – A recent announcement by the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) celebrates the addition of new infrastructure aimed at enhancing bioinformatics capacity at its Moncton-based facility.  The Bioinformatics Lab is a joint initiative between the National Research Council, I’Universite de Moncton, the Atlantic Cancer Research Institute and the University of New Brunswick.

    The NRC Institute for Information Technology (NRC-IIT) conducts scientific research, develops technology, creates knowledge and supports innovation, and operates facilities in four Canadian cities: Fredericton, Moncton, Gatineau and Ottawa.

    The new infrastructure consists of high powered computers and a large capacity server, vital links in mining vast data sets. Bioinformatics is the application of information technology to the filed of molecular biology. Bioinformatics is used to mine data in order increase our understanding of biological processes, especially when there is a large amount of data to process or many criteria to take into consideration.

    While the capabilities are being set up primarily in view of serving biomedical research, bioinformatics is a platform capability which serves research in the whole range of biological sciences. In addition to the work on cancer genomics, New Brunswick has hosted several large-scale genomics projects in the bioscience disciplines of plants (primarily potato and spruce) as well as fish (primarily salmon and cod), microbes and algae. Many New Brunswick biology researchers would attest that their work involves established capabilities in genomics and bioinformatics. These capabilities have been established via investments from several sources including provincial funds, private funds, Genome Atlantic / Genome Canada, the federal granting agencies and intra-mural investments in several federal departments.

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  8. Remsoft’s forestry software a ‘game changer’

    by AURP Canada

    December 15th, 2009
    Rebecca Penty
    Telegraph Journal

    Product: New technology saves time, costs and reduces errors, says American Forest Management, one of the largest forest consulting and real estate brokerage firms in the U.S.

    A major forest management consultancy in the United States gave software developer Remsoft Inc. kudos for a product launched recent that was three years in the making.

    American Forest Management called the Fredericton firm’s Collaborative Analytics Platform a “game changer” for its company and the industry as a whole, in a release.

    Andrew Ferguson, the Charlotte, N.C. firm’s director of appraisal services said in an interview that the Remsoft product lets forester in the field interact with important data digitally, allowing his company to avoid printing maps for the first time.

    The new technology means a savings of time, costs and reduces errors for the consultancy, Ferguson said. “It has really moved our process to a more paperless environment.”

    American Forest Management is one of the largest forest consulting and real estate brokerage firms south of the border with more than 4.5 million acres of privately-owned timberland under management and more than 230 employees working form 40 offices in 15 states.

    The company provides a range of forestry services including land management, investment analysis, timberland acquisition and disposition services, appraisals, growth and yield modeling and various other offerings.

    Ferguson said the firm can now present important information spatially about tree stands, for example, and field foresters can simply edit the information digitally to make changes.

    “It saves us in time that we don’t have this cumbersome exchange of files and paoper maps and what it does is actually can help in an overall planning process from the standpoint of data management,” he said.

    American Forest management helped Remsoft iron out the kinks in its new software by running a pilot project. Employees from the consultancy were in Fredericton in September presenting at Remsoft’s 2009 edition of it annual user group conference, during which the company’s clients from around the world got a peek at new products and learned how t better use existing software.

    Ferguson said the Collaborative Analytics Platform is bound to turn heads, adding that it’s particularly advantageous for integrated forest products companies because it involves the filed workers in the planning process.

    “I think that there will be other that will look for it.”

    Remsoft co-CEO Andrea Feunkes said the company is “very excited” about its new product, which took up about 50 per cent of the development team’s time and accounted for the bulk of the firm’s research and development spending over the last three years.

    She said Remsoft sought to address a problem in forest management where not all in an organization were able to “but into” resource management plans because they weren’t able to understand complex mathematical modeling.

    “We needed to find way to take all of the smarts from the results of the modeling exercise and be able to hand it over to people who can work with it,” she said.

    Remsoft developed a platform of “building blocks” that allows firms to create specific tools depending on who needs to see the information, she said offering an example.

    “It’s like Lego (pieces) and they can snap them together and say ‘here’s yours’,” she said. “If it’s going to be high level, the person maybe a director of the company and they want to review the results. They would just be seeing graphs and maps and charts to look at results.”

    Remsoft, which as operated out of Fredericton for 15 years, sees most of its forest management business form companies in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Uruguay. The company has a small footprint in Chile, Argentina and Europe. Remsoft is now breaking into Finland and has a few clients in Malaysia, China and Korea.

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  9. Creating something different

    by AURP Canada

    December 28, 2009
    John Pollak
    Telegraph Journal

    Gaming: Miramichi design grad selling ‘completely orignal’ video game on Apple’s App Store

    As an avid gamer, Nick McKinnon, 30, knows there isn’t much variety among the vast expanse of video games on the market.

    So when New Brunswick Community College Miramichi video-game design graduate was looking to develop a new game, he aimed to create something different.

    What he came up with was a combination of two-classics: a puzzle game and a two-dimensional game where a character has to jump on platforms and over obstacles such as Super Mario Bros.

    In the game Kingdom of Gnester players have to solve a puzzle – similar to the popular jewel-swapping Bejeweled – to give the character the ability to move.

    “This game play is not on the market at all,” McKinnon says, “Its completely original, which is hard to find in the gaming market right now.  That’s the biggest thing we’re hoping will help us sell the game.”

    The game was to be released for the iPhone and the iPod Touch in Apple Inc.’s App Store last week.

    McKinnon says all the game reviewers that have tried it have liked it.

    “We’re getting some positive feedback , saying it’s really innovative and different than anything they’ve seen.”

    McKinnon and four other NBCC grads developed a prototype for the PC after winning a contest put on by the Interactive Medial Alliance of Prince Edward Island.

    But when it came to putting the game on the market, McKinnon and his colleagues at Another Castle Studios Inc. in Charlottetown, the video-game development firm he started, decided to publish first with the leader in mobile applications.

    With the mobile gaming market expected to grow to between $6 billion and $10 billion a year by 2013 McKinnon figures he can get a piece of the action.

    “It’s quick to develop for, and the game plays really well,” he says. “The big thing with the iPhone – when developing – is to try to give (users) quick games they can pick up and play and then come back to, so they don’t have to devote an hour of play to get anywhere in the game.”

    The game will be sold for $1.99, a fairly common price point for mobile games.

    “The highest-priced game on the iPhone is $10 and those are by the big developers like Electronic Arts,” McKinnon says.

    “The goal is to get to the top 25 list in the App Store.

    “To get there you have to sell a lot of your product and if your is 99 cents or $1.99 it’s a bit easier to get your sales high.”

    Since the most-downloaded applications are prominently displayed on the App Store’s homepage, McKinnon says most gamers don’t look beyond the top 25 list very often.

    Sales will likely continue to multiply for the applications that can generate enough sales volume to make the top downloaded list.

    The most popular application can easily sell between 30,000 to 50,000 copies a day.

    “That’s where we want to be,” McKinnon says.

    He’s hoping offering a free “lite” version of the game, with five levels instead of 30, will help boost sales.

    “If you don’t have a demo version then a lot of players look at it, but some people won’t actually buy it,” he says. “But if you can offer them something to try, we’re confident they’ll buy it.”

    Getting the demo version into the 25 most downloaded free applications would drastically increase the game’s likelihood of being discovered, he says.

    The video game firm plans on releasing updated versions of the game and new levels in the future depending on how well the game does, says Neil Power, one of the firm’s developers.

    “The great thing about the App Store on the iPhone is people can easily rate your game and give feedback,” Power says.

    “We’ll defiantly be listening to that.  We you’re an independent game developer you have to give people what they want.”

    McKinnon wanted to develop the game for the Nintendo DS – Nintendo Co. Ltd.’s modern replacement to the Game Boy, that can connect to the internet – but the Japanese gaming pioneer has more strict development policies than Apple does.

    “It’s a licensing issue – in order to get a product (approved) you have to have a product on the market,” he says, adding the studio will apply for Nintendo developing rights in the new year.

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  10. The Future of IT in New Brunswick

    by AURP Canada

    Published Tuesday December 15th, 2009
    Telegraph-Journal

    There have been a number of major success stories in the IT industry in Canada over the last 30 years. Firms such as SHL Systemhouse, DMR and CGI grew to become marquee players in the industry and their reach extended around the globe. The Ottawa Carleton region and Ontario’s Technology Triangle, encompassing the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo, Ont., are influential growth engines where IT is a powerful motive force.

    Many Canadian IT firms have been acquired by the largest global players as the industry continues to consolidate, but new players have emerged. In many cases, they have formed the backbone of the knowledge industry in their region, providing productive linkages to universities, government research centres and private sector labs.

    IT firms are critical to the competitiveness of Canada’s manufacturing, finance and resource industries. They play a key role in driving innovation and are a cornerstone to productivity growth and competitiveness.

    In the face of global challenges, the IT industry finds itself in need of immediate transformation. Low-cost competitors from China, India and other emerging economies have recently become high quality competitors. Brand eminence is fading in some segments as barriers to entry continue to fall. Demographic concerns have created an urgent focus on global partnering for critical knowledge resources.

    During the 1990s, IT firms harnessed the power of process innovation and initiated a number of activities to improve their competitiveness. Their strategy was to adopt improvement programs to become world-class, equal to the best companies in the industry. However, continuous improvement or best-in-class status are not strategies to achieve competitive advantage.

    Competitive strategy requires taking a position and focusing on developing those factors necessary to defend that position by specifying what kind of competitive advantage a company wants to establish in its market and how that advantage is to be achieved.

    A firm needs the capability to change direction quickly and with minimal resources. At one time, flexibility and nimbleness were advantages that described small firms. Today, because of organization innovations, the very largest IT firms ironically have also become the fastest and most flexible.

    In New Brunswick, the IT industry is at a crossroads and is facing critical decisions in the face of global competition.

    Because the IT industry risks the prospect of becoming an irrelevant player in the New Brunswick economy, it needs to act today.

    Strategic positioning, productivity and partnerships are three industry imperatives that will define the path to prosperity for IT firms in New Brunswick.

    New Brunswick IT companies must resolve their target market dilemma. There is a tendency to rely on government as the target market. Globalization is not the only strategy, but companies must choose a sustainable path to profitable growth. The routes to comprehensive global integration or regional specialization will require major transformation.

    The key to success is more sophisticated intelligence about markets, competitors and potential partners.

    A critical need exists to improve the industry’s productivity and operational effectiveness. The global market analysis firm IDC recently defined sales as one of the biggest issue for IT firms, but other weaknesses are marketing, product development and project management. Process efficiency needs to be improved and such programs as Lean, Six Sigma and TQM need to be integrated into the enterprise. Universities have a significant role to play in driving these changes.

    Companies must evaluate and embrace partnerships both outside the industry and outside New Brunswick. It will be easy to remain inward-looking. The newly-formed IT council should integrate its members into the universe of influence nationally and globally. The industry ecosystem will thrive because of, rather than in spite of, the chaotic introduction of new players.

    We should also welcome international firms that bring experience and expertise with them. Although their presence may not be permanent, for many indigenous competitors, they will be the lifeline to new, profitable markets. Action and urgency should be the industry’s watchwords.

    Peter Lindfield is president and CEO of Balanced Viewpoint Inc. He lives in the Fredericton area and can be reached at peter.lindfield@balancedviewpoint.com.

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