If BC wants to compete globally, we need to focus on knowledge based industries through better education and training that goes beyond support for traditional trades. Of course, this has been a longtime goal of BCTIA members. It was emphasized again by BCTIA President Pascal Spothelfer in his pre-election commentary, in regard to the Business Council of BC on the Opportunities BC 2020 project. However, while government can support private enterprise in this aim of creating a tech hub, but there must also be accountability from our side.
It has always been a challenge to find enough smart people who can drive our technology sector. As Spothelfer pointed out, the Liberal government’s (and NDP platform’s) focus so far on apprenticeship programs that focus on the traditional trades is not what’s going to help build a world-class technology cluster right here in BC. But if government is going to help us by giving us resources, the corporate side also has an obligation to be accountable: this means continuing to provide training, certification and ongoing education towards our government partners.
A successful tech hub stemming from a successful partnership based on accountability on both sides is our goal. As technology sector professionals, we are perhaps more aware of the benefits that might even cause other political priorities may be made less relevant.
After all, the question of what is a fair minimum wage fades into the background when everyone from the entry-level worker on up to the president of the company is does well by exporting technology products and services that can’t be duplicated easily elsewhere. Technology companies pay their employees better than most other sectors, so a healthy tech sector also translates into bigger tax revenue for government. Then there are the benefits in terms of a lower carbon footprint from the tech sector as compared with traditional resource-based industries, and better opportunities for finding highly-trained support staff for our technology-driven health sector.
Our province and the rest of the country have a lot to gain from building a tech hub where companies are encouraged not just to start companies, but to grow these organizations into larger entities employing and benefiting people living right here.
The traditional trades are certainly important to our provincial and national economy. But we would echo Mr. Spothelfer’s remarks on a need for government re-focus towards technology, and hope that we can help build solutions that allow knowledge workers to improve their skills and their ability to commercialize intellectual property. In this way, we can help make BC not just the most beautiful place, but the smartest as well.
Comments (6)Vaclav Vincalek June 18th, 2009 01:16:42 PM
This article is not very realistic in my view of the tech sector. Accountability is not the biggest issue with the tech industry and accountability goes both ways. Not just that of the high tech worker but of the managers and the companies involved. Also technology companies no longer pay their employees better then other industries. Thats a myth. Considering the hard work and dedication that those tech workers put forward to learn and do their job technology companies don't pay enough.
The biggest issue that I see in BC and in Canada is the fact that the tech sector is a support industry. Its the tech industry that makes other industries more efficient and more competitive. If the other industries are hurting then so will the high tech industry. The best way to fight this is to encourage diverse industries in BC. Avoid the gold rush mentality that has gotten us into the problems of the past.
Hey Philip. I'll try to respond to your points in order.
First off, we're not saying accountability is the biggest issue with the tech industry, but that it is going to be an essential part of any ongoing partnership between government and the tech sector. As for salaries, I'm not sure where you got the idea that tech sector pay has come down relative to other industries. Care to share your stats?
As for your final point, I think you may be confusing "technology" and the "technology industry". The tech industry doesn't make other industries more efficient. Technology does.
As a globalized economy leaves control of traditional industries more in the hands of the lowest-cost providers paying less and less benefits to their workers, building a knowledge-economy is a good way to ensure present and future generations enjoy a relatively high standard of living. This isn't a gold-rush mentality. We're just saying that increasingly, the opportunities for economic advancement will come from a bigger and better tech sector.
What do you think?
Hmmmm... I don't see your differentiation between technology and the technology industry. The technology industry does make other industries more efficient. Its usually technology workers that go in to a large corporation, or a small one, learn their businesses and then recommend changes that will ultimately make those businesses more efficient. So there is no difference between the two. Technology is just one part of the equation its just the tool that the technology worker uses to get the job done.
As for creating opportunities. I'm more of a pragmatist. There is a saying. "Necessity is the mother of invention." If you don't create an environment of necessity you will not have a technology industry because the creators of technology will not have the experience to determine the problems that need to be fixed or improved upon. I believe the tech industry is a support industry. Without the other industries to support you won't have a tech industry. Its not an either or situation. Those other industries are vital to the survival of the technology industry and in Canada in general those other industries have either become complacent or they have left for areas with cheaper labor, lower environmental standards or just less government intervention.
The way you build a solid technology industry is by having for instance a car industry that needs to automate a business process. They go to a technology company who then comes up with a solution. That solution is the technology that the technology industry created, and because of it the car company will be able to create more cars faster and for less money then they did before.
As for my stats. I have a great deal of experience in finding what is happening in the tech sector. In 2002 I was working in an outsourced call center providing technical support for HP. HP then decided to pull its tech support out of north America and move it to India. Compared to me and the 600 other people they let go they would save a fortune because they would pay the Indian workers only $2 an hour. This has been the story of the technology industry for the last 6 years. Even silicone valley is having difficulty. California is practically bankrupt and its the struggling tech sector that they site as the main reason. As for here in BC. I'm not sure if you've gone out and looked for a job lately. But finding something in tech has been an absolute endeavor. We are not weathering this financial crisis well at all. So much so I've been thinking about getting out of the technology industry in hopes to find a job in an industry where the opportunities are easier to come by. Still trying to find the best industry for that. You can site all the examples you wish about people making 50k or 100K a year but jobs like that in the tech industry I can assure you are not that easy to come by. Someone just coming out of school can expect to be looking for a long time and finally having to take a job that is way beneath their abilities.
So until you fix the bleeding of industries out of north America in general your not going to have a strong technology industry. If accountability is one of the reasons why industries are leaving then sure I'm all for dealing with accountability issues. But I'd say that accountability in government would be the bigger issue as that would be a reason why industries would stop doing business in BC. Government accountability is one of the biggest problems in the province in general because a lack of it is the reason why our taxes are so high and that makes us less competitive. If you've got a way to make government more accountable I'll be right behind you in helping you implement it. But this I would say is a tough problem to fix.
Hey Philip. I see what you mean now about the technology industry making other industries more efficient. I'm still a bit disagreeable about the semantics, but I think we're on the same page. And I have to agree with what you're saying regarding outsourcing to other nations putting a bit of a cap on tech pay for some types of positions, as you've cited.
As for the tech industry being a support industry, I think we're only a step or two apart. I absolutely agree that technology can provide business solutions that make other companies (and entire industries) more efficient and able to compete in a global market. That's the basic premise of any technology - it helps us do what we want to do better.
But I just want to make sure we're not saying that the tech industry necessarily needs to play second fiddle to other industries on the provincial or national stage.
Other countries with scarce to no natural resources have benefited from building up their technology industries that service their own industries and sectors abroad. Meanwhile, our manufacturing sector is likely going to continue to get hammered over the coming years and decades by low-cost competitors who are increasingly making higher-quality goods. Technology will help keep us competitive and alleviate the pain. Absolutely, we want to help keep other industries around, as a balanced and diverse economy is key to surviving tough times. But we're saying that to keep our living standards high and to extract other benefits for society, the tech sector will have to take an increasing role in our overall economy.
Thanks for your support. Accountability will always be an issue, and as we've stressed, accountability needs to be on both sides - not just government. We have responsibilities as well to continue to show government that their investment and partnership is worth it.
Jonathon, I guess I'm looking at this issue from the point of view of accountability is needed for any sort of business. Its a method of creating trust. As one of my business professors in college once told me. There is no business without trust and you must have accountability to gain that trust. So accountability for me is a given. Its kind of a show stopper for me. If the other side is not accountable I probably won't continue to do business with them and I expect the same from them. But do I see it as the largest issue effecting us? The answer is no because there are many companies out there. If one company is not accountable another one will be. But thats the beauty of diversity.
Perhaps I should explain this whole concept of the tech industry being a support industry. First just because its a support industry doesn't make it play second fiddle to other industries. It does however need other industries to be a vibrant and robust. Sure there are products out there that are primary consumer related businesses but that is just one section of the Industry. You can't count on that part of the industry to handle every contingency that comes up. Most of the time those are very generic products and don't do everything you need. And most of those products are used in other businesses anyways. So in that sense the tech industry is a support industry. It provides products and services that are used to support other businesses in there business. So if the other industries are hurting then they may not buy a technical product or service. This is a problem for the technology industry because our customers can't afford to buy our goods or services.
Please understand. We are all interconnected. This is the way the economy works. A bread maker bakes his bread and sells it. He then buys a computer to track all of his sales and inventory. We as the technology depend on that bread maker. If someone from another country is able to import that bread for a 10th of what the bread maker can charge then the bread maker will go out of business and so will we. We can't ignore the bread maker. He is our customer and we support his business activities with our products and services. This is what I mean by a support industry and this is why trade is such a big issue.
I want to add one more thing about the bread maker. The reason why its not ideal for us to talk to the other bread maker is cost. It may cost us less to do business with this particular bread maker then the foreigner. In fact in most cases thats the case. Domestic industries are always more valuable then foreign businesses because they cost less to market to and there is considerably less effort involved because you don't have to get on a plane.