Sourced from Huddle - Talking Tech In A Time Of Transformation - Huddle
Cathy Simpson is the CEO of TechImpact.
Last year, TechImpact launched TechTalks, a live speaker series that would tour Atlantic Canadian campuses and businesses, hosting events to connect IT companies and students. We hosted a few, and then, well, you know the rest.
So, what to do with your live event when COVID-19 hits?
First, you hit pause. And then you pivot.
The TechTalks Podcast with Cathy Simpson (that’s me!) launched in September.
Podcasting was a natural medium for TechTalks. If we couldn’t be there live, we could still convene interesting guests for wide-ranging conversations. To be honest, it was all new for me. But in the spirit of a year in which embracing change has been necessary, I settled into the host seat and started to welcome a steady, fascinating flow of guests.
The roster has included men and women from several generations. Some were born in Canada while, for others, it’s their chosen home. We’ve had investors and inventors, veteran players and emerging talent, corporate reps and independent entrepreneurs, and academic leaders.
For our content, we didn’t want it just to be Covid-related. We wanted to talk about growth, resiliency, and what’s possible with the right investment and talent. And we needed topics that would appeal to three very different audiences: students, the business community and the tech ecosystem. So, we thought about where their interests and needs converged and went wide from there.
Students are thinking about skills, careers and their futures. Honestly, we could host an entire show just focused on this audience because the diversity and quality of jobs are staggering, as Anneke van der Laan and Darcy Wells, two New Brunswick women at the start of their careers, demonstrated in episode 2.
Many students (and people in general) don’t realize that tech jobs aren’t just for coders. So in episode 9, I was delighted to have Shelley Rinehart, director of UNBSJ’s bold MBA program, and Marketswell Solutions founder David Alston on to talk about how their programs are nurturing sales and marketing talent.
Talent is the number one challenge for digital technology firms. Qualified candidates are quickly snapped up, and too many jobs are going unfilled. So students and the business community have a lot of common ground.
Beyond connecting students and employers and making both more aware of the opportunities, we also wanted to speak to the business community.
There are too many myths and gaps when it comes to tech, which was highlighted, sometimes painfully, this year, as the pandemic forced digital transformation upon every company, ready or not. For many, it exposed vulnerabilities. For others, it shone a spotlight on how technology can be part of positive change. And for many, the shift from in-person, office-based operations to remote work showed that big change is possible, as what was unthinkable nine months ago is now standard operating procedure.
We knew TechTalks could help companies think about their technology paths in a practical and empowering way. So I was delighted to host experts like Martin Davis of DUNELM Associates who, in episode 8, demystified advanced manufacturing, Industry 4.0, AI, robotics and the Internet of Things. Or episode 3, with Mirko Crevatin and Christopher Simm, on taking your business to the cloud.
For our third audience, the tech community, TechTalks has been something of a virtual meeting place. Colleagues from business, academia and beyond have had time and space to share the sorts of conversations that don’t happen often enough in the ecosystem. For instance, I’m thinking of episode 4, on innovation, with Jeff White, CEO of NBIF, and Malcolm Fraser of Innovacorp. Or episode 7, with Dr. Luigi Benedicenti and Dr. Andrew Rau-Chaplin, the Deans of Computer Science at the University of New Brunswick and Dalhousie University.
While they each have their unique interests and stake in the sector, these guests are aligned, united by the sense of the potential they see here and are actively engaged to grow the innovation agenda, the available capital and the talent required to make that happen.
The podcast has confirmed the stories we’re telling in these episodes need to be shared more often and more loudly. Too many people don’t know how much is happening and the implications for our economy and society. Atlantic Canada is home to more than 450 digital technology firms, ranging from local startups to global brands like IBM and Siemens, that contribute $6.1 billion to our economy. More than 43,000 Atlantic Canadians work in the digital industry labor force, and two thirds of digital employees are in industries outside of the core digital sector.
All this success is creating more opportunities. The economic and social implications of our increasingly digital world are immense. Through TechTalks, DigitalBoost — TechImpact and other initiatives, TechImpact is working to help Atlantic Canada embrace digital technology and reap its benefits as a cornerstone to our economic future.
To catch all of these episodes (a great episode is dropping this week with two women thriving in their tech roles and have made NB their home) and many more episodes to come in 2021, subscribe in iTunes or find TechTalks on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, PodLink and everywhere else you enjoy podcasts. And sign up for our newsletter to never miss an update