ATLANTIC CANADA IS GROWING, OUR PEOPLE ARE HIGHLY SKILLED, MOST CERTAINLY INNOVATIVE AND INCREASINGLY DIVERSE. WE HAVE WORLD CLASS TECHNOLOGIES, INSPIRING TECH SUCCESS STORIES, AND A CONFIDENT, GLOBALLY FOCUSED TECH INDUSTRY.
It has always given me a great sense of pride to welcome visitors to our region, “come from aways” as we call them in Atlantic Canada, to have the opportunity to show them what an extraordinary part of the world we get to call home, and the inspiring talent, innovation and technology that fuel the growth of our communities.
In 2006, I had the pleasure of welcoming my colleagues from across Canada and the United States to the first CEO Retreat of the Technology Councils of North America ever to be held in Canada, in my hometown of Moncton. I was also honoured to welcome former Finnish Prime Minister Esko Aho as our special guest. Our planning group had studied the Finnish innovation system quite extensively when we were developing the concept for our innovation hub and several years later I met Mr. Aho at a technology conference in the Netherlands. We talked about our experience in Finland and our journey since then and he graciously accepted my invitation to come to Canada. Before he left, he presented me with a book on innovation success stories in Finland. In his forward he wrote:
‘The heroes of this book are, in the words of a Finnish saying, the blacksmiths of their own happiness. They have been driven forward in life by faith in their own knowledge and abilities, by a passion to create something new and better. (They) have believed in their own ideas, readiness to work hard and to take risks. These are the characteristics upon which tomorrow’s successes will be built as well”.
I think these words ring very true of the people, and the entrepreneurial spirit of Atlantic Canadians whose hard work, resilience, determination, talent and business acumen have been central to the unprecedented growth and transformation we have witnessed in the region in recent years. Economic opportunities fueled by emerging sectors such as fintech and ocean technologies have in turn created new demand for talent that has been helped by Canada’s progressive immigration policies. In Moncton today, one out of every six jobs is occupied by a newcomer to Canada.
Atlantic Canada is growing, our people are highly skilled, most certainly innovative and increasingly diverse. We have world class technologies, inspiring tech success stories, and a confident, globally focused tech industry. Numerous high-profile acquisitions give credence to the calibre of our tech sector, as does the increasing number of high growth potential companies. The region’s future, driven by a new generation of innovators, entrepreneurs and opportunities, has never been brighter, and the world is taking notice.
