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ICT Sector Needs a Champion Rebecca Penty
A department centred on ICT initiatives is not a new idea, not even in New Brunswick, where Georges Corriveau served as minister of state for the electronic information highway in Frank McKenna's government. Elsewhere, India currently has a ministry of information communications and technology. According to John Chesley, the information communications and technology officer for Industry Canada's Atlantic Canada branch, ICT has consistently outperformed the rest of the economy in terms of growth. Chesley pointed to the 91 per cent ballooning of the sector between 1997 and 2007, versus the 33 per cent growth in Atlantic Canada's economy as a whole over that decade. Industry Canada numbers from 2006 show that ICT then made up 3.7 per cent of New Brunswick's economy. "It's pretty conclusive right now that investing in ICT is crucial to the productivity and growth of an economy," Chesley said. In 2007, there were 699 ICT companies in New Brunswick, largely in computer systems design and consulting components of the industry, according to Statistics Canada. Some examples of Atlantic Canadian firms in the sector include telecommunication giants such as Bell Aliant; Spielo, a gaming company; animation firm FatKat Studios; and Mariner Partners Inc., a company focused on Internet Protocol TV and video, to name a few. Chesley lamented that Atlantic Canada has consistently put less money into ICT than the rest of the country. The role of a government, Chesley said, could be to provide incentives for companies in manufacturing, for example, to invest in automating production lines or tracking customers using ICT solutions. Productivity, Chesley pointed out, is measured as the level of output per worker. Another strategy for government would be to focus on educating the workforce in ICT solutions. Ryan Donaghy, a spokesman for Business New Brunswick, said the Graham government shares Cavanagh's priority for the sector and spreads its focus across all departments. "There are many ways to achieve the ends that Mr. Cavanagh mentions," Donaghy said, using the government's hosting of Think NB, an industry conference that ran for the second time last fall, as an example. He pointed to the focus the Graham government has had on electronic health and on supporting individual companies through funding and trade assistance. Donaghy said that 72 per cent of the government's purchase orders for ICT services went to New Brunswick companies in the last fiscal year. He was unable to fully discuss Cavanagh's idea that Graham's government should form a specific department for ICT. The premier is on holidays until Jan. 12 and unavailable for comment. © Telegraph-Journal 2009
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Premier Shawn Graham should follow the lead of United States president-elect Barack Obama in using the information and communications technology sector as an economic development tool, an industry leader said Tuesday. Just as Obama is expected to appoint his chief technology officer today, Ian Cavanagh, the CEO of Saint John-based Ambir Solutions, is calling on Graham to name a minister of information and communications technology (ICT). Cavanagh wants a government champion to create a vision for the industry in New Brunswick's move toward self-sufficiency. The sector is increasingly being eyed for its role in growing the economy. "What I haven't seen clearly to date is - what is the ICT strategy? Where is the leadership in government as to its relevance in the economic development sense?" Cavanagh said. He said the Graham government should promote New Brunswick as a hub by marketing the sector abroad, while industry players would advise a future department. "We just have to get more focus on ICT from a political leadership perspective," he said.