Frank McKenna Says N.B.’s Digital Transformation Requires Better Networking
FREDERICTON–As Frank McKenna looks at the number of great tech companies launched out of our region over the last 15 years, it reminds him that New Brunswick, in particular, had benefitted from a built-in advantage.
“We had a tech ecosystem that was very robust,” says the former New Brunswick Premier, “I believe now that’s only partially true.”
“I’m surprised the extent to which a number of our companies work in solitude and don’t necessarily network with others,” he told Huddle in advance of this week’s Digital Innovation Summit, which is put on by the new centre for excellence that bears his name.
McKenna says he’s most surprised at the number of technology leaders he describes as “household names” in their industries who don’t know the other household names in the tech sector.
He says while some inherent networking takes place, what has evolved is not what he expected.
Hosted by the McKenna Institute and presenting partners EY Canada and Opportunities NB, this week’s Digital Information Summit in St. Andrews hopes to reintroduce some of those key players at a gathering McKenna hopes can become an annual fixture for the province’s innovation agenda.
McKenna called the event, which kicked off Monday, “a major project.” He said there will be one major partnership announced at the summit, in addition to other discussions and keynotes tackling things like digital governance, data security, and how to position New Brunswick organizations to better face global challenges brought on by digital transformation.
McKenna is no stranger to business networking events. He’s held court for some of the world’s elite for 25 years at Fox Harb’r Golf And Spa Resort, in Wallace, NS, an event which has featured prior speaking guests like former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair.
“We decided we would do the same thing here, only it would be around people with interest in innovation and technology,” he said.
Accelerating the talent pipeline
The summit is just another step in the province’s digital transformation, says McKenna. It’s a journey that started last fall with the McKenna Institute and its goal of engaging academia, government, and the private sector to advance New Brunswick’s digital economy.
“We’ve made numerous announcements about having boot camps across the province and scholarship programs for people,” he said. “We’re doubling the number of computer science graduates, tripling the number of master’s degree candidates that will be graduating.”
He adds funded chairs are also giving the institute expertise in areas like cybersecurity, healthcare, and agriculture.
McKenna set out to form the institute at UNB with an initial challenge pledge of $5 million last September.
“I committed myself to raising $50 million in other funds and we already have over half of that raised–and at the rate we’re going, I think we’re going to dramatically surpass that $50 million goal and have a much more ambitious program than what we originally thought.”
Number of skilled grads not meeting demand
Investments alone won’t solve the emerging skills crisis which continues to transform entire industries.
“We’re making progress because we’re training more people, but I think that we’re dramatically falling short of what the market can support,” says McKenna.
Last year, TechImpact and Jupia Consultants worked on behalf of the New Brunswick provincial government to complete a five-year IT workforce strategy.
It estimated that in the following year, more than 1,900 IT positions would need to be filled across 60 different IT disciplines in the province.
“I talked to leaders and other financial institutions and I look at what’s taking place across North America,” he said. “There is a staggering demand for technology workers, and any place where you can find a small group of them, companies are setting up centres of excellence.”
McKenna feels the province is capable of fostering several centres of excellence around technology – only if New Brunswick can produce the talent – something he believes at this stage there isn’t enough of.
“We have a number of companies that are hiring, but it could be scaled dramatically. And so, we have to look beyond just computer science bachelor’s and master’s degrees.”
For the province to truly adapt at a competitive pace of digital transformation, McKenna says rescaling can come from many workers who, despite years of industry experience, could still benefit most from digital upskilling in their field.
“Even working as an auto mechanic, if they needed three weeks of micro credentialing in order to be able to deal with the newest technology that’s coming into their garage,” says McKenna. He added there needs to be more discussion with community colleges about what they can produce in terms scaling up the workforce quickly, rather than wait for its natural progression.
“Instead of trying to boil the ocean by making everybody a Bill Gates, we’re going to try to appeal to the different skill levels of the individuals who are available and the skill requirements of industry and be much more nimble and agile.”
“If you train them, people will come”
Much of the work required to make it happen isn’t anything revolutionary. McKenna says New Brunswick, and perhaps the Maritimes as a whole, has underestimated the ongoing digital transformation for years.
“There’s no doubt about that. Our entire region lags behind the country and some of the world in terms of digital innovation. That’s true for a lot of our industry,” he said.
“If we want to expand the number of jobs in New Brunswick and create more industry, we need to produce talent. Right now, there’s virtually a dozen jobs available for every talented tech worker that’s produced, so the sky’s the limit for us. If you train them, people will come. It’s as simple as that.”
While McKenna says that equation can do plenty, he doesn’t think it will solve the problem on additional education intake alone. He says the province still needs to ramp up immigration as part of the ongoing effort to increase the skilled worker population.
Much of the reason behind today’s massive labour changes still come back to quality of life and cost of living, something McKenna says can no longer be ignored with the advent of today’s work from home reality.
McKenna has seen the interest in people moving to New Brunswick communities with the ability to work remotely, suggesting they’re already taking advantage of the quality of life and the cost of living the province offers, while still occupying some of the most challenging positions on the planet.
“It might be working for Google or Microsoft or Samsung or so on,” says McKenna. “That was kind of my dream when I was premier and all of a sudden it’s become a reality, though for circumstances outside of our control, that we could be providing a workforce to the world.”
That portal also comes with another all too familiar possibility for the province, according to McKenna.
“The flip side of it that we’re starting to discover is that large companies around the world can also poach our workers without them ever leaving home – and we’re starting to see competition from the Googles and the Apples and the Amazons for our skilled workers in New Brunswick as well.”
Tyler Mclean is a Huddle reporter based in Fredericton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].