nb+ Holds Digital Lab Open House
FREDERICTON–nb+ got in on the excitement of Innovation Week with an open house and digital lab demo this morning.
A partnership between the provincial government and TechImpact, nb+ is an organization made up of local technology business leaders who advocate for IT literacy and innovation as a strategy for economic growth.
nb+ is working towards developing digital products to connect New Brunswick citizens with their public services using technology. Today’s demo showcased an example of technology that could be developed to help the public access services such as medical records, test results, and business registries in the form of an app.
Cathy Simpson, vice president of T4G and chair of the NBIF board of directors, said the purpose of the demo was to explain where nb+ wants to take the public’s relationship with having access to more information.
“The intent of this space is to have folks from government of any level as well as the tech sector here thinking about the future of the province and some of the ideas we can build here and take beyond,” Simpson said. “It’s been a lot of work to get us to today. We’re certainly in build mode.”
T4G president Geoff Flood addressed the challenge of getting the public to visualize solutions and technologies nb+ is proposing.
“Like any partnership, it takes a lot of work,” Flood said. “Part of our challenge is to have the public imagine the possibilities that are here for us, and it’s not just about government services, but a platform for digital services in a digital society.”
“Imagine, in this case, the notion of a single citizen identity. At birth you’re registered and through your life there’s one record. Think of the value in that.”
Premier Brian Gallant was in attendance to express support for the project and thanks to those involved.
“I think we have a role to play to showcase to New Brunswickers, to explain to New Brunswickers and to raise awareness with New Brunswickers of the importance of innovation,” Gallant said. “It’s important to funnel down and talk about what it can actually do and this is a really good example.”
Cathy Simpson explained the value of having a visual representation of where they hope to take the technology.
“I think as we’re going out and meeting with citizens, public sector employees and sector people we’ll use it as an example so when we say ‘we’re working on a digital government, we’re working on a digital society,’ we can tangibly show them something,” she said.
“We’ve set up the lab so that startups, basically anyone … if you’ve got an idea that’s going to make our province more efficient, more effective, that is a digitally better experience then we want you to come to the lab so we can meet you and talk about the idea.”