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The geek and the grail

Knowledge industry project gains steam in Squamish

As a typecast, the geek has often been a pitiful figure. Rejected by peers, doomed to basements lit only by computer screens and forever polishing his glasses, the geek has always had much to offer. He may not be the star quarterback, but he knows the source code for things most of us can’t even use. His girlfriend doesn’t know about their relationship, but he can do her homework with his eyes closed. And yet, he never really gets his due.

For Squamish, the geek might just be the central figure in the town’s next economy, which, if the Squamish Sustainability Corporation (SSC) is successful, will be based on the knowledge sector.

Of course, these aren’t your typical geeks. These men — and, yes, women — can be rugged and vocal, athletic and strong. It might help to think of them as Nouveau Nerds. Either way, they’re what SSC business development lead Dave Thomson has called pioneers in building a homegrown knowledge based industry (KBI).

Thomson, along with colleague and SSC director Brent Leigh, appeared before Squamish council this week to offer an update on their work developing KBI in Squamish.

“It’s important to understand that KBI isn’t about building computers,” he said. “It’s about the people building computers. So it’s about the entrepreneurial spirit.”

That spirit was present in spades just a few weeks before, when about 30 nouveau nerds assembled in the Adventure Centre for the SSC’s fourth Inside Edge New Media Gathering.

“What Squamish has done a lot is chase the Holy Grail,” said Leigh during a brief speech on the district’s flirtations with the industry. “Unfortunately, the land use was never there. But we’ve shifted from that.”

And so, at this week’s strategy session, Leigh and Thomson offered council a land use vision, which revolves around a cluster of land in the northern end of the Squamish business park.

“If we move in this direction with council,” said Leigh, “it would be after doing research and discussion with industry. It’s a little like imagining (Quest) university here eight years ago. It’s a big fish.”

Cue the boos. Council didn’t react well to the idea of centralizing the industry in those environs. Councillors Mike Jenson and Corinne Lonsdale spoke up against the idea. In Jensen’s view, the industry would take better root downtown. And Lonsdale agreed.

“For the most part,” she said of the industrial park, “these lands are privately owned. They’ve got existing zoning on them.

“It’s nice to have this little discussion, but what you need to do is to sit down and for you to be more definitive on where these businesses will be and what it means for the landowners. It probably means a public meeting.”

Not the best of receptions, no, but Leigh continued, saying the downtown need not be excluded from the strategy, that businesses based on manufacturing — like so-called rectech companies, which develop sporting goods — might need the business park for larger facilities. Meanwhile, businesses requiring smaller workspaces — like those specializing in videogame development — could establish themselves in the downtown core.

“It’s not an either/or,” said Leigh. “It’s an and/both.”

A wholly owned subsidiary of the district, the SSC will need council approval before it goes ahead with its land use strategy. As they fine-tune that aspect, they’ll also be working on recruitment and retention.

There are four sectors of KBI that Squamish is poised to exploit: environmental technologies (geotech), film and animation, interactive media, and rectech. The SSC hopes to attract and host eight companies for the geotech sector, six for both interactive media and animation and film, and seven for rectech. They also hope to develop two other sectors: tourism and education technologies.

“The geotech businesses are very much a driver here already,” Leigh said. “Film has a history. That’s why we thought we really have to do more with education and tourism tech.”

Already, said Thomson, there are 38 companies registered in Squamish and Whistler that fit the KBI bill. The people running those companies are the very geeks who show up for Inside Edge New Media Gatherings — and, according to SSC surveys, 64 per cent of them know other KBI entrepreneurs who would set up shop in Squamish if the supporting structure were there.

“We had a sense in our hearts and minds that it was good to foster relationships with these businesses,” Thomson told council.

Some of those businesses have their own reservations about the strategy. During that fourth New Media Gathering, more than a few people worried over what they termed an “if-you-build-it-they-will-come” approach, which they felt offers little in the way of guarantees. Some suggested a lynchpin business was needed to bring in the dollars necessary to create smaller business spin offs.

As Thomson said then, that kind of input is invaluable as the SSC continues developing its strategy. Fact is, this is the biggest economic diversification file the SSC is working on; it was flagged as a top priority after the Trade and Investment Strategy was penned in 2005.

“We’d like to go slow and go right,” Leigh said.

So it may be a while yet before the geek has his day, but at least there’s some natural light finding its way into the proverbial basement.