Tag Archives: Gregor Robertson

Web Summit in Vancouver, Canada from May 27 – 30, 2025 (it was formerly the Collision Conference in Toronto)

$$$ and other matters

The promise is that there will be some sort of economic benefit to the local economy. The promise is made over and over again in the June 2024 coverage of the announcement that the Web Summit was coming to Vancouver.

This June 12, 2024 article by Kenneth Chan for the Daily Hive provides what seems to be an insider’s view of the announcement,

It is now confirmed that the massive annual Collision Conference, one of the world’s largest tech conferences, will be leaving Toronto for its new home of Vancouver in 2025.

…

It is deemed to be North America’s fastest-growing tech conference, with over 40,000 attendees from more than 130 countries. The conference assembles high-profile individuals from around the world, bringing together thousands of international thought leaders in tech, unicorn founders, investors, startups, and media.

“Vancouver is ready to welcome the world. We’re a young, energetic city full of opportunity,” said Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim in a statement today.

“Nowhere is that more obvious than in our thriving tech scene, where we’re advancing leading edge technology like virtual reality and augmented reality. Vancouver is attracting highly skilled people from around the world drawn here by our lifestyle, incredible natural surroundings, and the chance to be part of something exciting.”

This follows a concerted effort by levels of government and the business and tourism community to woo event organizer Web Summit to keep the event in Canada, and choose Vancouver as the conference’s new permanent home.

The effort was led by local tourism authority Destination Vancouver, in partnership with the federal government’s Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCan), the Government of British Columbia’s Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation, the City of Vancouver, and local tech industry leaders, including the Frontier Collective.

Web Summit is also behind other major tech conferences such as Web Summit Lisbon [emphasis mine], Web Summit Rio de Janeiro, Web Summit Doha, Rise Hong Kong, and MoneyConf Dublin.

The decision to move Collision Conference to Vancouver also comes as a big nod to the city’s tech industry, which has seen wildly exponential growth over the past decade to become one of BC’s largest economic sectors in terms of the number of jobs the industry supports, with many of these jobs being high paying.

“We can’t wait to gather the tech world in Vancouver and take over the city next year. Last month I flew to Vancouver to check out the city and meet Mayor Ken Sim and Destination Vancouver. I was so blown away by its beauty and tech scene. It’s the perfect place to bring the tech world,” said Paddy Cosgrave, CEO of Web Summit.

“Similar to Lisbon [emphasis mine], Vancouver and British Columbia might seem like the underdogs at first, but the energy and drive to build on an already very fast-growing technology ecosystem blew me away.”

…

Destination Vancouver estimates Web Summit Vancouver will produce substantial local economic spinoffs, with nearly $57 million in direct spending and over $93 million in overall economic impact for British Columbia in its first year [emphasis miine].

Throughout its life in Toronto, starting with the inaugural Toronto conference in 2019 and the event’s post-pandemic return in 2022 and 2023, the event had a cumulative three-year local economic impact of $189 million [emphases mine].

…

“We knew Vancouver was the right place for Web Summit,” said Royce Chwin, president and CEO of Destination Vancouver. “A transformational event of this calibre will continue to build our reputation as an exceptional host city and sharpen Vancouver’s global destination competitiveness.”

…

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) [emphasis mine] will host its 2025 International Convention from July 3 to 6 [2025] at the Vancouver Convention Centre and BC Place Stadium. This will be AA’s first International Convention in a decade, as the 2020 convention in Detroit was cancelled due to the pandemic. The convention is held once every five years in a new destination, and about 50,000 attendees from around the world are expected for the first convention in a decade in Vancouver.

…

I will get to Lisbon later. First, I’d like to know how they derived the numbers for the economic benefits they’re claiming for Toronto and how they’ve used that information to make estimates for Vancouver and British Columbia. I’d also like to know who benefits? As for the Alcoholics Anonymous gathering, it seems like an odd addition (other than it’s another large gathering) to Chan’s article, which was titled “Collision Conference moving to Vancouver from Toronto in 2025.”

Then, there’s the June 12, 2024 Destination Vancouver news release, which adds little information but does provide Mayor Ken Sim’s full quote,

…

“Vancouver is ready to welcome the world,” said Mayor Ken Sim. “We’re a young, energetic city full of opportunity. Nowhere is that more obvious than in our thriving tech scene, where we’re advancing leading edge technology like virtual reality and augmented reality. Vancouver is attracting highly skilled people from around the world drawn here by our lifestyle, incredible natural surroundings, and the chance to be part of something exciting.”

…

I’m not sure what the mayor knows about Vancouver technology scene given that he’s an accountant by trade and is an entrepreneur who founded Nurse Next Door (a home nursing business) and Rosemary Rock Salt (a bagel business). As far as I’m aware there’s not a single person with a science/technology degree/background on city council.

Waiting almost a week to make its own announcement Web Summit issued a June 18, 2024 news release with a few interesting additional details,

…

In the last two years, Web Summit has introduced three brand new events, including Web Summit Rio in South America, which has gathered more than 60,000 attendees in its first two years, and Web Summit Qatar in the Middle East, which drew 15,000 attendees in its first year.

Web Summit’s flagship event in Lisbon is set to bring more than 70,000 attendees from 150-plus countries to Lisbon this November. In total, participation at Web Summit events has increased by 51 percent since 2022, and by the end of the year, our 2024 events will have drawn more than 160,000 attendees.

Web Summit aims to bolster this growth further as it takes over Vancouver in May 2025. With more than 11,000 tech companies, technology has become the fastest-growing sector in the province [emphases mine]. The tech sector is growing at twice the rate of the overall economy, and Vancouver ranks first in high tech job growth in North America. Home to six unicorns, including Dapper Labs, Blockstream, Trulioo, LayerZero Labs, Visier, the city also hosts major tech companies Salesforce, Apple and Amazon.

…

“We are now in four continents and have every intention to bring something to Africa very soon, as we continue our ambition to connect the tech world and build meaningful and lasting communities around the world,” he [Paddy Cosgrave, founder and CEO of Web Summit] added.

…

Destination Vancouver anticipates that Web Summit Vancouver will generate CA$172 million in direct spending and CA$279 million in overall economic impact for British Columbia over three years. Web Summit’s direct economic impact can be worth €200 million annually in cities such as Lisbon, where it hosts its flagship event.

Web Summit has played a critical role in bolstering the tech landscape in its host cities and countries. Since Web Summit’s arrival in Lisbon, the Portuguese startup economy has grown significantly, influencing many young startups to relocate to Lisbon and major companies such as Mercedes, Revolut, and Google to open offices there.

…

Over 300 BC tech companies being showcased when there are over 11,000 in the province? It must have been an interesting (money, personal contacts) selection process.

How much are we paying for this economic windfall?

A June 19, 2024 article by Josh Scott for BetaKit.com gives readers a sense of some of what went into luring Collision/Web Summit to Vancouver, Note: Links have been removed,

BetaKit has been tracking Vancouver as a possible Collision destination for over a year since reporting on the myriad issues casting doubt on the conference’s long-term viability in Toronto. Last week, following prodding from BetaKit, Web Summit confirmed that Vancouver reached a three-year deal to host a rebranded event dubbed Web Summit Vancouver, funded by up to $14.8 million CAD combined from the federal, provincial, and municipal governments. The first Web Summit Vancouver will be held at the Vancouver Convention Centre from May 27 to 30, 2025.

“Knowing that we have this incredible tech scene that doesn’t seem to be really known in some corners of the world, this was a perfect opportunity to marry what we do in terms of building the visitor economy and Web Summit, which is truly an experience,” Destination Vancouver president and CEO Royce Chwin said during a June 14 event hosted by KPMG celebrating the successful bid.

The celebration carried into Collision’s opening night on June 17 at the Frontier Collective “Vancouver Takeover” event, which featured Web Summit head of Asia Pacific Casey Lau [emphasis mine], Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, tech leaders from across the country, including the people behind the winning bid. “Vancouver is literally taking Collision from Toronto to the West Coast,” said Ali Clarke, the event’s MC.

“The cool thing about Collision is most people outside of tech—in fact, almost everyone outside of tech—don’t have a fucking clue as to what’s going on, but they will because we have three years to wave the flag,” Sim said on stage [emphasis mine]. That flag, he said, represents that Vancouver is “open for business,” understands tech, and has a strong and growing innovation ecosystem.

Speaking on stage alongside Sim at the Vancouver Takeover, Lau said, “It’s just a fantastic city and I think that it’s a great backdrop for a conference, and what is going on in Vancouver is great for people to see.”

“We’re just really happy that we’re able to keep [the event] in Canada because it was leaving the country,” Sim told BetaKit in an interview following his remarks, pointing out that Vancouver beat other possible host cities, including international candidates like Mexico City. Sim previously told BetaKit that the priority was keeping the conference in Canada, a sentiment that Chwin echoed in his own comments to BetaKit.

In an interview with BetaKit, Lau singled out Vancouver’s growing tech ecosystem, beautiful natural landscape, proximity to the San Francisco Bay Area, and Sim’s support for the tech sector as some of the factors that brought the tech conference west.

…

Last summer [2023], investigative reporting from BetaKit revealing the extent of municipal support for the original Collsion Toronto bid, as well as the ask to renew for another three years at a much higher price, kickstarted a national debate on government support of international ventures versus home-grown alternatives. This time, the supporting governments have been proactive in disclosing how much has been committed to bringing the conference to Vancouver, as well as its value proposition relative to local events like INNOVATEwest.

…

The City of Vancouver is providing Web Summit Vancouver with up to $1.6 million over three years, including a $250,000 first-year cash grant via Destination Vancouver, waiving permits worth up to $355,000 annually to host events in city-owned outdoor areas, and up to $75,000 in-kind annually to offset safety and running costs incurred for providing those venues.

Through PacifiCan, the Government of Canada is providing Web Summit Vancouver with up to $6.6 million over three years. The Government of BC has also pledged $6.6 million over three years to the event.

These federal, provincial, and municipal commitments total up to $14.8 million over three years, less per year than the $6.5 million BetaKit previously reported Collision was receiving annually in Toronto and a far cry from the north of $40 million over three years that BetaKit previously reported that Collision had once sought to stay in Toronto.

…

Web Summit Vancouver 2025 is expected to be much smaller than Collision 2024. While the parties involved are not yet willing to share attendance expectations, the event will need to contend with the same issues that undermined Vancouver’s original push for Collision—namely, the city’s lack of hotel space.

…

Nearly six months after resigning following his controversial statements about the Israel-Hamas war on social media, Web Summit co-founder Paddy Cosgrave returned as CEO this April. Asked how Cosgrave’s behaviour and association factored into the process, Chwin indicated that the economic and socioeconomic impact of an event like Web Summit Vancouver “outweighed” the controversy associated with Cosgrave.

For his part, during a press conference today at Collision, Sim said, “I do want to thank Paddy, you, Casey, [and] your entire Web Summit team for giving us the opportunity to host Web Summit and to show the world why Vancouver is the best city on the planet.”

Asked what tangible impact he expects Web Summit Vancouver to have, Sim told BetaKit that the numbers are evolving but noted he anticipates “hundreds of millions of dollars” of investment into the local economy and more tech organizations to set up shop in the city, among other benefits.

…

Casey Lau (emphasized in the article) shows up again in another article further on. As for how much this Web Summit will cost Vancouver, there’s more coming in the next section.

I recommend Scott’s June 19, 2024 article; it provides an insightful read.

A local critique

A June 14, 2024 article by Dan Fumano for the Vancouver Sun newspaper offers more detail about just what taxpayers will be spending and how this web summit was secured,

The two former schoolmates [emphasis mine] embraced tightly and slapped each other’s backs.

“We did it. We did it,” said Casey Lau [emphasis mine], head of Asia Pacific for Web Summit, one of the world’s top tech-conference organizers. As Lau hugged Ken Sim [emphasis mine], with whom he attended Vancouver’s Churchill Secondary School decades ago, he told the now-mayor: “I’m super-proud of the city.”

Lau and Sim were among a crowd of excited government officials and business people at an event Friday in KPMG’s downtown Vancouver office tower, toasting the week’s news: Web Summit is coming to Vancouver for three years starting in 2025, slated to bring tens of thousands of delegates and hundreds of millions in economic impact for the city.

Getting the event to the West Coast required a lot of behind-the-scenes work among different levels of government and private-sector actors — and at least $14 million of public funds.

…

This was interesting, from Fumano’s June 14, 2024 article,

The event, formerly known as Collision Conference and sometimes described as “the Olympics of tech,” was held in Las Vegas in past years, and then New Orleans, and most recently in Toronto from 2019 until this year’s [2024] edition, which later this month marks its final time in Canada’s most-populous city before moving west next year.

“The Toronto deal was ending,” explained Lau, who is now based in Hong Kong [emphasis mine]. “I said: ‘I know this guy in Vancouver,’” meaning Sim, “and then that’s how it started.”

It didn’t happen overnight. Sim said he has had his eye on bringing this event to his hometown since soon after being sworn into office in late 2022.

Sim, an entrepreneur before getting into politics, is a major booster of Vancouver’s tech scene. He seems to love big business conferences and international events [Note: Remember Peter Montopoli, a Web Summit Vancouver 2025 speaker from the Canada FIFA World Cup 2026 organization, which will hold some of its World Cup soccer matches in Vancouver? See this November 19, 2022 article “Who’s going to Qatar for the FIFA World Cup?” by Bob Mackin for more about Sim, attendance at meetings, and the world cup], especially those that shine a spotlight on Vancouver and boost the city’s international profile. When the news broke earlier this week about Web Summit Vancouver 2025, Sim was in London for a tech event there. [emphases mine]

…

Regarding the London Tech event, from the https://www.showsbee.com/fairs/40328-London-Tech-Week-2024.html,

London Tech Week 2024 Shape the Future Uniting global tech to drive sustainable innovation Dates: Monday, June 10, 2024 – Wednesday, June 12, 2024

London Tech Week is a global celebration of tech, uniting the most innovative thinkers and talent of tomorrow in a week-long festival. Showcasing how tech is transforming business and society, London Tech Week drives thought provoking conversations around innovation, diversity and transformation, providing a platform for the tech ecosystem to come together to drive change.

And there’s this from the 2025 London Tech Week homepage,

London Tech Week is where the UK’s biggest businesses, most creative innovators and smartest investors converge with global tech leaders. For over 10 years it has been a meeting place where strategies are set, policies are announced and business gets done.

Why did the mayor of Vancouver (accountant and founder of a home nursing business and bagel business) need to attend the 2024 London Tech Week and how did it or will it benefit the city and provincial economy?

According to a December 15, 2024 article by Dan Fumano for the Vancouver Sun newspaper, Mayor Ken Sim had a very high rate of absenteeism from city council meetings (2022 – 2024),

…

Since being elected in October 2022, Sim has been [sic] missed 36 per cent of council votes — not attending in person or online. [emphasis mine]

That is more than double the rate of his predecessors, Kennedy Stewart and Gregor Robertson. Stewart, mayor from 2018 to 2022, was absent for 16 per cent of votes. Robertson, mayor from 2008 to 2018, missed 14 per cent between 2016 and 2018, the only part of his time in office for which figures were available.

…

Where is the value for people in Vancouver? *ETA May 25, 2025: When Mayor Sim went to Quatar for a World Cup game? From Mackin’s “Who’s going to Qatar for the FIFA World Cup?,”

“Just two weeks after being sworn-in [emphasis mine], [first time ever elected to public office] Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is jetting off to Qatar to enjoy the FIFA World Cup. … Neither Toronto Mayor John Tory nor Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell are traveling to Qatar, according to their respective press secretaries.” [Both Toronto and Seattle will be hosting 2026 World Cup games.]*

Getting back to Fumano’s June 14, 2024 article, which offers greater detail about the deal (money) required to lure Web Summit to Vancouver, Note: A link has been removed,

…

Long before this week’s headlines, government officials, private-sector players and lobbyists were working toward this result.

B.C.’s lobbyist registry shows that last year, Destination Vancouver enlisted the services of Thoughtbridge Management Consultants, led by Bill Tam, to help Vancouver’s work putting together a competitive bid to attract what was then known as Collision Conference.

The province contributed $200,000 to support Destination Vancouver’s bid development efforts, said a spokesperson for B.C.’s Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation.

Later, the B.C. government put up $6.6 million to secure Web Summit for three years — $3 million in cash for the organizers and $3.6 million for “in-kind contributions,” the details of which are still to be determined, the ministry spokesperson said.

The federal government also kicked in $6.6 million to support the hosting of Web Summit Vancouver, said a spokesperson for Pacific Economic Development Canada.

Brenda Bailey, B.C.’s minister of jobs, economic development and innovation, says this public investment will provide a great return for B.C.

“It’s very appropriate for people to ask that question. This is money that belongs to the public [true!], and we have to spend it very carefully,” Bailey said. “You can imagine the level of analysis that goes into making a decision like this [and yet you don’t share any details about it], to support such a thing as a splashy conference. But it’s not the splash that attracts me, it’s the investment community and opportunities that will come out of this.”

…

… in April [2024], council conditionally approved a cash grant of $250,000 to the event organizers, along with up to $1.32 million in “value-in-kind offset grants” over three years, including waiving fees for operational and public safety costs, street banners and permits for Web Summit to host events on outdoor city-owned public spaces. [emphases mine]

…

While Web Summit has grown over the years, the firm and its CEO, Paddy Cosgrave, have also drawn controversy and criticism. Not everyone in Torontos’ tech industry was sad to see Collision leave town. [emphasis mine] In a commentary last year in The Globe and Mail, Philippe Telio, founder of Canadian tech conference Startupfest, argued that public money would be better directed to homegrown Canadian organizations. Collision was receiving about $6.5 million a year in public funds, Telio wrote, and was asking for even more money to stay in Toronto, a request the government should reject.

Vancouver’s bid was also supported by Frontier Collective, a not-for-profit working to boost Vancouver’s high-tech sector. Frontier Collective co-founder and CEO Dan Burgar said Web Summitt will be “a game-changer” for the city.

The Lisbon connection?

The mention of Lisbon in the various articles caught my eye due to a local scandal regarding Metro Vancouver and employee travel, from a November 18, 2024 article by Catherine Urquhart for Global TV news online,

In recent days Metro Vancouver staff posted a video and photos from a trip to the Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal [emphasis mine].

Metro Vancouver staffer Sue Mah boasted about Stella the robotic dog, killer yoga moves, and a reception they attended.

The trip comes just a few months after a Global News freedom of information request uncovered how Metro Vancouver spent more than $64,000 taxpayer dollars on fancy food and alcohol at a conference in Toronto.

…

Travel spending continues even as Metro Vancouver residents face huge tax increases connected to the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant, estimated to be about $3 billion over budget.

…

The staff member who travelled to Lisbon is with Invest Vancouver, promoted as Metro Vancouver’s regional economic development service.

The agency was launched about five years ago, even though Metro Vancouver lists its core mandate as providing regional utility services related to drinking water, liquid waste, and solid waste [emphasis mine].

“Based on what I can see, and based on what I have read, this looks like a lot of scope creep and looks like a lot of duplication,” Fontaine [New Westminster, a Metro Vancouver municipality member, councillor Daniel Fontaine] said.

…

It’ s not clear what value Metro Vancouver would received from this junket, from Urquhart’s November 18, 2024 article, “Global News emailed Metro Vancouver communications staff with a number of questions. They have not provided any answers.”

A few thoughts

Something like the Web Summit in Vancouver is not an inherently bad idea. I’ve been to trade shows and international meetings and they can be very exciting … for the attendees. I spent my money on lodgings, food and, maybe, some sightseeing and souvenirs. It’s not clear to me what the economic benefit would have been for the average person living in the city.

Of course, an individual attendee is not going to light up the local economy. The hope is that businesses will be enticed into opening up offices in the locale, that entrepreneurial types will find investors and found startups, and that those who have startups will attract more investment and grow.

It’s disconcerting to see elected officials and civil servants who may or may not have any relevant expertise jumping on the hype bandwagon. Yes, the latest technology can be very exciting but you’re using money from taxpayers and that should require some thought and care.

Mayor Sim’s trip to the 2024 London Tech Week might have been good idea but it’s hard to tell when no information is offered. As for the Web Summit, we’ll be hosting a smaller event than the previous Collision in Toronto and we’re paying more for the privilege.

As for Metro Vancouver’s investment agency staff taking a trip to Web Summit Lisbon on the taxpayers’ dime? At best, it seems odd.

In the end, I hope I’m wrong and that this turns out to be a bonanza for the local economy stretching beyond the hotel and restaurant and other tourist industries.

London gets its first Chief Digital Officer (CDO)

Leave a reply

A report commissioned from 2thinknow by Business Insider ranks the 25 most high-tech cities in the world (Vancouver, Canada rates as 14th on this list) is featured in an Aug. 25, 2017 news item on the Daily Hive; Vancouver,

The ranking was selected on 10 factors related to technological advancement, which included the number of patents filed per capita, startups, tech venture capitalists, ranking in other innovation datasets, and level of smartphone use.

Topping the list, which was released this month, is San Fransisco’s “Silicon Valley,” which “wins in just about every category.” New York comes in second place, followed by London [UK; emphasis mine], Los Angeles, and Seoul.

Intriguingly, London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan announced a new Chief Digital Officer for the city just a few days later. From an August 29, 2017 news item by Michael Moore for Beta News,

Theo Blackwell, a former cabinet member at Camden Council, will take responsibility for helping London continue to be the technology powerhouse it has become over the past few years.

Mr Blackwell will work closely with the Mayor’s office, particularly the Smart London Board, to create a new “Smart London Plan” that looks to outline how the capital can benefit from embracing new technologies, with cybersecurity, open data and connectivity all at the forefront.

He will also look to build collaboration across London’s boroughs when it comes to public technology schemes, and encourage the digital transformation of public services.

“The new chief digital officer post is an amazing opportunity to make our capital even more open to innovation, support jobs and investment and make our public services more effective,” he said in a statement.

An August 25, 2017 Mayor of London press release, which originated the news item, provides a more detailed look at the position and the motives for creating it,

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today (25 August [2017]) appointed Theo Blackwell as the capital’s first ever Chief Digital Officer (CDO).

As London’s first CDO, Theo will play a leading role in realising the Mayor’s ambition to make London the world’s smartest city, ensuring that the capital’s status as a global tech hub helps transform the way public services are designed and delivered, making them more accessible, efficient and responsive to the needs of Londoners. The appointment fulfils a key manifesto commitment made by the Mayor.

He joins the Mayor’s team following work at GovTech accelerator Public Group, advising start-ups on the growing market in local public services, and was previously Head of Policy & Public Affairs for the video games industry’s trade body, Ukie – where he ran a ‘Next Gen Skills’ campaign to get coding back on the curriculum.

Theo brings more than 20 years of experience in technology and digital transformation in both the public and private sector. In his role as cabinet member for finance, technology and growth at Camden Council, Theo has established Camden as London’s leading digital borough through its use of public data – and this year they received national recognition as Digital Leaders ‘Council of the year’.

Theo also sits on the Advisory Board of Digital Leaders and is a director of Camden Town Unlimited, a Business Improvement District which pioneered new start-up incubation in ‘meanwhile’ space.

Theo will work closely with the Mayor’s Smart London Board to develop a new Smart London Plan, and will play a central role in building collaboration across London’s boroughs, and businesses, to drive the digital transformation of public services, as well as supporting the spread of innovation through common technology standards and better data-sharing.

Theo will also promote manifesto ambitions around pan-London collaboration on connectivity, digital inclusion, cyber-security and open data. He will also focus on scoping work for the London Office for Technology & Innovation that was announced by the Mayor at London Tech Week.

London already has more than 47,000 digital technology companies, employing approximately 240,000 people. It is forecast that the number of tech companies will increase by a third and a further 44,500 jobs will have been created by 2026.

The capital is also racing ahead with new technologies, using it for ticketing and contactless on the transport network, while the London Datastore is an open resource with vast amounts of data about all areas of the city, and tech start-ups have used this open data to create innovative new apps.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said:

I am determined to make London the world’s leading ‘smart city’ with digital technology and data at the heart of making our capital a better place to live, work and visit. We already lead in digital technology, data science and innovation and I want us to make full use of this in transforming our public services for Londoners and the millions of visitors to our great city.

I am delighted to appoint Theo Blackwell as London’s first Chief Digital Officer, and I know he will use his experience working in the technology sector and developing public services to improve the lives of all Londoners.

Theo Blackwell said:

The new Chief Digital Officer post is an amazing opportunity to make our capital even more open to innovation, support jobs and investment and make our public services more effective. The pace of change over the next decade requires public services to develop a stronger relationship with the tech sector. Our purpose is to fully harness London’s world-class potential to make our public services faster and more reliable at doing things we expect online, but also adaptable enough to overcome the capital’s most complex challenges.

Antony Walker, Deputy CEO of techUK, said:

techUK has long argued that London needed a Chief Digital Officer to ensure that London makes the best possible use of new digital technologies. The appointment of Theo Blackwell is good news for Londoners. The smart use of new digital technologies can improve the lives of people living in or visiting London. Theo Blackwell brings a deep understanding of both the opportunities ahead and the challenges of implementing new digital technologies to address the city’s most pressing problems. This appointment is an important step forward to London being at the forefront of tech innovation to create smart places and communities where citizens want to live, work and thrive.

Councillor Claire Kober, Chair of London Councils, said:

The appointment of London’s first Chief Digital Officer fills an important role providing needed digital leadership for London’s public services. Theo will bring his longstanding experience working with other borough leaders, which I think is critical as we develop new approaches to developing, procuring and scaling the best digital solutions across the capital.

Robin Knowles, Founder and CEO of Digital Leaders, said:

Theo Blackwell has huge experience and is a fabulous appointment as the capital’s first Chief Digital Officer. He will do a great job for London.

Doteveryone founder, Baroness Martha Lane Fox, said:

Digital leadership is a major challenge for the public sector, as the new Chief Digital Officer for London Theo’s track-record delivering real change in local government and his work in the tech sector brings real experience to this role.

Mike Flowers, First Chief Analytics Officer for New York City and Chief Analytics Officer at Enigma Technologies, said:

Theo is a pragmatic visionary with that rare combination of tech savvy and human focus that the task ahead of him requires. I congratulate Mayor Khan on his decision to trust him with this critical role, and I’m very happy for the residents of London whose lives will be improved by the better use of data and technology by their government. Theo gets results.

It’s always possible that there’s a mastermind involved in the timing of these announcements but sometimes they’re just a reflection of a trend. Cities have their moments just like people do and it seems like London may be on an upswing. From an August 18 (?), 2017 opinion piece by Gavin Poole (Chief Executive Officer, Here East) for ITProPortal,

Recently released data from London & Partners indicates that record levels of venture capital investment are flooding into the London tech sector, with a record £1.1 billion pounds being invested since the start of the year. Strikingly, 2017 has seen a fourfold increase in investment compared with 2013. This indicates that, despite Brexit fears, London retains its crown as Europe’s number one tech hub for global investors but we must make sure that we keep that place by protecting access to the world’s best talent.

As the tech sector continues to outperform the rest of the UK economy, London’s place in it will become all the more important. When London does well, so too does the rest of the UK. Mega-deals from challenger brands like Monzo and Improbable, and the recent opening of Europe’s newest technology innovation destination, Plexal, at Here East have helped to cement the tech sector’s future in the medium-term. Government too has recognised the strength of the sector; earlier this month the Department for Culture, Media and Sport rebranded as the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. This name change, 25 years after the department’s creation, signifies how much things have developed. There is now also a Minister of State for Digital who covers everything from broadband and mobile connectivity to the creative industries. This visible commitment by the Government to put digital at the heart of its agenda should be welcomed.

There are lots of reasons for London’s tech success: start-ups and major corporates look to London for its digital and geographical connectivity, the entrepreneurialism of its tech talent and the vibrancy of its urban life. We continue to lead Europe on all of these fronts and Sadiq Khan’s #LondonIsOpen campaign has made clear that the city remains welcoming and accessible. In fact, there’s no shortage of start-ups proclaiming the great things about London. Melissa Morris, CEO and Founder, Lantum, a company that recently secured £5.3 in funding in London said “London is the world’s coolest city – it attracts some of the most interesting people from across the world… We’ve just closed a round of funding, and our plans are very much about growth”.

…

As for Vancouver, we don’t have any science officers or technology officers or anything of that ilk. Our current mayor, Gregor Robertson, who pledged to reduce homelessness almost 10 years ago has experienced a resounding failure with regard to that pledge but his greenest city pledge has enjoyed more success. As far as I’m aware the mayor and the current city council remain blissfully uninvolved in major initiatives to encourage science and technology efforts although there was a ‘sweetheart’ real estate deal for local technology company, Hootsuite. A Feb. 18, 2014 news item on the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) website provides a written description of the deal but there is also this video,

Robertson went on to win his election despite the hint of financial misdoings in the video but there is another election* coming in 2018. The city official in the video, Penny Ballem was terminated in September 2015 *due to what seemed to be her attempts to implement policy at a pace some found disconcerting*. In the meantime, the Liberal party which made up our provincial government until recently (July 2017) was excoriated for its eagerness to accept political money and pledged to ‘change the rules’ as did the parties which were running in opposition. As far as I’m aware, there have been no changes that will impace provincial or municipal politicians in the near future.

Getting back to government initiatives that encourage science and technology efforts in Vancouver, there is the Cascadia Innovation Corridor. Calling it governmental is a bit of a stretch as it seems to be a Microsoft initiative that found favour with the governments of Washington state and the province of British Columbia; Vancouver will be one of the happy recipients. See my Feb. 28, 2017 posting and August 28, 2017 posting for more details about the proposed Corridor.

In any event, I’d like to see a science policy and at this point I don’t care if it’s a city policy or a provincial policy.

*’elections’ corrected to ‘election’ and ‘due to what seemed to be her attempts to implement policy at a pace some found disconcerting’ added for clarity on August 31, 2017.

5000th FrogHeart blog is a potpourri*

Leave a reply

2017 not only marks my 5000th post but entry into my 10th year of this blog (it was established in April 2008 but I didn’t publish anything until May 5, 2008), which means that in 2018, if all goes well, I will have completed 10 years.

I’ve been wanting to write about the baby bongo at the Los Angeles Zoo and this 5000th post is my excuse for focusing on something that has nothing to do with my usual topics. (Critics may point out that I’ve done this before but it’s been a very long time since I’ve gone this far afield.)

Baby bongo

I’ve never seen an animal which has both polka dots and stripes,

Los Angeles Zoo Male Bongo Baby by Jamie Pham

In some photos, those tufts of white fur in the ears look more like polka dots (see this Feb. 23, 2017 news item on phys.org).

A Feb. 22, 2017 Los Angeles Zoo news release tells the story,

A male, Eastern bongo calf was born at the Los Angeles Zoo on January 20, 2017 to five-year-old, first-time mother, Rizzo, and seven-year-old father Asa. The unnamed calf is special because he is the first bongo baby the Zoo has welcomed in over 20 years. The L.A. Zoo has always exhibited Eastern bongo [sic], a large antelope found in Kenya, but the Zoo recently made breeding the species a priority due to its dwindling numbers in the wild. Because of problems with logging and poaching, there are currently less than 100 individuals that survive in four fragmented areas in the Aberdares Forest and on Mt. Kenya.

“This birth is a true testament to the work zoos are doing to sustain critically endangered species,” said Josh Sisk, Curator of Mammals at the Los Angeles Zoo. “Babies like this little bongo calf engage visitors and allow the Zoo to spread their conservation message. It is our hope that he will one day father offspring of his own.”

The bongo are a precocial species, or relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth. The calf was standing and walking within an hour of being born and observed nursing within the first 24 hours. He spent quality time bonding with his mother Rizzo behind the scenes until he was introduced to the rest of the herd, female Frenchy (5), female Sandy (12), and father Asa on Feb. 15. Also housed in the same habitat are two yellow-backed duikers, a forest-dwelling antelope found mainly in central and western Africa. The bongo calf has been very curious of new [sic] his neighbors and has expressed interest in getting to know them better.

The calf is large, standing at just under two feet tall and weighing 55 pounds at birth. He has a chestnut-red coat with 10-14 vertical white stripes, a coloration that is an effective camouflage for the bongo’s forest habitat in the wild. The adult bongos in the herd stand at around four and a half feet at the shoulder with the male weighing 800 pounds and the females averaging 500 pounds. Perhaps the most distinct physical characteristic that sets the bongo herd apart from other hoofstock in the Zoo’s collection are their large ears. Unlike many antelope that live on open plains, the bongo relies on hearing more than eyesight given the obstructions of the thick forest in which they reside in the wild. The baby was already born with ears measuring six inches in length! The adult bongos also have long, impressive horns measuring up to 40 inches in length. The calf can expect to start growing horns like the rest of the herd by the time he reaches his first birthdate.

Guests can now observe the male calf along with the rest of the herd in their habitat daily, weather permitting.

STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) toys a major revenue source for retailers?

Rina Raphael writes about the growing interest major retailers have shown in STEM toys in her March 3, 2017 article for Fast Company (Note: Link have been removed),

From code-teaching caterpillars to colorful chemistry kits, manufacturers and retailers alike are eager to cash in on a growing toy sector, known by the buzzworthy term STEM, that promises to deliver on science, technology, engineering, and math education.

Retailers are taking different approaches: Target, Best Buy, and Walmart are amping up their store aisles, while Toys “R” Us and National Geographic are producing their own line of STEM products.

One of the most surprising moves comes from Amazon, which recently launched a monthly STEM Club, an offshoot of the STEM Toys & Games Store it opened just two years ago. For $19.99 a month, kids receive new toys that promise to develop their skills.

“It’s making it more convenient than ever for parents to give their kids the gift of having fun while learning,” says Eva Lorenz, category leader of Toys & Games for Amazon. “STEM Club was designed with busy parents in mind.”

…

STEM sales still only account for two to three percent of the toy market, but the sector is “growing fast,” says Juli Lennett, toy industry analyst for NPD Group. Overall retail sales revenue in the U.S. reached $20 billion in the last year.

Amazon is taking advantage of that growth in a way that speaks to how people shop today. STEM is not mass market and likely never will be, but its fans are committed parents who take education seriously. “And once [Amazon] gets the consumer, they want to keep them,” says Lennett. “What better way to keep your consumer than with a continuity program that repeats… keeping them coming back month after month?”

Perception plays a big role in this industry. With STEM, parents are more inclined to spend money because they don’t necessarily view the purchases as “toys,” but rather as educational aids.

“The great marketing message for STEM is that it makes your kid smart and it’s educational and good for them, like eating an apple,” explains Lennett, noting there are both positive and negative aspects to that.

First, some parents want to leave playtime as was originally intended—for pure play, without any underlying agenda. The other issue is identifying criteria: What constitutes a STEM toy?

…

There are more than 50,000 toys on the market and industry insiders are actively attempting to track which toys belong in the educational prestige category. Some toys are more “soft STEM,” leaning more toward toyotic, while others are more serious products that may even boast snap circuits.

And then there is the truly dubious: At the 2017 International Toy Fair, “I saw a bag of sand with STEM on it,” Lennett recalls.

For industry experts, STEM criteria includes: When the child does something, does the toy change in some way? In that sense, asks Lennett, does a Rubik’s Cube count as STEM? “These are all questions we’re asking ourselves.”

Marissa DiBartolo, senior editor of The Toy Insider, agrees that many items across various categories can be considered STEM-related. STEM is “extremely important” for a child’s early education, she says, but notes that a toy doesn’t have the word “science” strewn on the box to be fit the category.

“If you break down the most basic concepts of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, you’re looking at things like sequencing, matching, building, planning, and more,” said DiBartolo. “More toys than you think are educational or at least have educational benefits.”

Proper labeling within the category is a top concern for Toys “R” Us. While some retailers might dedicate an aisle to STEM, Toys “R” Us labels items throughout the entire store. The iconic toy retailer also partnered with educators to produce their own private STEM brands, called Imaginarium and Edu Science, and to correctly identify all available qualifying merchandise.

“We don’t just slap on a label,” says company spokesman Candace Disler. “We ensure it’s well thought out.”

If you have the time, I suggest you read Raphael’s article in its entirety.

Logos and the City of Vancouver (Canada)

The new City of Vancouver logo, shown at the top, was commissioned to replace the former logo, shown on the bottom. (City of Vancouver)

That top logo just cost the city $8000. (sigh) After protest, a halt has been called on the rollout of the new logo/wordmark. Interestingly, it appears the new logo was being used on city stationery prior to the City Council vote approving it on Feb. 22, 2017. A March 1, 2017 online article by Kendra Mangione for CTV News details some interesting shenanigans,

While the roll-out of the new logo on some city assets has been put on hold, staff members are already using it on brochures and business cards being handed out in city buildings and through the mail.

Robertson said staff have been using it “for some time,” even before its use was approved [emphasis mine], because the old logo “basically wouldn’t show up in some applications.”

He said there was a bit of a transition period, then city staff decided they needed to get formal approval from council before using it in any more permanent ways.

With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Sarah MacDonald

View image on Twitter

Follow

Penny Daflos

✔ @PennyDaflos

Sooooo this is interesting. @CityofVancouver said they’d phase in new logo as items need replacing, but I just got this at info counter.

5:40 PM – 22 Feb 2017

Mike Howell in his March 1, 2017 article for the Vancouver Courier about the brouhaha provides some insight into the thinking at City Hall,

The proposed logo is done in Gotham font face, with a smaller point-sized “City of” in green stacked on a larger point-sized “Vancouver” in blue. It was supposed to replace a similar logo, set off by a lotus petal design.

In a Feb. 22 [2017] debate at city hall on the proposed logo, Robertson described the current logo as “lame.”

“It clearly isn’t doing its job anymore,” the mayor said. “And I think many would say it never really did its job as a bland logo with a squiggly bit on it that doesn’t mean anything to many people.”

A city report that went before council said the proposed logo “presents an updated image of the City of Vancouver as a modern, innovative and highly desirable place to live and work.” The report added the city’s “visual identity” had not been updated in more than 10 years.

“A simpler visual identity will not only be more easily recognized and understood by those for whom English is not a first language, but can be more easily adapted for social media channels,” the report said.

I gather Mayor Robertson has become an arbiter of aesthetic taste “… bland logo … .” I have to confess that I can’t fathom why the new logo is less bland than the old one. As for the report stating that the logo will “… be more easily recognized and understood by those for whom English is not a first language … .” I don’t understand how changing the colours makes the logo more easily understood. Is there anyone out there who could explain that for me? As for the new logo being more easily adapted for social media channels, presumably the logo will be shrunken down in size and experience tells me that a thick font such as this new one look like blobs in smaller sizes. I suppose you could use another font but doesn’t that rundercut the argument for a new logo?

Adding to the maelstrom is another logo, one for the City of Chilliwack,

The City of Chilliwack logo was commissioned in 2011. The new City of Vancouver wordmark was approved by council earlier this week. (City of Chilliwack/City of Vancouver)

As Rhianna Schmunk notes in her Feb. 24, 2017 CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) online news article, there is a similarity (Note: A link has been removed),

The entrepreneur behind the City of Chilliwack’s logo said he was left shocked and frustrated after he saw the City of Vancouver’s brand new wordmark, which bears a resemblance to his 2011 creation.

Dan Mansell said a friend tagged him in a Facebook post about the Vancouver’s new branding after it was approved by city councillors earlier this week.

…

Mansell said he thinks the two designs are “too close to be a coincidence.”

“If this was a city in Australia, I wouldn’t be so mad. If this was a city in a different part of Canada, whatever. But this … we share the same highway.”

“My bet is that the designer was researching other city branding and looked at what I did with the City of Chilliwack and maybe subconsciously copied it or got too fixated [on it],” he said. “But I obviously don’t know the process for sure.”

…

He declined to say how much he received for the project, but said it was “certainly less” than the $8,000 shelled out by Vancouver.

“That’s the extra infuriating part,” the designer said.

One final comment about this logo situation, the cost is much more than $8000. when you add up the cost of changing all of the branding. Yes, it’s stopped for now but I would like to know just how much the rebranding has cost to date given that city staff were already rolling out the new materials prior to approval by the city council.

So there you have my 5000th posting.

ETA March 3, 2017 at 2:20 pm PST: Drat! I made a mistake ‘pot pourri’ has been changed to ‘potpourri’.

“The world’s premier tech conference” – Politico

What is Web Summit Vancouver?

The tech world will gather in Vancouver

$$$ and other matters

How much are we paying for this economic windfall?

A local critique

The Lisbon connection?

A few thoughts