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Metal Tech Alley markets area’s assets to high tech industry

The brains of the West Kootenay are at the heart of a strategy to attract innovation to the region.
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The brains and beauty of the West Kootenay are at the heart of a forward-looking strategy to attract fresh businesses and investment from around the world to the region.

Metal Tech Alley, a new marketing program of the LCIC (Lower Columbia Initiatives Corporation), was officially rolled out last Wednesday at the i4C Innovation Centre (formerly 5N Plus). Technology leaders, speakers and dignitaries from near and far gathered in the 14,000-square foot building for the unveiling of platform elements, and to learn about new partnerships between a number of private and public sector companies.

The concept of Metal Tech Alley was five years in the making. In the end, the program weaves together historical, present and future prospects of the region for high-tech industries, so that in addition to being in close proximity to a mining giant, companies around the globe will also be in-the-know about the area’s assets, such as its affordability factor and vast natural landscapes.

“We needed to find a way to stand out, we needed to find a story that people would be able to relate to and embrace, is interesting and [they] want to be a part of,” says LCIC executive director Terry Van Horn. “That’s why we created Metal Tech Alley, and that’s why we are creating this strategy all around this story of success, and the leaders we have been in industry for the last 100 years.”

The region is a hotbed of metallurgical and intelligent materials science, industrial matter recycling and emerging breakthrough technologies in Big Data and Internet of Things (IoT), Van Horn said.

“Our new brand positioning with Metal Tech Alley is intended to reflect the key assets and characteristics of our entire region,” she added.

“This especially includes the fact we have an incredibly affordable environment for both business and lifestyle, with some of the most cost effective industrial land in the province. It all adds up when you include things like multi-modal access to global markets and the US border minutes away, and an extremely well-educated and diverse workforce to support continued business growth and innovation.”

But what does this mean for people living in the region?

“There’s a lot of moving parts to this,” Lee Malleau, a consulting advisor from m + a globalnomics, told Black Press. “Essentially what it is, is an economic development program for the region that is designed to promote the region for investment and business development,” she said. “The outcomes of that are going to be new business development, investment, and new jobs for the region.”

As an essential component of the campaign, the LCIC continues to forge working relationships with private sector partners like Teck Trail Operations, the world’s largest refining complex for zinc and lead, as well as high-tech partners like, Internet of Things trailblazers, Brian Fry, Pilar Portella and Tim Dufour of i4C, where the Metal Tech Alley event is being held.

“We’re launching a catalyst that will continue to steer our region as a leader in technologies that manage industrial data, and I mean massive amounts of big data and information in a way we’ve not seen yet,” said i4C partner Brian Fry. Along with his business partner Tim Dufour, Fry recently sold his cloud computing company Rackforce Networks Inc in a multi-million dollar deal with Toronto-based TeraGo. Fry and Dufour were pioneers in cloud computing who led the way for multinationals like Microsoft and IBM.

“We did all this from here in southern B.C. because the lifestyle is unsurpassed, and because with every year that passed technology made it easier for us to do so,” said Fry. “We figured out ways to accelerate technological advancement so it would allow us to work from anywhere and still do business at the same speed as everyone else.”

Metal Tech Alley was created with the input and engagement of multiple stakeholders, citizens, business leaders and community officials, including funding from the province through the Rural Dividend Funds Program.

“This new brand positioning represents our past, present and our future,” said LCIC chair Wesley Startup. “As a region that is leapfrogging into the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we’re excited to begin building a brand and marketing program that reflects all the key elements of our economy and our business culture.”

Startup added, “As a leader in the delivery of economic development services in Southern BC, our aim with this investment marketing program is to accelerate how we deliver economic and business development services, and one of our priorities is supporting partners like MIDAS and i4C to deliver results.”

The LCIC is a partnership between Columbia Basin Trust and the five municipalities of Trail, Rossland, Fruitvale, Montrose, Warfield and Areas A and B. LCIC has a mandate to provide economic development services in the Lower Columbia, with partners in both the public and private sectors.



Sheri Regnier

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