“If You Want to be a Leader in This Space You Have to Lead in What the World Looks Like"
Part 3 of the Knowledge Park case study: Knowledge Park is a leading example of innovation ecosystem development.
You would be hard-pressed to improve upon Knowledge Park’s transformative economic development example.
Located in New Brunswick, Canada, a province where economic challenges slowed growth and encouraged out-migration, the decision by leaders to plant their economic development flag on the outskirts of Fredericton, just a short distance from the University of New Brunswick and the international airport, proved prescient.
Today, Knowledge Park manages $85 million in assets and contributes $150-200 million GDP impact to New Brunswick annually. Eight hundred people work at the park’s 55-60 companies. The Park, its partners and tenants now represent an Influential part of the business and innovation ecosystem, and fundamental to the fabric of the community.
TAKEAWAYS
Alignment is vital. Knowledge Park emerged from a shared agenda, one intended to “Rise all boats, where one plus one equals three. Everything, from programming to building had to be coordinated, orchestrated, and integrated across multiple levels of government and all stakeholders.”
Leaders must make extra efforts to consult and engage; decision making becomes an organic by-product of a strong consultative process.
Envisioning the future, “seeing where the puck is going to be” is vital. Larry Shaw talks about an “Apple-ized” Fredericton: transformed into a “smart community” interlinking its many smaller communities into a platform of growth, citizen wellness, development and jobs of the future.
Commit to the long term. Successfully driving economic diversification via digital transformation is, to put it mildly, non-trivial. Consequently, government and other partners must be prepared to fund innovation ecosystem development for the long term: “The worst thing is to stop and start. You can’t go part way and abandon.”
Results matter. If long term commitment is critical, so too are shorter term results that prove the mettle of leadership and merit of funded initiatives. A “watershed” moment was aligning with the University of New Brunswick; an emphasis on applied research further raised the odds of success.
Over time, competitive advantages shift and compound. While in retrospect Knowledge Park sparked a regional advantage in cybersecurity, in the late 1990s this was outcome was far from assured. In KP’s early days, speed was the differentiator, achieved through a less bureaucratic, less hierarchical, action-oriented strategy. With speed added to a core of outstanding applied research and newly formed infrastructure, the nascent innovation ecosystem thrived.
Infrastructure at this scale demands planning for the future, but as advantages change over time and operating conditions shift, how are current and future assets managed? “It is no different from any large project planning. You need business acumen, project expertise, a strong team around you featuring diversified skills and experience. Understand your own restrictions and limitations at the start, determine where you complement other partners; conversations open further doors and opportunities. We planned for the ability to evolve the buildings, starting from foundational services.”
The Cyber Centre is emblematic of this very high degree of future proofing. The building is intentionally designed to support certain Defence and Emergency Management Operations functions; the CC can evolve into supporting more use cases from its existing asset base.
Knowledge Park’s skilful admixture of applied research, infrastructure management, leadership and stakeholder integration is attractive to clientele. When they see the parts moving smoothly, they can envision being successful in New Brunswick – and subsequently commit long term to the region.
Remove and reduce politics and ego. Government is good and necessary in the context of regional economic development but politics introduces friction and uncertainty. Uncertainty cripples the ability to scale, and it is scaling smaller players find most difficult.
