Seeing Where the Puck is Going
Part 2 of 3 of the Knowledge Park case study: How Knowledge Park and New Brunswick got ahead of the game.
Key Takeaways
Part 1 of this 3 part case study is here.
Note how KP leadership made decisions which accord with leading business strategy.
Harvard’s Michael Porter: “Strategy is fundamentally about how you’re going to deliver unique value.”
Location, physical design of space, and specialization around cybersecurity are all vital contributing factors.
Partnership with University of New Brunswick is the anchor around which all other decisions pivot.
If strategy is about how you’re going to deliver unique value then your implementation skills must be outstanding.
Full analysis employs The Groundbreakers’ framework.
Today, Knowledge Park is New Brunswick’s innovation epicentre. CEO Larry Shaw makes it clear that New Brunswick’s number one natural resource isn’t fishing, it isn’t forestry. It is the “research capability out of our academic institutions.” Making a “purposeful decision” in the late 90s to align with University of New Brunswick made research the foundation of strategy and the focus of their value-creating activities; applied research brought innovation to the forefront, and the region reinvigorated its pursuit of economic fusion. The facilities give the university and the province a point of focus, a place where the brightest minds can gather. Eighteen minutes north along Lincoln Road from Fredericton International Airport and five minutes west from the University of New Brunswick, the park contains 300,000 square feet of innovative businesses and UNB applied research groups. The crown jewel is the Cyber Centre, custom built in every respect from the building and its internal security protocols to the berms and bollards incorporated into the landscaping.
But agreeing in the late 90s to partner with UNB was no guarantee that by 2022 Knowledge Park would have carved out an international presence in cybersecurity, nor that UNB itself would come to be recognized as one of the most entrepreneurial universities in Canada.
Many things had to be done right, including meaningful differentiation.
“The worst mistake in strategy … is to compete with your competitors on the same thing. You want to find a different kind of value that you can deliver to a different set of customers. Strategy is fundamentally about how you’re going to deliver unique value.”
Michael Porter, Harvard School of Business
Knowledge Park started with three things: a favoured relationship with a great university; a prime location not far from the university and the airport; and buy-in from third parties in the form of government and industry. Note that these three things may be cultivated in nearly any college or university town, worldwide. Where Knowledge Park created meaningful differentiation was with the actions it took with the assets at its disposal.

If strategy is about how you’re going to deliver unique value then your implementation skills must be outstanding. And this is where Knowledge Park has excelled, energizing a strong asset base into enough momentum that when the opportunity to cement their position as a North American leader in cybersecurity emerged, it was only a matter of 24 months from conception to breaking ground on the Cyber Centre.
At the heart of speed and focus lies leadership, recognized and earned from prior successes. Government and UNB committed early on and quickly realized positive returns. Those successes “created an environment that was quite unique” and opened the door for unrivalled speed and access: “If you need to see the premier we can get you in there in a few days time.”
Perhaps there is a fourth asset, this one more rare than the others: the underdog’s willingness to compete relentlessly. “We are a small province, we have to fight for everything. Nothing is handed to us. We appreciate how to get things done.”
This competitive spirit, however, requires leadership in the form of good decision making. The demonstrated ability to “see where the puck is going,” – i.e., possess a keen sense of future needs and direction – when partnered with excellence in day to day operations creates trust in partners’ minds. In turn, it is this trust that resolves the crucial act vs. wait dichotomy lying at the heart of many socioeconomic decisions: “what kills things is time to get it done” versus “don’t ask the premier or business community until there’s clarity over the ask and the benefit.”
THE GROUNDBREAKERS ANALYSIS
1. STRATEGY
Arenas: What products or services is Knowledge Park offering, to whom, where? Which value-creating activities will administrators focus on producing?
Today: Knowledge Park provides a point of focus and state of the art cybersecurity research facilities (arenas), so that partnerships with University of New Brunswick, Government of New Brunswick and the entrepreneurship ecosystem, e.g. Planet Hatch and Ignite Fredericton (vehicles) face dramatically improved odds of developing innovative products and services and founding high growth, profitable enterprises that drive successful regional economic development.
At founding: Knowledge Park facilities (arenas) provided a point of focus for New Brunswick’s research and innovation ecosystem so that (vehicles) including partnerships with University of New Brunswick and the Government of New Brunswick would dramatically improve partners’ odds of developing innovative products and services. The partners aimed at founding high growth, profitable enterprises to drive successful regional economic development.
Vehicles: What means should Knowledge Park choose to fulfill the arenas – organic development, joint ventures or other cooperative initiatives, acquisitions, incentives, economic development policies?
“Cooperative initiatives” form the basis of Knowledge Park’s approach, governed by policy. The supply side – land, finance, intellectual/research capital – originates from government and university agreements. The demand side – commercialization of new products and technologies – stems from researchers, startup and both local and international firms seeking solutions to specific challenges.
Differentiators: What benefit is given to stakeholders (e.g., citizens, consumers)?
Knowledge Park differentiates its services in two ways (1) reduced time to market achieved via operational excellence and deep trust forged between themselves and municipal and provincial decision makers; and (2) the Cyber Centre, which serves as a magnet for local and international cybersecurity innovation and commercialization opportunities.
Staging: How is time used? Specifically, what sequence of initiatives will generate the results that are needed? More broadly, where should attention be given?
For KP, staging is best understood in two parts: building and business development. The latter is a competitive advantage in which the Knowledge Park, New Brunswick government, University of New Brunswick, Planet Hatch and Ignite Fredericton have processes, resources, and the know-how borne of success to attract business, talent, and capital.
The former, Knowledge Park’s infrastructure, is planned based on asset mapping, matching current requirements and anticipated needs to available capital. The environment KP has built also feeds into the region’s competitive advantage given its sophistication and capacity to adroitly respond to research and business needs.
Economic Logic: What economic idea or ideas underpin the strategy?
New Brunswick’s greatest resource is intellectual. The ideal way to harness this in a digital age is by building the infrastructure needed to unlock applied research and innovation potential. Digital transformation is a driving force which compels the Province, and Knowledge Park, to compete against larger, distant, more established high technology clusters, while simultaneously harnessing digital’s incredible capacity to produce game-changing technologies. The physical environment created at Knowledge Park sparks economic complexity – an absolutely crucial ingredient of digital transformation.
2. BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Life Support
Knowledge Park’s focus on cybersecurity means that its output is of fundamental importance, linked as it is to critical infrastructure. Today, given the effects of digitization, critical infrastructure is the primary target of hackers and state-sponsored cyberattacks.
Movement
Intentionally located within moments of a major university and a recently renovated international airport. Easy access via a local highway, and without major urban centre traffic.
Shelter
Intentionally designed to reflect conditions and requirements of cybersecurity and emergency management structures found internationally, with result that the Cyber Centre can model and mediate real world conditions.
Open Space
The Cyber Centre is intentionally located away from its research park neighbours; this decision accommodates longer range planning in which the Centre may take on other roles, including defence and emergency management. Further, security protocols are included in the external design of the Centre. Berms and bollards, for example, prevent straight line vehicle access to the building.
3. SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS
Leadership and Innovation
While perhaps unknown internationally, innovative firms such as NB Tel (now Bell Aliant), accomplished a series of firsts, producing a generation of leaders with successes and experience. These leaders included Larry Shaw, who now heads Knowledge Park. Concurrently, the City of Fredericton displayed a willingness to innovate, for example offering free wifi to citizens in what was a rare decision for the time.
The takeaway is it is never too early to move assertively on behalf of citizen wellbeing. Leaders in the late 1990s could not have known that 20+ years on New Brunswick would claim a global leadership position in cybersecurity but by being willing to experiment, they paved the way to transformative regional economic growth and development.
Science and Engineering
The region is home to one of the most entrepreneurial universities in Canada. Partnerships with industry are producing new technology and commercialization opportunities.
Business & Economy
Once over-dependent upon natural resource industries, the population is diversifying in skills, education and career choices. The Province’s population is increasing, recovering from a period of decline and flat growth.