New projects, events, tonnes of meetings and more … It never stops!

In my lasy blog post “Yes its true, I don’t hate Nova Scotia”, One of my readers (Davin Greenwell) had stated “This is good coverage of what you *don’t* like. Perhaps you could share with us what you *do* like?”.

Well it is true I don’t hate Nova Scotia, I disagree with the business climate, some government officials and a few crazies that reside in the province. Now that being said I do like Nova Scotia, some leading and innovative business people and the general atmosphere. Nova Scotia is a great place to live, however that being said it is also a tough place to work. Yes I can find a negative in quite a few things here and I’m sure my nut job stalker will have a comment or two around this.

Lets look at businesses that are doing great things, like HB Studios, Nicom IT, Ocean Nutrition, MedMira, OptioPublishing, Azorus, Coemergence and GenieKnows just to name a few. Great companies in Nova Scotia innovating and doing great work. Lets look at some business people who are getting business done and making a difference. Some examples; Robert Orr, Allan Shaw, David Gough, Hermes Chan and many more. I respect these people and their businesses. They are just some of the reasons I choose to live and do business here in Nova Scotia.

What else do I like about Nova Scotia, the golf, skiing, and the environment. For the most part I can work from Nova Scotia and play here. While there are a number of patsies in this province there are a few that keep me motivated, that strike out on their own and succeed.

If anything Nova Scotia drives me to succeed and I like it. Without challenges life would be boring and Nova Scotia presents numerous challenges everyday, driving me to innovate and increasing my desire for further success.

Anyways, that’s all for now. Finalizing the plans for the Feb 12 Twestival and some travel. Stay tuned for more details on the Twestival at http://halifax.twestival.com

I talk to other business owners, they share this view, but everyone is too afraid to say anything thinking they’ll lose business. And then businesses are so afraid to work together, or with a New Brunswick or PEI company here too. What’s with that? Protectionism?

So maybe we should have a new sign at the Provincial border “Welcome to Nova Scotia, please leave your opinion at the door” just so other Provinces and people who would bring innovation would know not to waste their time coming here. I talk to my contacts in the EU, and they say we’re “authoritarian” and not open to working with foreigners. Gee, surprise!

Then you try to bring a government agency in on a project to collaborate but unless you follow their agenda, they go an compete with you and won’t return your calls. Yeah, lets work together. Not.

So when people ask why I would leave here it’s because government doesn’t help business grow, they hold them hostage. Our market is so small and instead of helping each other, we hurt each other. Autocracy 250? Are you brave enough to share your opinion?

So its been a crazy couple of weeks  … Took off to Toronto to meet with potential clients, existing clients, VC’s, visit family and get sworn in as a British Citizen (Photos below). All in all it was crazy busy time well spent on personal and business matters.

On another note we have decided to push the Tech Open date into the spring. This is due to the increased schedule that we could not accommodate at this time. We will be updating the site soon with the expanded schedule and the new participants soon. I would like to thank all those that have expressed support for the event and we look forward to seeing you in the spring or even at one of the www.fourththursday.ca events!

Further to questions and comments around Tech Open, I will answer those in the future and I will discuss peoples feedback, support for us, not so anonymous emails and the issue surrounding a government agency’s recent activities that more or less hindered private business attempt to help improve their faltering image.

Moving on to more entertaining events … I have my very own cyber stalkers! Kind of creepy and weird but every closet case needs a hobby. Knowing that I have a fan or two out there makes me happy, maybe they will even join my clique at some point that he or she created for me?

Anyways, It is nice out and there are better things to do on a nice day than sit here in front of my computer.

Have a great weekend all and back to the clique on Monday. Photos as promised below, Its me getting sworn in as a British Citizen.

Here are some conclusions to topics we discussed yesterday and these all relate to the fractured industry representation:

• Gov’t likes to divide and conquer, to then better manage each sector.
• Individually, each association represents too few members of an  industry to make gov’t listen, but together they would make a powerful  voice for lobbying.
• We’ve got 3 different associations representing knowledge economy sector jobs for a population under 1 million.
• Industry associations may be afraid of biting the hand that feeds them.

So after a productive series of meetings and giving the future of ITANS some thought, well actually I don’t see a future for ITANS any more. I think a single voice representing the  knowledge economy in Nova Scotia is the way to go. Bring together the likes of ITANS, Nova Knowledge and BioNova and have an organization that can lead, lobby and succeed! Separately some of these organizations are too small and lack the resources to do much. Some are so intertwined with the government that they are no longer effective or able to meet their own mandates. If we bring them under one roof, Together they can lead and get results.

This is just a thought and one I hope gains traction. For us to succeed we need to work together. We need an industry voice the government will respect, a voice that will get action instead of inaction.

What are your thoughts?

Where do I start? I have so much on the go and really not a lot at the same time. I guess I’ll start with addressing some comments I received recently regarding my blog. I’ve been told I need to be more positive, that I only address negative issues and it really isn’t good. Well… to answer that, oh well. I’m not here to give anyone false hopes or promises, or to mislead. I choose topics that annoy, entertain or are of interest to me. I blog about things people tell me, stuff I hear and what I read or see. So that is all on that subject.

On to things more interesting; We have launched the TechOpen website! This is set to be one of the best events going in this region this year! Great speakers, great venue and global participation. We are bringing in speakers like Chris Brogan, Mitch Joel and the CBC’s Jesse Brown. Day one will kick off with a great forum that looks like it will spark discussion, debate and action. Day two is rounded well with workshops presented by leading organizations from around Atlantic Canada. This is a must attend event so book now at the TechOpen website.

On the business side of things we have run into some delays with the public beta release of MediaBadger. Some issues presented themselves during our testing and we are working to sort them out. We are hoping to do the beta launch before August 2008.

Also in business I have been doing some system upgrades on TechEast to improve the stability and in preparation for the launch of some social media components. We are working to improve the users experience on the site and develop a well rounded location for Atlantic Technology companies collaborate, share and learn.

Something else I’m involved in is ITANS and while I have followed this organization closely for a number of years and have my own thoughts on the organization. What I’d like to know is: What do you think, what you’d like to see done and how can they improve? Email me and let me know what your thoughts are on ITANS (I won’t be publishing or sharing peoples emails).

Lastly on a personal note i will be in Toronto in August getting sworn in as a British Citizen. I will now hold dual citizenship and I am excited. If your in Toronto and want to meet up email me!