Like the mythical Sirens whose song lured sailors to their doom, multimedia and New Media technologies seem to have a hypnotic effect on some otherwise sane business people and serious scientists.
New Media is Sexy. It’s Fun. It’s The Next Big Thing. But it can also chew up almost unlimited amounts of money.
Dr. Shahid Hussain learned that the hard way. The former president and CEO of Vancouver’s much-hyped New Media Innovation Centre (NewMIC) had to close its doors last November after just two years of operation.
NewMIC was supposed to be Canada’s answer to MIT’s Media Lab – a hive of innovation, corporate spinoffs and economic good times. The federal government bought into the vision through Western Economic Development, pumping in about $7 million over the life of the project. In a 2003 press release, the agency said NewMIC would be a “water cooler for Western Canada’s new media industry.”
The cooler quickly ran dry, leading to hand-wringing and finger-pointing among NewMIC’s blue-chip partners, which at times included Sony, IBM, Telus, Sierra Wireless, Electronic Arts, UBC and SFU.
“NewMIC’s funding was just a drop in the bucket compared to what was needed if we were going to really help industry,” says Hussain. “To do world-class research you need world-class researchers, and they cost anywhere from $250,000 to $500,000 a year.”
He estimates that, after paying rent on their (rather spiffy, I toured it once) downtown Vancouver facility, NewMIC had $1.5-$2 million per year to work with, and “that doesn’t give you critical mass.”
Hussain also identifies a key problem in the New Media world, which is that nobody really knows what it is. “It’s a term that confuses everybody,” he says, “because it can mean whatever you want it to. Some people think New Media is interacting with your TV’s set-top box. Others believe it’s using Flash animation or gaming, or just having a website.”
So, like blind men grasping the elephant, NewMICs partners eventually pulled off their chunk of the New Media beast and went home. “Sony can do their research anywhere in the world,” Hussain says, “so they kept asking why they should put projects in Vancouver as opposed to the UK, Ireland, or even MIT’s Media Lab.”
The nail in the coffin came when Western Economic Development said “enough.”
Ah, but hope springs eternal in the New Media breast! The recent announcement of the Banff Centre’s New Media Accelerator means that this Elvis has indeed, “not left the building,” and might still sing.
The Banff project is fuelled by $450,000 from, you guessed it, Western Economic Development. One major difference is that the Banff accelerator is not starting from scratch, as NewMIC did. The Banff Centre has been a serious player in the multimedia world since 1990, and has a track record of working with world-class companies and researchers.
One Montreal-based high- tech company reports that it made breakthroughs during a few days’ retreat at Banff that could never have been accomplished at head office. Perhaps it’s the campus atmosphere – the inspiring mountains all around, or the eclectic mix of disciplines.
At Banff, you might be chowing down next to a cellist, composer or captain of industry. A laissez-faire attitude is ingrained in the culture of the place. Even their recruiting ad for a security officer talks of providing a “hassle-free environment for all guests.” Unless you show up buck naked for lunch, or smoke pot in the hot tub while little kids are around, you can let the creative juices really flow at the Banff Centre.
Sara Diamond, the Banff Centre’s director of research, is a high-voltage Tesla coil with the energy, contacts and savvy to make something like this actually work. She’s also smart enough not to try to boil the ocean. Diamond anticipates working with a small number of western New Media companies in a close, individualized mentorship mode.
According to the Banff Centre, there’s no shortage of companies to work with. They claim the New Media industry in Alberta employs 3,600, and has 300 to 400 companies with total annual revenue of $250-$300 million.
Shahid Hussain thinks the Banff folks have a decent chance of success if they focus on the real needs of the firms they work with.
“Small companies don’t want research,” he says.
“They need help with seed funding, incubation and the implementation of technology.” He also thinks one of the biggest services the accelerator can provide is hooking them up with big players such as Sony, Electronic Arts and Nortel Networks.
Oh, and did I mention the Department of National Defence? Recently, Calgary and Edmonton companies, including New Media, were invited to hear about the wondrous business opportunities in defence and homeland security. The event was promoted through a number of trade organizations, including the Alberta New Media Association.
Mike Pratt, CEO of WiTec Alberta, attended the session, and says there are indeed opportunities to work with Canadian and U.S. defence and security departments. “There are lots of contracts that need Canadian content,” he says. “The key is knowing which agency to approach, and the right place to plug into government.”
This may well be a fruitful area for Western Canadian New Media companies. After all, it’s not such a leap from writing cool shoot-’em-up games in some fantasy world to the real thing, and it might pay a lot better.
Web watch:
www.wd.gc.ca/mediacentre/accesswest/2003_01/5_easp
www.banffcentre.ca/bnmi/
www.albertanewmedia.org
(Tom Keenan is a professor at the University of Calgary and an expert on technology and its social implications. He can be reached at keenan@businessedge.ca)
