Cochrane is known for many things – rolling hills, McKay’s ice cream, but what about technology?
Cochrane is home to internationally known technology companies that have chosen to have their headquarters in town. This is something that the Town of Cochrane has taken notice of, according to Mike Korman, economic manager for the town.
Korman said they are in the process of creating marketing materials to try and attract new companies in similar knowledge based industries.
These are the types of industries that are starting to become attracted to smaller towns, according to some public policy experts.
Kenneth Coates is a public policy professor at the University of Saskatchewan. In a story on how to keep small towns from disappearing in the National Post, he pointed out that new technology trends could create a revolution in rural and small-city entrepreneurship.
He said in the article that attracting entrepreneurs could help small towns become contributors to the global economy and that these entrepreneurs would bring their families and new employees to these smaller towns – creating new economic activity in these smaller centers.
He also pointed out in the article that smaller communities should focus on retaining people, rather than attracting industry and it starts with small town leaders.
This is something that is not lost on Korman.
He said part of putting the marketing materials together involved interviewing the current companies that are located in Cochrane.
“They feel as though they can do world-class technology in a small town,” said Korman.
He said the small town lifestyle is something that is attractive to companies, including aspects such as little-to-no rush hour traffic and not having to pay for parking.
“They are small and they might seem a little bit minute for some people, but when you add them up they do make a big difference,” Korman said.
Other factors Korman listed as attractive for businesses were the proximity to the Calgary airport, major transportation routs and the ability to test a lot of the equipment right in their own backyard.
But why should knowledge based companies choose Cochrane as opposed to Airdrie or Okotoks or other neighbouring communities? Korman said Cochrane’s quality of life is what sets it apart from other communities adding that those communities have a different feel than Cochrane does.
He said that Cochrane is slightly isolated in that Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park stops it from being overtaken by Calgary and Stoney Nakoda First Nations to the west of the town will guard it from any other development around Cochrane.
Korman added he believes that the quality of life is really attractive to many people, evident by the 10 per cent growth in population.
4iiii
One of the newer technology companies in Cochrane is 4iiii Innovations Inc., but company CMO Victoria Brilz, and president and CEO Kip Fyfe are not new to running a technology company.
4iiii started in 2010 in Cochrane by Fyfe and two others who are no longer with the company. Brilz came on board in 2012, with the first product coming out that year as well.
According to their website, 4iiii develops technologies that improves sports performance and make the athlete’s world safer by increasing awareness and providing an uninterrupted and real-time flow of data needed to set a personal best or achieve a podium position.
One of these products is the Sportiiii – a universal mount that attaches to a pair of glasses with a visual light sensor to indicate target zones and a built-in speaker for audio updates.
“Wearables is such a fast growing category, and that is where our future is,” said Brilz, sitting outside of their location in Cochrane with her husband Fyfe.
“We are bringing out some pretty exciting technologies,” she added, going on to describe GPS devices and heart rate monitors.
Over 15 years ago, Fyfe and Brilz were just starting Dynastream Innovations Inc. in Cochrane along with Shane Gerdis and Jim Rooney.
In 2006, the company was sold to Garmin Ltd. and it remains in Cochrane with Rooney as the current president of Dynastream and Gerdis is still with the company as controller.
Fyfe and Brilz moved on to 4iiii. Fyfe pointed out that Cochrane is probably one of the largest producers of sports electronics in the world per capita.
“A little known fact,” he said. “Cochrane is so small and we have so many technology products.”
Brilz said it is nice having neighbours who are in tech as well, adding that they play ultimate Frisbee, hockey and basketball with Dynastream employees.
“We know so many people there, so we get together,” she said. “While we don’t collaborate on projects, we are still able to connect with each other. I’m glad that we can still do that.”
Brilz said the reason they started Dynastream in Cochrane was a lifestyle choice. The couple both worked at NovAtel in Calgary and had to commute across the city.
“We were always driving towards the sun in the morning and there was a lot of traffic. If there is congestion in Calgary you are delayed by half an hour to an hour. If there is congestion in Cochrane you are delayed by 10 minutes,” she said.
Fyfe agreed and added that it was really important to be able to drop their kids off at different activities around Cochrane and be able to go to work and go back and pick them up in a short amount of time.
For all of these reasons, keeping 4iiii in Cochrane was an obvious choice.
“Even though some of them live in Calgary, they still like to be here during the day. They really feel the ambience of a small town here,” she said of her staff.
Another aspect they both pointed out as important to them and their employees is the ease of testing at their location, where they are able to test just outside there shop on River Ave. or go out onto the walking trail or to Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre.
“You can just walk down the street to places, you can park easily and there is the sense that we know people here,” said Brilz, smiling, sitting with a backdrop of rolling hills of Cochrane behind her.
Dynastream
Dynastream Innovations Inc. was established in Cochrane in 1998 and introduced its first accelometer-based speed and distance monitor for runners in 2000. In December 2006, Garmin purchased Dynastream and they are now a wholly owned subsidiary of Garmin.
According to the Garmin website, Dynastream is a leader in the field of personal monitoring technology and is also a leading provider of ultra-low power and low-cost wireless connectivity solutions for a wide range of applications.
Andrew Skarsgard is vice-president, personal monitoring at Dynastream. He said that being based in Cochrane allows the company to have good access to the airport, as well as Calgary.
He pointed out that you are usually commuting against traffic with the sun at your back, and it is surprisingly fast to get to many parts of Calgary.
“Visiting customers seem to enjoy the charming scenery and laid back pace of Cochrane, it keeps them coming back, especially in the summer,” he said.
Skarsgard said that some of the employees have chosen to move to Cochrane and love the community for raising families. He said they also enjoy the outdoor recreational space, the fact it supports an active lifestyle and its proximity to the mountains and the amenities of Calgary.
These are some of the same reasons he listed for why Dynastream continues to stay in Cochrane versus other smaller communities around Calgary, as well as the fact that the original owner group was based here. Skarsgard said he agreed that knowledge based companies such as Dynastream are reinvigorating smaller communities, adding that they add young, active, highly-educated people and the businesses provide good economic diversification that trickle down to other businesses.
Tesera Systems
Bruce MacArthur is the president and CEO of Tesera Systems Inc. He said that Cochrane is a natural fit for the company’s headquarters, adding that out-of-town staff and clients enjoy visiting Cochrane.
He described the approach to the company as unconventional, in that staff operate remotely through the cloud and different Internet tools.
“We have utilized those since the beginning. We are probably one of the first companies to embrace the cloud in Western Canada,” he said. “At one point, we had about 30 servers in our office in Cochrane and we eliminated those close to 2009. We went to the cloud and we offer our services through the cloud.”
The headquarters in Cochrane has a boardroom used for strategic planning meetings and has an accountant and bookkeepers. MacArthur is the only employee located in Cochrane, except for the accountant and bookkeepers, who are onsite. Tesera is an employee-owned consulting company that operates across Canada. Other branch offices are located throughout British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.
It is a company that helps organizations understand and manage opportunities and risks associated with the changing environment including climate, water, air, land, biodiversity and natural resources.
They apply current science, leading IT and web-based technologies, state-of-the-art data tools and analytics to design and develop practical solutions that work for their clients.
The company started in Prince George, B.C. in 1997 and then came to Cochrane in 2003.
“Cochrane has always been very good to us and we have developed some good relationships with the town,” said MacArthur.
He said they do analytics for timber supply for Spray Lake Sawmills and created a census application that Cochrane has been using for the last few years.
He pointed out that IT infrastructure in a small town is a critical backbone for seamless access to global markets and services.
MacArthur said innovation investments in towns like Cochrane could help these small communities stay ahead of the curve in terms of making sure that Internet speeds are fast.
This is something he said smaller communities have been doing successfully and points out the example of Olds, Alta. and its Internet service provider O-NET.
According to the O-NET website, the company is owned by the Olds Institute for Community and Regional Development and they provide TV, high-speed Internet and phone services. MacArthur said that places like Cochrane could differentiate themselves by providing their own Internet access and forming their own company – something he said companies like Tesera are attracted to.
