Yes, you can sign up to contribute at:
http://www.talentfirstnetwork.org/wiki/index.php?title=Blood_on_the_tracks:_6_years_of_technical_entrepreneurship_in_Ottawa

Once you sign up you will receive the emails regarding the June meeting. We are looking for good people to contribute.

Grass roots initiatives need government support. This is not happening today. I agree 100% with your point that what we need to do is spend time to get gov program and policy changes that reinforce the work of grass root groups.

See you at the opening of the Code Factory at 5:30 p.m. today. Very supportive of Ian Graham’s efforts and delighted that Acorn Partners are working with Ian. For those who wish to know about the Code Factory go to: http://thecodefactory.ca/

I’ll bring a bottle of champagne to celebrate Ian’s and Acorn’s milestone.

Regards

Tony B.

I checked out the link you posted and note that the top 5 initiatives ranked by size of pay-off require government involvement, as do the to 2 in terms of time to pay-off.

The grass roots has done what it can in terms of proving that it can generate viable businesses and identifying the new role for government - the next step is to move this into a policy initiatives and fiscal commitments.

I’d also note that in the differences between the Bay Area and Ottawa Entrepreneurs that 2 of the 9 differences can involve government - the size of the Entrepreneurs network (which is the subject of this post) and the orientation of government towards small business.

I’m not suggesting for one moment that we abandon grass roots initiatives and wait for government intervention but rather that it’s time to turn some of our efforts to getting program and policy changes that reinforce our work.

Agree with David Crow. In Ottawa, we must just get things done ourselves instead of relying on government. We have done things successfully in the past and should do more on our own.

We have a large and diverse group of people (including your buddy Ian) working on initiatives to strengthen tech entrepreneurship in Ottawa. This movement is as grass roots as they come. The contributors will meet 3rd week of June. Come join us.

The puck has moved away from government to:
http://www.talentfirstnetwork.org/wiki/index.php?title=Blood_on_the_tracks:_6_years_of_technical_entrepreneurship_in_Ottawa

Join the brains and hearts of Ottawa’s tech community, and …contribute.

Tony B.

Tony Bailetti and others are working on to advance and promote technical entrepreneurship in Ottawa. Please visit http://www.talentfirstnetwork.com/wiki/index.php?title=Blood_on_the_tracks:_6_years_of_technical_entrepreneurship_in_Ottawa and contribute.

Joined cakephpforum.org today, posted a question and had an answer in less than an hour.

Still there are so many concepts to acquire, and so many places to go wrong, that I’m accomplishing in one day what a normal programmer would accomplish in about 15 minutes.

But I am progressing and I know that things will get easier with practice - an experience.

Good timing for your article. MaRS and OCE have been tasked by MRI to develop a program that knits Ontario’s resources together in a wider network. As a group of 16 or so organizations in the province we are offering Advice, Research, and Money to technology companies in Ontario. Our objective is to build on community based skills to bring the best from each community and make it available to all technology companies. You can check out http://www.marsdd.com/mrp to get more of an idea of what we offer and how we do it.

On the issue of wide area - community broadcasts we have done that with Entrepreneurship 101 (as noted in prior comments) and will be doing things like that in the future. You would have enjoyed being at MaRS Experience Tech several weeks ago when we were linked into an IDC conference in Boston via simultaneous broadcast and we held independent breakout sessions in Toronto.

You obviously have some great ideas and I would love to have your input on what we are doing. Give me a call and let’s get together to see if there is a way we can meld our visions together.

Charles

When I attend OCRI events I am always struck by the fact that I paid $30 or $50 or whatever dollars out of my own pocket while the majority of people I end up meeting are government bureaucrats whose department picks up the cost of their attendance. Quite frankly it seems to me at least 60 - 70% of the attendees at any given OCRI event are government workers there simply for the free food and time away from their cubicles.

When I first setup an office for my business in San Diego 8 years ago, I was introduced to an organization called the San Diego Software Industry council. Like OCRI, they organized events and meetings for the local high tech industry. Unlike OCRI, they were a member funded organization (read no tax money from the city of San Diego), they worked out of a basement office donated by Qualcomm, and the staff consisted of two, the director and his assistant!

There is no question in my mind that OCRI’s government funding should be pulled, every last dollar of it. I am not going to hold my breath on that though. I can’t imagine any politican bothering to do the right thing and slay this beast; after all, where would they go for a free breakfast and box tickets to a Sens game if OCRI lost it’s funding?