What’s missing in Waterloo
A fresh set of eyes on a thriving technology sector.
Originally published on WeAreGrand.com
A year ago I was sitting in my townhouse in downtown Toronto focusing on taking my digital design company in a new direction. Little did I know a year later I wouldn’t be sitting in Toronto, but in Cambridge, Ontario instead. When I made the decision to move out of Toronto I was a little concerned from a career perspective. The media surrounding RIM (now BlackBerry) made me question the decision as it was hard not to succumb to superficial presentation. Toronto was a city bursting at the seams with growth and it was a hot spot for any company to thrive in. However, the hustle of the city made it noisy, literally and figuratively. Fortunately I took a deeper look into the tech sector in Waterloo and what I found was a much different story.
In the short time I’ve been here it’s easy to see that the momentum is upward not downward. Not doubt the downfall of RIM has caused some concern and because of this the community has taken it as a chance to show that Waterloo is more than just one company. The heart of the community turned my fears into excitement and it was easy to want to be a part of the growing movement. The region, with its sensibilities and connectedness of a small town, has the potential of turning into one of the best technology hubs in the world and this makes it a very unique place to be. There are a couple hurdles in the way however, and I’d like to talk about one in particular.
It starts with talent
I was first exposed to the University of Waterloo (UW) when my brother entered the computer science program in 1994. I was heavily influenced by what he learned there because I was just getting into computers and would pester him to show me what he was working on. One time in particular he came home and showed me this little thing called the World Wide Web and my life was changed. What I was exposed to is a drop in the bucket compared to what the region has experienced from the influence of the University. Furthermore, when you look deeper, the region also boasts one of the best business schools in Wilfred Laurier. Just outside Waterloo is the University of Guelph, my alma matter, who is also producing its fair share of talent. The reason why these billion dollar companies exist in the first place is because of the immense talent being produced by the region’s educational institutions. Beyond that, UW has a policy of allowing students to retain their intellectual property which adds an incentive for students to think beyond the curriculum while studying there.
A culture of innovation
The systems of education go beyond institutional as well. Organizations have been created to support graduates in not just finding jobs, but starting businesses as well. The graduates coming out of the system today are fortunate because they get to stand on the shoulders of the giants that came before them. Those giants saw their little ideas turn into massive companies and now have the means to give back to the community in tremendous ways. I’ve been fortunate to dip my toe into the community of business support by visiting and taking part in a few Communitech events. Without a doubt its facilities and staff are an indispensable resource for any business looking to take the next steps. Beyond that you have incubators like Velocity and the Accelerator Centre. Going even further, investments have been made into world renown research institutes like Perimeter and the Quantum-Nano centre. A strong education system is one step, but then to have the entrepreneurial support systems and the facilities to perform some of the world’s most impactful research sets the table for some great things to happen.
Missing a vital piece
While the picture is very pretty, there is still work to be done. Back when I was selecting a university to attend I opted for Guelph because of what appeared to be a hyper focus on engineering and mathematics at Waterloo. This wasn’t a bad thing necessarily, it just wasn’t what I was looking for. Coming back to the region recently, I wondered if that focus had broadened at all. From what I’ve been exposed to thus far, the region is still heavily focused on engineering and building businesses around it. In some ways I see this as a lost opportunity and in others I see as a chance make the region even stronger. As illustrated the Waterloo region has a tremendous ability to create some of the world’s best talent and it’s recognized for that. Bloomberg Business Week called Waterloo ‘Silicon Valley’s Feeder School’. While this is a very nice compliment, it’s also an example of the lost opportunity. The region doesn’t need to export its talent, it’s shown that it can stay here and thrive. It’s very Canadian of us to just offer up our best minds to the deep pockets south of the border. I think the region needs to think beyond just being a feeder school and set its focus on developing the sector into one of the best in the world. From what I’ve seen this is the goal of community leaders and this is refreshing to hear. Movements are already being made to fix a significant money problem. The region needs more support from investors to keep the talent here instead of the minds being woo’d south of the border. The most recent move was the investment by the provincial government and a fund created by OpenText. However this is just part of the problem. The other side of the coin, and the one I see most clearly, is the under valuing of design thinking within the community at large. It’s one thing to create a fascinating new technology, but it’s another to apply it to improve the lives of many. This is why a strong education system focused on human centred design is a critical missing piece to the eco-system here in the region.
Why design is important
I recently wrote an article about design and in it I described how its perception has been misunderstood. It states that design isn’t just about making products that are visually appealing. Instead a design process sets out to understand where people struggle so technology can be applied to help them achieve goals and improve their lives. In the absence of a good design process technology can simply function. In these cases marketing teams are forced to sell products based on jargon and specs with the hope that the person buying it fills in the ‘how-it-will-make-my-life-better’ part of the equation. More often than not customers require an immense amount of knowledge before they can buy these products. This was the lay of the land for years and companies like Microsoft dominated. Design focused companies like Apple lost their way and were brought to the brink of failure.
However, things changed when Apple stormed back by keeping its focus on creating products that set out to improve people’s lives. In 2007 the tipping point for the value of design appeared in the form of the iPhone. It was laughed at but the wheels were set in motion. The iPhone was successful because it wasn’t just an innovative technology. Instead it had a clear value proposition about it intended to better our lives by improving the way we communicate with each other. This idea of merging human need with technology was described by Steve Jobs himself during the introduction of the iPad and was more recently quoted in his biography:
“Edwin Land once told me…
‘Those people who can stand at the intersection of the humanities and science, the liberal arts and technology, that intersection, are the people who can change the world’.”
Since the iPhone took the smartphone market by storm, design has changed the way Silicon Valley thinks about how it makes products. This is clearly illustrated by this fascinating story about how design thinking changed the culture at Google. Google has since formed an Avengers-like team of designers at its own venture capital firm. Google also added design focused Nest and has acqui-hired numerous other design focused companies. Facebook has also heeded the call by acqui-hiring some of the brightest design minds out there. Design has made its way deep into the culture of startups in Silicon Valley for numerous reasons, but I think one of the most important to note is the fact that the startup community is getting very crowded. Simply having a big idea doesn’t work anymore. A startup needs to prove it adds value to a customer before it can attract attention from investors. This forces founders to think deeper about what they’re making. Design helps answer the question ‘Do people want my product?’ well before the cash, sweat and tears are put into making it.
When making amazing new things we must put human need at the centre of what’s created. It sets a common goal that engineers and designers can focus their efforts on to create valuable products. At the end of the day starting a business is about effectively providing value to a customer for the exchange of money. Design sets forth to discover the pains of people so technology can be applied to relieve those pains. Once this simple relationship is made, a business can then flourish.
A living example
I think what best supports the need for design thinking in the Waterloo region is dissecting what happened to RIM. There were numerous casualties when the iPhone and Android smartphones took hold of the market and RIM was probably the hardest hit. RIM exemplifies the lean toward engineering that was and still is present in the Waterloo region. The founders at RIM were able to recognize the immense potential in handheld computing and were brilliant enough to bring it to life. RIM absolutely dominated the market based on a clear customer need and a very capable technology. However, the team at Apple saw the critical missing piece of user interface design and simplicity of use. They took the best parts of the revolution that RIM had made mass market and applied design thinking to connect people with each other in a way that let technology disappear in their hands. At first RIM was fairly sheltered from the iPhone storm, but as soon as Google changed their approach to include design, things got really dicey. RIM tried to tackle the idea of human centred design with the release of BlackBerry OS 10 and some sexy new hardware. While the new approach yielded a pretty great product in the Z10, it was sadly too late to market. We’ll never know if RIM would still be a dominant player if they did have this culture of design, but I’m quite confident they would still be in the game. I think what happened at RIM stings and my hope is that we can stop this from happening again.
Recent developments
Fortunately there is a solution on the horizon. I was out for a coffee and ran into a neighbour of mine. He is a professor at the University of Waterloo and we got to chatting. I mentioned I was in the design field and how I felt there was a clear need in the area for design thinking. He then told me of the current expansion plans for the Waterloo School of Architecture. The goal of the expansion is to create a new program focused on developing talent in the field of design. This was probably the best news I’ve heard about the growth of the technology sector in the region since moving here. It meant the design void was clearly visible and leaders in the community wanted to see it filled. This quote from the Cambridge Times sums up the purpose clearly:
“the program will serve to fill a need for creative designers in areas of new, integrated digital design technologies, physical and mobile computing, virtual and interactive environments and other design products crucial to the need of the local economy.”
From what I see, the Galt part of Cambridge is rebuilding its core around the arts and design. The city has made a series of smart moves by supporting the construction of the Waterloo School of Architecture, the Dunfield Theatre and the Idea Exchange. In addition, it’s the prime sponsor of the annual Folk and Arts Festivals. These efforts are all pointing Cambridge in the right direction to be a creative and inspirational place for a design school to thrive.
A game changer
Building a design focused school will change the technology sector in the region in a tremendous way. Currently we have top tier education systems creating some of the world’s best talent in the silos of engineering and business. What we don’t have is the essential third pillar, and that is an education system that produces talent in the field of design. Once we do have this school, its design grads will be able to join the conversation with engineers and business minds that are already talking in the region’s numerous incubators. With an influx of investment and the production of a broad range of talent, the Waterloo region can fulfill its potential of being one of the world’s best places to build a company and stop being looked at as simply Silicon Valley’s farm team. I encourage the Cambridge city council to approve this funding and get the ball moving as quickly as possible. The potential upside is bigger than Cambridge, it’s bigger than the region; it’s a shift that would change the face of business in Canada and perhaps the world.
I am the Co-Founder of GRAND, a digital design company that specializes in customer focused Websites, Apps and Social integrations. Check us out at WeAreGrand.com or connect with me on Twitter @IAmMattQ.
