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What's Inside
Special Letter from Chairman and ED
Convergence. It's a buzzword that gets freely tossed around these days. But nowhere does the word have greater meaning than in the digital realm and more specifically, in the convergence of wireless and new media.
Over the past couple of months, the executive directors and the boards of WINBC and New Media BC have been exploring ways to make convergence work to the benefit of both sectors. That led, inevitably, to a different kind of convergence the merger of WINBC and New Media BC into one synergistic organization representing over 22,000 people, more than 1,300 companies, and annual revenues of $4 billion-plus.
An organization of that size has a powerful voice with government, builds stronger partnerships with academia, and creates a lasting impression on both domestic and international customers and suppliers. More importantly, the merger will make it easier, more efficient and, we hope, more profitable and sustainable for BC companies in wireless and digital media to collaborate, innovate and grow.
Our goal is simply "To promote, support and accelerate the growth, competitiveness and sustainability of BC's digital media and wireless industry."
Our vision is "To make BC the most recognized and admired centre of digital media and wireless excellence in the world and to position Vancouver as the digital media capital of Canada."
This proposed merger would officially join two great organizations that already have a good working history, especially over the past year. During the past twelve months our two groups have hosted MoMoVan networking events and workshops. Through this increasing collaboration we have developed together a unique strategic initiative the 2010 Showcase and Services timed to coincide with the 2010 Winter Olympics, which is by far the most ambitious project ever conceived to promote the BC digital media and wireless industry to the world.
The motto of the Olympics translates as "faster, higher, stronger." That also expresses our desires for our proposed new organization, and the exciting opportunities it will bring to all of you.
In the days, weeks and months ahead, we will consult with you, the industry, as well as with key stakeholders on creating an exciting new look, building new websites and other branding materials. We will reach out to members of both industries for support, insight and advice.
 In the meantime, we encourage you to take the WINBC Membership Survey. It will only take 5-10 minutes, but this is your opportunity to let us know about membership value and your views on convergence and the potential merger between WINBC and New Media BC. If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email.
For a stronger digital media and wireless industry association!
Robert Forget
Chair, WINBC
Michael Bidu
Executive Director, WINBC
The 2010 Showcase and Service in the news
There are less than 140 days until the Olympic Games.
The 2010 Showcase won't officially open until December and already there is a buzz in the air. The Showcase and its participants are catching the attention of the community at large, and for good reason. This is by far the ambitious product innovation through collaboration project ever conceived in BC to promote our wireless and digital media industry to the world.
 Michael Bidu was interviewed by Tech Media Reports this week and highlighted how the 2010 Showcase "speaks to the power of B.C.'s new media and wireless sectors. We have tremendous talent here on the content-creation side. And then you bring wireless into the picture, and suddenly you have an amazing competitive advantage that maybe other clusters in the world don't have."
XOMO Digital, one of the four selected SMEs to benefit from NRC-IRAP support in connection with the 2010 Showcase, and their Vancouver International Film Festival "VIFF Fan Guide" iPhone app was featured in the Vancouver Sun this week as well. It will allow users to download the entire VIFF program guide and contribute live photos and comments to the VIFF website "It's the first time VIFF has had anything like this. It really opens up social media for them. They want to engage audiences and get them to contribute." Read the full article here.
Michael Bidu was also interviewed by BIV regarding the 2010 Digital Media and Wireless Showcase and the potential merger between WINBC and New Media BC. Check this week's edition for the full article.
Sneak Preview the 2010 Showcase & Services Projects
 The 2010 Showcase team has put together an incredible array of projects that will reach out far behind the 2010 Showcase footprint at the BC Showcase in Robson Square. Tangible Interaction will develop interactive application components that include an innovative personalized video experience, and turn the touch screens at the BC Showcase into an on-site window with real time B2B Matching capability of the BC and World Digital Directory already under development. This will truly be the most mobile Olympics ever and our Showcase will use the talents of our local developer community to create the most engaging and memorable experience for everyone from business leaders and media to visitors to our local community.
The 2010 BC Showcase itself will be programmed with an impressive array of video content featuring leaders in the mobile and digital media industries. Mobile services will be offered including mobile optimized views into the 2010 directory and matchmaking services based on made-in-BC technologies. A digital directory will bring together BC's top wireless and digital companies with businesses and delegates from around the world. The directory's matchmaking functions will create a point of contact for world business delegates in discovering our industry, and enable immediate and relevant lead generation between business visitors and BC wireless and digital companies.
BC Demo Day II on October 22, 2009 - APPLY TODAY
Almost 60 wireless and digital media companies are part of the 2010 BC Showcase & Services. If you are not part of this unique opportunity this is your chance!
We have re-opened the application process for the 2010 Showcase initiative. Please go to Application Form before October 10 and register to participate today.
Process and dates as follows:
- October 1, 2009 - Application process OPENS
- October 10, 2009 Application process CLOSES
- October 16, 2009 Notification to selected companies
- October 22, 2009 BC Demo Day II at the Vancity Theatre (community party to follow)
To date:
- 42 companies are involved in the Showcase and 24 companies on the Service side
- 2,500 hours of in-kind time have been committed to this project
- $400K in funding has been raised from our government partners, matched by another $100K from industry (see press release here)
 WINBC and New Media BC will hold BC Demo Day II featuring 30 presentations from the best and brightest in the wireless and digital media space. We are inviting EA, Disney Interactive, Rainmaker Entertainment, Blast Radius and other innovators from Vancouver, Vancouver Island and the BC Interior tech community. The afternoon will focus on universities and will showcase some of the research and innovative ideas being dreamt up on our local campuses. Once again it is an opportunity to see just what our community is up to and to allow for relevant connections and collaborations to form. It all takes place at the Vancity Theatre October 22, 2009 (9:00am - 4:00pm). And best of all...it's FREE.
WD confirms $300K support for the 2010 Showcase
On Friday, September 18 the Hon. Stockwell Day, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia Pacific Gateway officially announced federal funds of $300K for WINBC and New Media BC to support our 2010 Showcase and Service initiative.
 The funding will come through our partners at Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD). A big thank you must go to Michael Lee (Senior Business Officer), Dennis Bruchet (Program Manager), Naina Sloan (Director) and Gerry Salembier (Assistant Deputy Minister) at WD for their unwavering commitment to this initiative, WINBC and our community as a whole.
The announcement was one of five project-funding announcements totaling $6.2 million designed to enable BC to take full advantage of the tremendous economic opportunities provided by the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Read the full press release here.
MoMoVan Season Kick-off
 We kicked off a new season on September 14 at the Museum of Vancouver with an evening themed around Collaboration, Convergence & Community. We had a sold-out event and a full room, pitches from 7 companies including: Colin Quon, CEO from ANTS Distributed Media , Ben West, Co-founder of XOMO Digital, Angela Robert, CEO & Co-Founder from Conquer Mobile, David Strebinger, CEO of Wantsa, Nima Kaviani, a PhD Candidate at UBC MAGIC Lab, Vertical Challenge founder Brad Zdanivsky, and Steve Swift from SOC Robotics. Bruce Sharpe from Singular Software recorded the evening. Thank you to all of our speakers and presenters!
We are looking for the Face for the 2009-2010 season. It could be you. Send us your best grins: funny, awkward, good, bad
it doesn't matter, just as long as you're smiling. Or nominate someone in the community who you believe deserves the honour. Include a few words with the photo nomination: why you think they should be the new face of MoMoVan.
Why become the Face of MoMoVan? As if becoming forever immortalized in our publications and promotions isn't enough, we will reward your good looks with beer at the end of the season.
Preview the first ever Wireless Health Guide
 WINBC has created the first ever BC Wireless Health guide. As part of our year-long BC Wireless Health & Life Sciences strategic initiative designed to create opportunities for BC wireless companies in the health space, WINBC, LifeSciences BC and 4 BC companies: Intrinsyc Software, Guard RFID, Wireless 2000 and Simba Technologies will be in San Diego October 5-9, 2009. We will meet with top executives from CommNexus, Qualcomm, the West Wireless Health Institute and will attend and exhibit at CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2009. This is very much a fact-finding mission and we will disseminate what we learned to you when we come back.
In May 2010 we will host the world's wireless health leaders at the International Wireless Health Summit at the International Vancouver Digital Week.
Samsung Face_Time October 15-16 update
We had previously announced that Samsung's Digital Media Group would be in Vancouver October 15-16, 2009 for a Face_Time event. This has now been postponed. We are working with Samsung and our partners at BC Invest to find another opportunity.
Thank you to all of the companies that submitted a profile. We will be in touch as soon as a new date has been finalized.
The Secret to Sierra Wireless' Success
 Sierra's CEO, Jason Cohenour was profiled in September 15-21 Business in Vancouver and talks about how Sierra's February acquisition of the French firm Wavecom is a testament to his belief in the opportunity that lies in highly fragmented markets. Since becoming CEO in 2006, Cohenour has focused on increasing sales in the wireless consumer space while penetrating the fledgling machine-to-machine wireless market. In 2006, Cohenour's first full year at the helm of Sierra, the company doubled its year-over-year sales by implementing his strategy. It did so again in 2007, and then in 2008, increased sales by 30%. Read the full article.
Welcome to Three New Members
Kryos Systems
Founded in 1995 and headquarted in Calgary, Canada, Kryos is an award winning software and services company that helps people work better together through technology. Kryos has developed the Velocity Mobile Platform that enables businesses to build native applications for BlackBerry® smartphones with existing tools and skills, in time scales that measure in hours. Develop today, deploy tomorrow. It's that simple. Kryos is an IBM Premier Business Partner, and Research in Motion Alliance Partner. For more information, please visit www.kryosvelocity.com.
Simba Technologies
Simba Technologies is the leading supplier of standards-based data access solutions. Many business intelligence and performance management software vendors and leading global enterprises choose Simba because we provide unsurpassed standards-based data connectivity products and services. Our reputation as a relational and multi-dimensional connectivity pioneer has made us the partner of choice for innovative data connectivity solutions. www.simba.com
XOMO Digital
XOMO (or experience on mobile) produces mobile social software to enhance the experience of attending a festival. XOMO created the first ever iPhone app for the International Jazz Festival this past June. The Event Guide made it easy for attendees to find out what was going on near them, browse performance listings, profiles and venue details. The app even allowed users to share their experience of by submitting geo-tagged photos and text in real-time from the location. Catch their latest app in action at the Vancouver International Film Festival. www.xomodigital.com
BC Wireless Industry News
Sierra Wireless Announces New Service Contract With PSA Peugeot Citroen
Vancouver, BC, September 28, 2009 — Sierra Wireless has signed a contract to use Sierra Wireless device management services for the remote monitoring and software upgrade of future generations of cars equipped with Sierra Wireless-based telematics technology. More
WebTech Chameleon Asset Track System Purchased by European Security Services Company
Vancouver, BC, September 15, 2009 — WebTech Wireless announced that through its UK OEM partner, The Chameleon Group, and its 'Asset Track' remote vehicle fleet management product, it has sold 250 model WT5000 Locators to UK-based SitexOrbis. More
Destiny Announces Play MPE® iPhone Music Player App for Recording Industry Professionals
Vancouver, BC, September 1, 2009 — Destiny Media announced that recording industry professionals who are registered to receive pre-release music will soon be able to access the newest tracks from their iPhone or iPod Touch. More
T-Mobile and Sierra Wireless Sign MOU for Joint M2M Offerings
Vancouver, BC, September 1, 2009 — T-Mobile and Sierra Wireless today announced the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding that is expected to lead to a joint solution offerings for the Machine-to-Machine communications market. More
Tranzeo Selected By ABC Communications For WiMAX Broadband
Vancouver, BC, September 1, 2009 — Tranzeo Wireless Technologies has been selected by ABC Communications for their BC-based rural broadband network. More
Upcoming Events
October 7-9, 2009 - CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment, San Diego, CA
The international conference that brings a community of users, carriers, developers and manufacturers together to generate dialogue, share ideas and debate the economics of mobile business; all with a focus on applications, network architecture and technologies such as LBS, machine-to-machine and WiMAX. For more information and registration at: www.wirelessit.com.
October 19, 2009 - Connect '09, Vancouver, BC
BC Innovation Council's Premier Event for Technology Start-ups and Innovator. Learn directly from prominent BC technology leaders invited for the vital purpose of sharing their experience with technology start-ups and innovators. Learn the techniques and strategies from industry experts and entrepreneurial case studies that directly impact a start-up's success. For more information and registration: www.bcic.ca/connect.
October 19-21, 2009 - China Engineering & Technology Expo, Vancouver, BC
Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) will be holding a free 3-day engineering and technology trade exposition at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Learn about the latest innovations in China, identify potential partnership opportunities and research the Chinese market. 150-200 Chinese delegates, representing 36 companies, will be exhibiting at the expo, led by Vice Minister Chen Jian. The exhibiting Chinese companies include leading professional engineering enterprises ranking among the world's top 225 international contractors. For details and to register: asia.pacific@gov.bc.ca.
October 22, 2009 - BC Demo Day II, Vancouver, BC
The 2010 Showcase is accepting registrations for companies not yet participating in the 2010 Showcase & Service. Register your company or simply come and see as select companies take the stage for 3 minutes to showcase their most innovative applications or services. Join us as we take a look at what the most creative and innovative companies are doing right here in BC. Industry leaders such as such as EA, Rainmaker, Blast Radius, and Radical Entertainment as well as upstart new companies such as XOMO Digital will show why Vancouver is a world leader in wireless and digital media technology. 9:00am - 4:00pm at the Vancity Theatre. Apply today.
October 27, 2009 - The Human Capital Symposium, Vancouver, BC
Join tech leaders, managers and directors for a full-day symposium designed for technology companies of all sizes and sectors. Featuring over a dozen respected speakers from leading technology companies, the Human Capital Symposium will bring leaders together to learn about best people practices for this new economy. Keynote presentations include a CEO panel by the Premier's Technology Council, as well as internationally-known leadership expert and author, Phil Harkins who will present on "Leading in Hard Times". 8:00am - 4:30pm - Hyatt Regency, Vancouver. Register today at: www.hrtechgroup.com.
November 10, 2009 - Health Information Exchange Summit, Philadelphia, PA
Do you want to identify future partnerships, uncover sales opportunities, increase market intelligence and create greater visibility in the U.S. market! Canadian eHealth companies are invited to attend and demonstrate their solutions to an invited audience of U.S. decision makers and health care professionals from the most important hospitals and medical research centres in the region. Invited Keynotes include: The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, P.C., M.P. Minister of Health (Canada) and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. For more information and registration: Canadian Consulate Philadelphia.
November 12-13, 2009 Fusion 2009, Vancouver, BC
Fusion 2009, the only Western Canadian financing forum dedicated to digital media, showcasing early and growth stage companies that are original content/intellectual property ventures and firms developing new platforms & applications. 20 of Canada's hottest digital media companies will present before top tier investors from North America. The event includes a 2-day Entrepreneur Boot Camp (Nov 5 & 10), Pitch Conference (Nov 12), one-on-one meetings with local entrepreneurs and private round table investor sessions (Nov 13). Registration now open: www.thefusionforum.com.
November 23-24, 2009 - TechnologyWorld09, Coventry, UK
TechnologyWorld09, one of the largest technology 'speed meeting' events in the UK, and facilitates international business opportunities for over 500 companies each year. It brings together UK and non-UK based companies from across the globe to do business during two days of focused 1-2-1 meetings, seminar/panel discussion programs, exhibition showcase, networking events, and hands-on support on setting up or expanding in the UK from UK Trade & Investment advisors and other relevant organizations. For more information: TechnologyWorld09.
November 26-29, 2009 - G-Star Game Show, Busan, Korea
Korea's largest gaming trade show and conference, G-Star attracts over 200,000 visitors, with a particular focus on mobile and online gaming. Selected BC companies participating in G-Star will have access to BC booth space, the International Content Creator's Conference (ICON), as well as networking and business-matching opportunities organized by BC's representative office in Korea. For more information about G-Star, contact: Ms. Soo Kyung Ahn at: 604-660-5916 or SooKyung.Ahn@gov.bc.ca.
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WINBC MEMBERSHIP SURVEY |
Have your say! Take the WINBC Membership Survey and to let us know about membership value and your views on convergence.
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INDUSTRY EVENTS
CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment
Share ideas and debate the economics of Mobile Business
San Diego, CA - Oct 7-9, 2009
Connect '09
BC Innovation Council's Premier Event for Technology Start-ups and Innovator - Vancouver, BC - Oct 19, 2009
China Engineering & Technology Expo
Free 3-day engineering and technology trade exposition
Vancouver, BC - Oct 19-21, 2009
BC Demo Day II
Register your company for chance to participate in 2010 Showcase & Service - Vancouver, BC - Oct 22, 2009
Human Capital Symposium
Designed for technology companies of all sizes and sectors - Vancouver, BC - Oct 27, 2009
Health Summit
Information Exchange Summit
Philadelphia, PA - Nov 10, 2009
Fusion 2009
The only Western Canadian financing forum dedicated to digital media - Vancouver, BC - Nov 12-13, 2009
TechnologyWorld09
Largest speed meeting event in UK - Conventry, UK - Nov 23-24, 2009
G Star Game Show
Korea's largest gaming tradeshow - Busan, Korea
Nov 26-29, 2009
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