Entering its third year of existence, Kamloops Innovation Centre is home to established firms and fresh-faced start-ups.
While businesses-in-residence, as they are known, share office space at the former Tranquille Road nightclub building, they also share knowledge and a sense of camaraderie.
KIC opened early in 2011 as a way to encourage high-tech business in a low-cost setting where the focus is on networking and sharing ideas.
One of those early firms is Truvian Labs, where principal Dan Erikson started with GIS consulting and has steadily developed software now ready for market this year.
Erikson is a TRU grad (alumni are common at KIC) who graduated more than a decade ago with a degree in natural resource science. He left a forestry company, where he’d been in charge of GIS services.
Consulting on GIS and related work paid the bills while Erikson wrote computer code to develop his technology product.
Truvian is now entering the market with a product that provides companies, municipalities or First Nations that have their own mapping data a way to easily use that information.
“Historically that’s a large technical barrier to working with map data . . . The product we’re building makes that disappear.”
What Erikson has in common with other businesses-in-residence is a technological bent – what makes the centre unique.
“It’s good to be around people who understand where you’re at . I can walk down the hall and asking someone about Java script and they’ll know the answer.”
The handful of businesses at start-up number 11 today. They range from one-person shops to as many as six.
Expansion and assistance from provincial sources allowed the centre to hire a part-time executive director, Lincoln Smith.
“What really makes us unique is the environment we create within the building,” Smith said.
“There’s a lot of shared information and knowledge. Companies further along can help new
entrepreneurs.”
KIC is hosting an open house April 4 beginning at 6 p.m. to showcase its services and renovations. Smith hopes to expand the number of businesses-in-residence as well as network with other technology companies in Kamloops and within the region.
The centre has partnered with the provincial agency, B.C. Innovation Council.
The open house event will unveil a new business accelerator program developed for the centre. That program, through mentoring and networking, is intended to push businesses faster through the typical cycle of a new high-tech company.
Smith said KIC is also looking for business mentors in the community to shepherd some of the start-ups.
“There’s a real sense of community here,” he said. “We’re building that through speakers and events.”
cfortems@kamloopsnews.ca