THIS WEEK IN TECTORIA

A community blog celebrating Victoria's booming tech sector

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Got a cool story about technology and creativity in Victoria? Email stories, tips, pictures, links and anything of interest to Tessa Bousfield at: tectoria@viatec.ca

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Latitude Geographics

July 23, 2015 by Tessa Bousfield

Thumbnail_Tectorian_Latitude

In the last year they’ve hit four significant milestones:

  • Reaching the 1,000 customers mark
  • Hiring their 100th employee
  • Winning Technology Company of the Year at the VIATEC Awards last month
  • And being the Tectorian of the Week!

Latitude Geographics makes software to help people make better decisions about the world around them (no big deal). “Whether it’s responding to an oil spill, figuring out rain water rebates available to citizens, or tracking polar bears in the Arctic, we provide technology to get information in the hands of people,” commented Steven Myhill-Jones, CEO of Latitude Geographics.

Hosted BBQ for 400 in San Diego
At the Esri User Conference in San Diego

Their team had a booth at the Esri User Conference in San Diego last week where they participated in Geocortex events and where they hosted an annual BBQ for over 400 people! Canadian politeness at its finest!

Just two days ago they unveiled Geocortex Insight, the long-anticipated successor to Geocortex Optimizer and they just opened registration for their Advanced Workflows: Foundation Course being held August 4-5.

Looks like Latitude Geographics will be continuing to make their mark on the Tectoria map this year! Let’s just hope they continue to hold BBQs and meetings on their rooftop deck overlooking the inner harbour 🙂

Filed Under: Tectorian of the Week

LlamaZOO Interactive

July 14, 2015 by Tessa Bousfield

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LlamaZOO Interactive is NOT a local zoo where you can ride Llamas. Just wanted to get that out of the way.

LlamaZOO Interactive is a local startup that just won the prestigious Startup of the Year Award at the VIATEC Awards last month.

Their product (currently code named “EasyAnatomy”), is a 3D app designed to help veterinary students learn animal anatomy and become better veterinarians. They do this by working with Universities in an effort to create the most relevant content and course material and use data from medical scans including MRI and CT to create the 3D models.

Screen capture of the application

Screen capture of the application

These models are then bundled with written content, course material and quizzes to allow students to explore the full animal anatomy at their leisure.

In fact, founders Charles Lavigne and Kevin Oke, are currently on the road to Oregon State University.


“The veterinary department has invited us to pitch, demo, and discuss EasyAnatomy,” commented Lavigne. “The goal is for the department head to make a purchasing decision to buy licenses for all of their first year students. We’re also treating this meeting as a customer discovery opportunity. [We’re] trying to glean insights on the pain and challenges the individual anatomy professors are experiencing.”

After Oregon they’re next pit stop is Washington State University in Pullman where they’ve been asked to present their software at the American Association of Veterinary Anatomist Conference. “It’s a great opportunity for us to get in front of and meet with the leading anatomist in North America.”

Charles Lavigne started in the games industry by studying 3D animation and design, and later Game Design at the Vancouver Film School. He has 10 years of experience designing games and player experiences for companies including Electronic Arts, Ubisoft Montreal and Microsoft and consulting for smaller studios, startups and indie developers.

Kevin Oke has 9 years of experience. Most recently he worked as a design, production and business strategy consultant with Fox, Nickelodeon, Arnold Worldwide, The Chernin Group and many small startups on over 30 projects. Prior to consulting, Kevin worked at Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Next Level Games.

Together they have been dominating since 2014 with an idea that came from Kevin’s girlfriend practicing to be a veterinarian and identifying a lack of useful apps to help her study.

“As two recent transplants from Vancouver we’re blown away by this city and the local industry’s spirit,” commented Lavigne. “Most everyone is friendly, welcoming, and willing to help in one way or another. Plus there’s tons of good beer, food to eat, and activities to do year round, when one can find the time!”

You can find LlamaZOO’s office at Fort Tectoria or contact them by emailing hello@llamazoo.com. They’re currently seeking investors!

 

Filed Under: Tectorian of the Week

Schneider Electric

July 9, 2015 by Tessa Bousfield

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Schneider Electric started out with a focus on steel in the 19th century and switched gears to electrical distribution and automation in the 20th. They now specialize in manufacturing, hardware and software R&D, and they are one of the largest technology companies in Greater Victoria.

A small fraction of the very large Schneider Electric team accepted the award for Innovative Excellence at the VIATEC Technology Awards Show on June 26th. Project Manager, David Anderson accepted on behalf of his team for their innovative power quality meter. It was designed to help businesses understand where they are using their power and how to use it more efficiently, and it’s been VERY well received.

“Here in Victoria we have power metering design and manufacturing, all under one roof, and this allows us to optimize the project design life cycle and deliver our product in a timely manner,” commented Anderson. “Our future is going to be exciting because we are uniquely positioned to help customers solve their energy efficiency issues and also provide world-class leading products.”

In addition to this award, they have also earned the following in 2015 alone:

  • World’s most admired companies in 2015 (Fortune Magazine)
  • World’s Most Attractive Employers in 2015 (Universum)
  • Hervé Coureil, CIO of Schneider Electric, Finalist for the 2015 CIO Leadership Award (MIT Sloan CIO Symposium)

On top of their innovative achievements, they continue to have a strong presence in our community. In particular, they are top contributors in the VIATEC Food Bank Challenge for the Mustard Seed year after year, and in 2013 they won first place.

We are very excited to see what this powerhouse team achieves next!

Click below to view the Schneider Electric’s video interview for Innovative Excellence, alongside their tough competition!

Filed Under: Tectorian of the Week Tagged With: Energy, Innovative Excellence, power quality meter, Schneider Electric, technology, tectoria, viatec awards

The 2015 VIATEC Technology Awards

July 2, 2015 by Tessa Bousfield

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WOW! Did that actually happen? The VIATEC Team is still coming down from our adrenaline rushes and overjoyed emotions from the 2015 VIATEC Technology Awards that went down in history last Friday. It was a colourful, music-packed evening with special appearances from Shia Labeouf and Rick Astley 😉

Congratulations to all our award winners!

The VIATEC Awards started 14 years ago and it definitely wasn’t the production you see today. It started as an e-Commerce event with 110 attendees. In 2002 it officially became the VIATEC Technology Awards and 220 attended it at the Grand Pacific Hotel. In 2003 it moved to the Crystal Ballroom at the Fairmont Empress with 330 guests. In 2004 we made the move to Carson Hall with 450 guests. 2005 onward, we stayed at Carson Hall climbing into the 500’s, hitting an attendance of 600 in 2011 and reaching 700 last year.

Last week’s event brought out 750+ Tectorians, 1000 balloons (with 50 additional mini orcas squeezed in the nets), 50 BIG Orcas, 11 funky mirrors, 9 projection screens, 8 bubble machines, 7 interactive cube lights, 7 tower lights, 3 interactive mirror boards, 1 AWESOME Band with 1 Jesse Roper, 1 Spoken Word Poet (Jeremy Loveday) and 1 breathtaking, projected sculpture.

Thank you VERY much for being a part of the madness and celebrating with Tectoria. We look forward to squeezing in a few more tables next year!

  • Image gallery
  • Video recap
  • Finalist videos

Click here for a special message from Dan Gunn!

A special thanks to the following…

  • FCV Interactive
  • Shaw Business
  • Thompson Cooper LLP
  • Hemlock Printers
  • Vecima Networks (And the Vecima Virtuosos band!)
  • Corporate Traveller
  • Farris Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP
  • KPMG
  • Reed Pope
  • UVic
  • Capital Magazine
  • The Zone @91.3
  • Grant Thornton
  • AbeBooks
  • BMO
  • Corporate Recruiters
  • Cox Taylor
  • RBC
  • Alacrity
  • Freeman Audio Visual
  • Our hard-working volunteers
  • EMP Interactions
  • Innovate Imageworks
  • UberDave.com
  • Vic42
  • Annika Lavigne
  • Jeremy Loveday
  • Jesse Roper
  • Greg Miller Photography
  • Limbic Media
  • The Social Media Team led by @SocialMediaSean
  • Pacific School of Innovation & Inquiry
  • Upstairs Cabaret
  • The Duke Saloon
  • Decorate Victoria (Huff ‘N Puff)
  • Atomique Productions
  • Four Seasons Musical Theatre
  • Monk Office Interiors
  • Island Print Group
  • Victoria Conference Centre
  • Fairmont Empress

Filed Under: Tectorian of the Week

Dave Neufeld

June 18, 2015 by Tessa Bousfield

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In 2013, Brendan Iribe introduced Oculus Rift to the world via kickstarter, made virtual reality a reality and in 2014 it was purchased by Facebook for $2 billion.

This past week Microsoft announced that the Xbox One will support Xbox 360 game streaming to Windows 10… and the Oculus Rift.

But what does this all have to do with Dave Neufeld?

Dave, along with local developer Carson Book and the support of VIATEC, hosted their first Virtual Reality (VR) Meetup at Fort Tectoria on March 2nd. VR meetups are popular in Vancouver and Dave saw a gap here in Victoria.

“Since that meetup, the conversations and projects have begun to blossom. We are completing UI/UX experiments and hacking together hardware to build interesting experiments,” commented Dave. “I had a chance to try the Oculus at a friend’s house a few months back and I was blown away. I immediately purchased my own (and a laptop with enough graphics power to drive it) and started experimenting.”

 

Dave was inspired to build a Virtual Racing Car platform to help demonstrate what it’s like to use the Oculus Rift with Car Racing Software. It’s off to a great start and it will be available for demos next month. Or, as soon as Dave is done playing with it.

Dave is a software engineer (B.Sc. Comp. Sci. From the University Of Calgary), who has been fortunate enough to have worked with a lot of innovative companies.  When he’s not working as a Software Development Manager or Quality Assurance Lead, he’s building projects like this in his home workshop.

“Victoria is a fantastic city (I spent most of my life in Calgary, just for context). The weather is amazing and the local tech community is great. Having a chance to use the Fort Tectoria space during my last parental leave has been a real blessing.”

The next VR Meetup is in the works and details will be announced in the fall. The hope is to meet every 8 weeks and build the VR community.

“Life is short. If you have an idea that you want to try, or a technology you want to play with, give it a go. And, if you have the chance, give back to others by sharing your knowledge and skills. Oh, and have fun.”

If you are interested in joining the local Oculus Rift/ VR community, contact  oculus@daveneufeld.com

Filed Under: Tectorian of the Week

Josh Elsdon

June 11, 2015 by Tessa Bousfield

Josh Elsdon was recently named the 2015 VIATEC Awards’ Education Champion for his innovative teaching skills at Monterey Middle School. He accepts his robot trophy on June 26, 2015 at the Victoria Conference Centre, one night before his wedding day!

Josh began teaching in Victoria in 2006, and he’s spent the last 3 school years experimenting with tech programs with his students.

“I was excited at how enthusiastically my students responded, and when I talked to my friends who work in programming, they all said ‘I would have killed to do that in middle school!’” commented Mr. Elsdon. “I felt like I was on to something, so last year I asked my administration if I could expand the scope into a class dedicated to tech exploration.”

Mr. Elsdon followed through and started the first tech-based program at Monterey Middle School where students now learn programming, app design, robotics and 3D design.

They recently received a grant to buy a 3D printer, so his students are working furiously on designing stuff on TinkerCad and Blender.

“I am in awe sometimes. I love how meaningful the learning is to them… so solution-focused and relevant to what they are trying to accomplish.It gives them such a sense of independence and self-reliance.”

When Mr. Elsdon isn’t busy shaping minds, he enjoys Victoria’s art and music scenes and going up island to surf.

Congrats on your marriage Josh!
Love,

Tectoria.

Filed Under: Tectorian of the Week Tagged With: Josh Elsdon, Monterey Middle School, surfing, Vancouver Island, VIATEC Technology Awards, Victoria

Tanya Gadsby: Drawing Out Ideas

June 4, 2015 by Tessa Bousfield

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Tanya Gadsby is a Graphic Recorder with specialties in infographics and creative videos through her company, Drawing Out Ideas.

Where most would flock to modern, online graphic design, Tanya whips out the markers and pays attention to detail for her clients.

One of her masterpieces was seen at last week’s Spring into Startup event hosted by Pretio, Tutela Technologies, Referral SaaSquatch and Echosec. It was the perfect visual to show guests the startup activity happening in our city.

SpringintoStartups

As a graphic recorder, Tanya helps strategic planners connect ideas and “see the big picture” in order to find solutions. This is done through live graphic recording during meetings or planning sessions. Her area of expertise is health care (She was a Project Analyst with VIHA for 5.5 years), and strategic planning / visioning with boards and executives.

Her whiteboard videos are another great tool for companies to get a point across. She’s always eager to chat about ideas for videos, but they’re so popular that they’re being booked 2 months in advance!

To Tanya, a successful meeting is one where graphic recording isn’t just an “add on” but a key component to the discussion and planning process. It’s not about creating a pretty piece of art, but rather synthesizing the discussion into key themes and making connections between ideas to achieve greater understanding.

To find out more about Drawing Out Ideas, please visit www.drawingoutideas.ca

Filed Under: Tectorian of the Week Tagged With: Drawing Out Ideas, Pretio, Referral SaaSquatch and Echosec, Spring into Startup, Tutela Technologies

Zach Sousa

May 28, 2015 by Tessa Bousfield

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Zach Sousa just finished designing a low cost 3D printer called “Edge 3D”. And he’s 13 years old…

The printer will be sold as a kit or preassembled and Zach hopes it will be available for sale this summer for roughly $250 (so look out for it on crowdfunding sites).

To keep his creative juices and mechanical hands working, he likes to make projects for instructables.com. His latest “instructable” was instructions on how to make your own 3D printer for under $250 (you can view that here).

Screen shot 2015-05-28 at 4.28.58 PM

Victoria Makerspace (located at the Vancouver Island Technology Park), is a second home to Zach. He started frequenting the space when his family moved to Victoria in spring 2013. Since then, he’s learned about soldering electronics, micro controllers, 3D printing, laser cutting and biotech. And most recently, he teaches the Arduino class at makerspace! This class is aimed at makers with little to no experience with the Arduino. Makerspace-owned Arduino kits are available for use during the class.

“Everyone is helpful [at Victoria Makerspace] and share the interest of making things,” commented Zach. “You can share tools and ideas there, and everyone has a good sense of humour!”

photo 4 (1)

Zach demoing to a full house at TedX Victoria 2014.

When Zach isn’t teaching, he’s attending Royal Oak Middle School. ” My favourite subject is tech ed.” commented Zach. “I really like hands on learning instead of the traditional type of learning which in my opinion, is outdated.”

As for what Zach would like to be when he grows up?

“I would like to own my own 3D printer company (Edge 3D Printers) and make low cost, high quality 3D printers.”

Ya, just your run-of-the-mill goal for a kid… 😉

Zach knows what he wants and is making it all happen, which is why he’s our Tectorian of the Week!

Filed Under: Tectorian of the Week Tagged With: Arduino, Royal Oak Middle School, Tectorian of the Week, Victoria, Victoria Makerspace

Stocksy United

May 21, 2015 by Tessa Bousfield

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The stock photo industry has made a huge pivot thanks to local co-operative, Stocksy United, and they just became a finalist for the Innovative Excellence VIATEC Technology Award because of it.

The galleries on stocksy are jaw-dropping. The images are all unique, colourful, full of imagination and something you might rather hang on your wall then put in a brochure.


There are many differences between Stocksy and other stock image companies, one of which is Stocksy’s photographers are invited and curated into the collection. This means you don’t have to search through endless pages of images to find something good, they do that for you.

Stocksy also doesn’t stop at photography.

They feature one-on-one interview pieces, travel stories and even food recipes. All with stunning photos to back-up the well written content, of course. You can spend hours on this website.

Screenshot (1)

To top it all off, Stocksy United is a multi-stakeholder co-operative, which means all of their photographers are also co-owners of the company.

“Almost every single person who works for Stocksy is also a photographer, from client relations to our lawyer,” commented Brianna Wettlaufer, CEO/Co-Founder. “When we say we love photography, it’s very personal to us.”

They’re collectively driven by their shared vision for creative integrity and sustainable business practices. The community behind Stocksy gains its strength through the open collaboration and support of ideas, experience, and artistic vision.

unnamed

The Stocksy team (united)

“Share the wealth” could also be their motto. Their financial structure is designed to pay out the majority of profits, with 50% of the initial royalty ($5-$50) and 75% of every extended license going directly into the photographer’s pockets. At the end of each year, the co-operative’s profits are distributed back to its members, with their membership growing by 500 every year.

“We’ve worked really hard to be where we are today,” commented Breanna. “It’s been two years of grit and sacrifice while being crammed into a small office with workstations on top of each other. We’re just finally coming up for air and are making time for fun together.”

At the end of last year they moved into their new, custom-renovated office in Market Square.

“The transparency of being a co-op definitely shows in our day-to-day business,” commented Breanna. “We have an open floor plan, collaborative workspace, and a fairly flat hierarchy. Everyone knows what every department is doing, and we are accountable to each other and respect each other. And one day soon maybe we’ll get a ping pong table.”

The team is incredibly proud that Stocksy is based in Victoria, BC and they are really excited to see the tech scene taking off here.

“Stocksy isn’t the most ‘out there’ socially, but we are here to support the tech scene any way we can. If you need photos, let us know! Or even stop by Fridays after 3:30 pm to come say hi and have a beer.”

Their office is located in Market Square and their photographers are… everywhere!

www.stocksy.com

Filed Under: Tectorian of the Week Tagged With: co-operative, johnson st., johnson street, market square, photographers, photography, royalties, stock, stock photos, stocksy, stocksy united, tectoria, Tectorian of the Week, Victoria

Jason Long, Engenuics

May 14, 2015 by Tessa Bousfield

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Jason Long created Engenuics 15 years ago in Calgary, without even realizing it.

Engenuics innovates custom hardware and firmware for companies all over the world and they’re based in Victoria, right beside CAMACC Systems and Schneider Electric off Keating Cross Road.

Just after the “Y2K” frenzy at the millennium mark, Jason (Founder and President of Engenuics), began trying to learn what wasn’t being taught in electrical engineering programs; the exciting, practical, hands-on stuff. He decided to start teaching for free in Calgary to peers as a way to be accountable so he couldn’t throw in the towel easily. The room started to fill up and before he knew it, 10 years had gone by.

In 2010, he officially incorporated Engenuics. In 2012 he was full time with the company and won a prestigious engineering award for his mentorship. In 2013, he moved to Victoria, found VIATEC and Engenuics became a finalist for Startup of the Year at the VIATEC Technology Awards.

“The orca we scored is hanging from the ceiling in the office,” reflected Jason. “We started to get to know the VIATEC team while working hard to build relationships with people on the island, and we were lucky enough to get a couple of nominations. Prepping for [the award] was a great experience and working with VIATEC to do the video was awesome. For a little company like Engenuics, that nomination really was significant and we were able to leverage it. It was humbling to be up there with some pretty amazing companies.”

The company has been unstoppable since. “[In 2013 we were] bursting at the seams with ideas but cautiously progressing as a bootstrapped company has to do,” explained Jason. “Now in 2015 we have an office, four employees, and some crazy good things are happening.”

L to R: Cameron Smith, Alex Koszegi, Jason Long and Emily Elias: the awesome team that is Engenuics Technologies.

L to R: Cameron Smith, Alex Koszegi, Jason Long and Emily Elias: the awesome team that is Engenuics Technologies.

The team at Engenuics supports electronic developers and hobbyists by providing excellent learning platforms and essential tools born from their own design work of embedded systems.

“We try to find a way to teach through all of the work we complete, and thus have a growing lineup of valuable training courses unlike anything that exists,” commented Jason.  “What we’re really striving towards is redefining how engineers in the industry are trained, and our very unique experience enables us to build relationships between companies, universities and students in a rather glorious win-win-win way.”

Students having fun soldering at the first MPG at UVic in 2013.

Students having fun soldering at the first MPG at UVic in 2013.

This year is looking very promising for Engenuics; they’re right at their tipping point. A few weeks ago they invited Grade 8 students to get a glimpse of Engenuics and they were all able to dive in by soldering devices, the hands-on approach Jason is so passionate about. They have also launched youth summer camps and they’ve formed a great relationship with a major electronics company (more details being announced soon). Lastly, with the success of their free program at UVic and three other schools, they’re upgrading their university program and hope to offer it to even more schools.

“I want to keep growing as a company and as an individual so that I can reach more people. I love to give stuff away, and usually it’s my wife who reminds me that a company is supposed to make money at some point. But hey, we pay our bills, and even though I make less than our co-op student and I still clean the office toilets, I have never been happier and more excited about what I do each day.”

Jason Long presents Brody Holden with the MPG bursary at the UVic wrap-up party on March 26, 2015.

Jason Long presents Brody Holden with the MPG bursary at the UVic wrap-up party on March 26, 2015.

Filed Under: Tectorian of the Week

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