Company profile

Starfish Medical solving the right problems for customers

March 18, 2013 by itsjusthat

Starfish Medical is Canada’s leading medical device development services company, and it’s right here in Victoria. Their mission is to improve health care by enabling and supporting entrepreneurial medical device companies to be successful. At their core, they’re about solving the right problems for their customers.

On a tour of their medical device facility recently, Starfish President, Scott Phillips showed off some medical devices in various stages of completion – a blood platelet analyzer, brain biofeedback device, skin cancer analyzer, heart valve tester, a device that measures implanted lenses, and a chiropractic device. The latter involved the technical experts at Starfish to re-envision the device by carefully thinking through how the chiropractor and the patient interacted with it. “It’s humbling as an engineer,” Phillips said “to work hard at getting the technology right, and then find you haven’t solved the right problem. Our engineers work closely with our industrial designers on the human interface, which is critical to making the device work properly.”

Philips is understandably proud of Starfish Medical’s evolution to a $7 – $8 million company after 13 years. “We hire smart people and have our act together as far as metrics and management systems which are the essence of being a successful company.” Along with that, Starfish has broadened and systematized its approach to solving problems and now helps other companies ask deeper questions so they too can be successful.

An ISO13485 registered company, Starfish Medical employs about 50 people, more than half of whom are engineers. Others are technical and industrial designers, and those who work in manufacturing, quality compliance and regulatory systems, marketing, business development and administration. Regardless of their function, Phillips makes sure everyone fits with the company’s culture that is guided by five principles:

Dig deeper to solve the right problem
Cut to the chase
Respect people and trust their intentions
Learn and systematize
Be open and welcome accountability

What do employees say is the best thing about working at Starfish Medical? “They like the culture, they like their peers and they like doing interesting work. Those are consistently the top three in our surveys,” said Phillips. He has his sights set on growing the company and says there will be opportunities across the board within the expertise they currently have.

As chair of the VIATeC board and a participant on roundtables, Phillips sees huge value in being part of Victoria’s hi tech community. Employees connect to other experts in their field, they participate on roundtables, and attend social mixers. “I’m a big believer in building community.”

What do you think will encourage VIATeC’s growth in the future?

He points to two recent innovations that will help. Accelerate Tectoria that guides and supports local start-ups and Experience Tectoria that brings together top notch education, networking and music. “Connecting entrepreneurs to each other, and to grassroots initiatives like these is just a taste of what’s to come,” he said. “It would be wonderful to see our collective $2B in Victoria tech industry revenues grow to $5B.”

MaryLou Wakefield

Archipelago Marine Research – dedicated to sustainable fisheries

February 8, 2013 by richardd

In the first of a series of articles dedicated to Victoria success stories in the technology sector, MaryLou Wakefield of Wakefield Communications profiles Archipelago Marine Research.

The Archipelago Marine Research offices sit on the waterfront overlooking West Bay Marina with the Straits of Juan de Fuca in the distance. The location is one of the many perks of working in Victoria, and particularly fitting for a company that’s passionate about sustainable marine resource management. Established in 1978, Archipelago is BC’s largest provider of at-sea and dockside monitoring systems for commercial fisheries.

Archipelago develops electronic monitoring (EM) programs, services, and systems for observing, recording, and reviewing fishing activity at sea, including quota-management efforts, protected-species interactions, and by-catch mitigation strategies. (By-catch is a term used to describe fish or other animals caught unintentionally.)

Pointing out the window, President and CEO, Shawn Stebbins sites a number of projects involving development in the city’s Inner Harbour that his company is involved with. “Our role is to take an objective, scientific look at the data and then help people understand and interpret it to address the potential impacts of the development. We remain objective and facilitate the process so others can make the best decision based on the best data,” he said.

Stebbins points to the company’s innovations in electronic monitoring as an example of the products and services that support their long-term vision of creating sustainable fisheries. By equipping commercial fishing vessels with cameras, sensors, and software, Archipelago’s monitoring systems help fisheries manage and account for what is being caught, including by-catch and protected species like marine mammals, turtles and seabirds. While the system is widely used throughout British Columbia, it has potential for application in Europe, the United States, New Zealand, and Australia.

Realizing that potential, the company’s vision for growth in the next two to three years is 10 to 20 per cent with opportunities to bring in new talent for sales, project management, developers and a senior biologist. Archipelago currently has a staff of 170 made up of biologists, conservationists, research and development, engineers, technicians and administrative staff, and a large number of field staff. “We attract people who care deeply about the marine environment and want a balance between work and family. They want to be part of a community rather than just have a job,” Stebbins added. Beyond that, employees must be a fit with the company values of accountability, integrity, innovation, respect and community.

What do employees say is the best thing about working at Archipelago Marine Research? “They like the relaxed atmosphere and flexible working hours. We focus on getting the job done and done well. And, they’re excited and motivated by the value their work brings to the world,” he said.

Archipeligo’s EM Observe™ system on board a typical fishing vessel

What makes the VIATeC community work from your point of view? “It’s an open and collaborative group of smart people who are willing to help and support each other. It feels like we’re all in it together,” he said.

What could VIATeC look like in the future? Stebbins acknowledges the good work the Executive Director and board have done to create strong connections and build community. “I’d like to see it evolve and expand to include more companies and become even more of a magnet for talent.”

MaryLou Wakefield

Seaworthy design software from ShipConstructor

August 21, 2012 by richardd

This is a mean looking ship. It’s actually a “Littoral Combat Ship”, the USS Independence. And what’s that got to do with Victoria, BC? Well, this state-of-the-art US Naval craft was designed with ShipConstructor software.

The Independence is designed to handle submarine, surface and mine threats in the 21st century. It has a crew of 40, three helicopters and carries armoured Humvees and troops below deck.

ShipConstructor is a Victoria firm that offers shipbuilding software that provides design and modeling tools for building marine structures, so that includes oil rigs and platforms as well as a whole range of marine craft from tugs to massive cargo ships. This page offers examples of what the software can be used to design. I also found a YouTube tutorial video of the software in action.

Visual effects from Victoria’s RaceRocks 3D

August 16, 2012 by richardd

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/35586501 w=550&h=300]

One of the most interesting technology companies in Victoria is RaceRocks 3D, which specializes in creating high-end 3D imagery and models. RaceRooks build impressive products for the gaming, film and television industries as well as the business and defence sectors. Clients include Fox, ABC, Warner Brother and the US Army.

On the video above you can see Scott Dewis from RaceRocks talking about the company’s move into defense simulations and its expectations for growth.

You might be unfamiliar with this company but you have probably seen its visual effects on Lost, Pushing Daisies, FlashForward, and Fringe. Take a look at the RaceRocks’ show reels.

Fire watch with Forest Technology Systems

July 27, 2012 by richardd

The dog days of summer are close and that means hearing frequent stories about forest fires. Forest Technology Systems, based in Langford and with around 60 employees, is a company that specializes in equipment that can monitor forest fire conditions.

FTS was founded in 1980 and is somewhat of a secret success. It has developed thousands environmental monitoring systems over the years – both fixed and portable. It also offers products that monitor water conditions as well. Clients are often government agencies that manage forestry in the United States and Canada, but the Mexican Navy is also a customer.

The company creates remote automated monitoring stations that can be placed in the middle of nowhere and stand everything that nature can throw at them. The FTS website has a great story about how a piece of its technology survived a direct lightning strike. Apparently, there are more than 220 FTS remote fire and weather monitoring stations spread around British Columbia. The US Forest Service uses more than 470 of its stations.

Its headquarters, research and design lab, and factory are all located in Victoria. What a great story – a Greater Victoria company leading the way in its field with customers across North America.