"The way the community has responded to the decline of Nortel, having ridden that trough through, it's very striking," said Louis Zacharilla, who toured the city yesterday.
Mr. Zacharilla added he was impressed with the level of entrepreneurial spirit shown by many former Nortel employees and others in Ottawa, along with the city's strong sense of technological collaboration. "And (local firms) are mining innovation and talent here through a range of collaborative processes."
His organization named Ottawa one of the top seven intelligent communities in the world earlier this year.
One of the seven will be named "Intelligent Community of the Year" at the New York-based ICF's Broadband Economy Summit on May 21.
"I'm also struck by the mentorship in Ottawa – there's a signficant level," he said, naming local technology magnates such as Terry Matthews and Denzil Doyle. "I'm struck by the way these fellows, who have done very well, really find the time to reach into the emerging entrepreneurial class.
"That's a great asset and it's very unique, and wherever I go I've heard that come up about Ottawa again and again."
ICF sends representatives to tour every nominated city, he said, adding the trip's purpose was to validate data provided in the city's submission. He'll then write a report to the jury.
"And I try to get that intangible sense about what makes that particular community special. And that ranges, depending on where you are," he added.
OBJ caught up with Mr. Zacharilla after he'd just emerged from a tour of heathcare firm Abbott Point of Care, but that's not the only success story he perused. He also heard a speech that morning from clean-tech firm Ensyn's Robert Graham, and made pitstops at Algonquin College, OCRI, Wesley Clover, IBM and RIM, among other landing points.
Ottawa made the ICF list this past January – comprised mostly of relatively small-scale cities and regions such as Talinn, Estonia; Suwon, South Korea; Dublin, OH; Dundee, Scotland; Eindhoven in the Netherlands and Arlington County, VA – after missing out three years in a row.
Local initiatives included in the submission, according to OCRI, were Abbott Point of Care's Microelectronics Apprenticeship Program; Carleton University's Visualization and Simulation Lab (VSIM); Ottawa Public Library's Digital Inclusion Programs; Algonquin College's Virtual College; OCRI's Entrepreneurship Centre Satellite Kiosks; Wesley Clover's Affiliate Program; the Ottawa High School Technology Program; TalentBridge and Lead to Win.
