Refine by MP, party, committee, province, or result type.
Industry committee Absolutely we do, and we encourage it.
May 29th, 2008Committee meeting
Michael Volker
Industry committee I've certainly not seen it. I always maintain there's no shortage of capital for good projects. Our job, and the challenge, is the matchmaking, because I hear the other side. What my office does is to try to bring those together.
May 29th, 2008Committee meeting
Michael Volker
Industry committee It does that, but it doesn't have a mandate to do so.
May 29th, 2008Committee meeting
Michael Volker
Industry committee Yes.
May 29th, 2008Committee meeting
Michael Volker
Industry committee There's another component to it that perhaps Dr. Branda could speak to, being a researcher at SFU who works under that policy.
May 29th, 2008Committee meeting
Michael Volker
Industry committee Well, to your last point, the people I deal with are all science and technology angel investors--i.e., they're successful technology entrepreneurs who've made money building their own businesses and now are willing to put some of that back, both in time and money. That's the differentiating feature.
May 29th, 2008Committee meeting
Michael Volker
Industry committee I'd be happy to.
May 29th, 2008Committee meeting
Michael Volker
Industry committee Another example is the New Ventures BC competition we run. We have the University of Victoria, the University of British Columbia, and Simon Fraser University working collaboratively on that. In fact, the three deans of business from those respective schools are on the board of directors of that competition.
May 29th, 2008Committee meeting
Michael Volker
Industry committee Were you asking about where the money came from within the fund?
May 29th, 2008Committee meeting
Michael Volker
Industry committee The answer to the first question is that currently there are about 150 investors. These are private individuals, typically accredited investors, and typically successful entrepreneurs. I have a list of over 500 of these people who are invited to our monthly meetings. They're all accomplished and experienced people who are willing to put money into new ventures.
May 29th, 2008Committee meeting
Michael Volker
Industry committee In my experience, and certainly in this community, there's a wealth of accomplished entrepreneurs willing to invest in young new start-up entrepreneurs, people who are willing to put their time and money in. I run this angel network in Vancouver and have been doing it with my colleagues from UBC for over 10 years now, and there's no shortage of entrepreneurship in this province.
May 29th, 2008Committee meeting
Michael Volker
Industry committee And pumping up the students.
May 29th, 2008Committee meeting
Michael Volker
Industry committee Absolutely I can. It's a key component of the New Ventures BC business competition that Soren referred to and that we do jointly with UBC and the University of Victoria. What is consists of is accomplished, experienced business people—entrepreneurs and investors—who work with the start-ups.
May 29th, 2008Committee meeting
Michael Volker
Industry committee IP protection, marketing analysis....
May 29th, 2008Committee meeting
Michael Volker
Industry committee Oh, I'm sorry. Speak of the devil--the BlackBerry. I have one quick comment. One recent initiative we've embarked on is the Western Universities Technology Innovation Fund, which is very instrumental in funding pre-venture capital companies. This is a fund that we set up using provincial tax credits.
May 29th, 2008Committee meeting
Michael Volker