A successful innovation partnership between Canadian Tire and Waterloo Region’s Communitech Hub sets an example for the future of Canada’s digital economy, a federal government report suggested today.
The nod of approval is contained in the newly released second edition of Digital Canada 150 (known as DC150), a policy document circulated by Industry Canada. DC150 is an initiative to enhance Canadians’ digital skills and tools as the country nears its 150th birthday in 2017.
The Communitech Hub “was the last place one would expect to find a traditional brick-and-mortar retailer,” the report states, referring to the opening of Canadian Tire’s innovation lab in early 2013, “but this innovative partnership paid off.”
By embedding a team of innovators within the Hub’s ever-buzzing startup environment, the 93-year-old retail giant has been able to “focus on experimentation” as it embraces digital technology to enhance its in-store and online offerings, the report said.
That experimentation has not only led to development of several apps and other tools to help Canadian Tire’s customers, but to an expansion of the company’s innovation footprint in Waterloo Region. Earlier this year, it opened the Digital Garage, across the street from the Communitech Hub’s downtown Kitchener facility, to increase the pace of its prototyping activities.
The success of the partnership – the first of several in which a non-tech company has docked with Communitech – speaks to the growing interest among large corporations to tap into the technical prowess, agile thinking and collaborative culture that define the Waterloo Region tech ecosystem.
Since Canadian Tire’s arrival, TD Bank Group, Manulife, Canon and Deloitte have opened their own labs in the Hub. These activities not only benefit the large corporations involved, but they provide local startups with access to big national and international brands that they wouldn’t otherwise enjoy, said Iain Klugman, CEO of Communitech.
“At the end of the day, our work at Communitech is about creating opportunities – for our startup entrepreneurs to compete and win among the world’s best, and for large companies to solve problems more quickly and creatively,” Klugman said. “Canadian Tire has shown us that when everybody works together, everybody wins.”
The DC150 report also highlights the government’s open data initiatives, including the establishment of the Open Data Exchange (ODX), a joint initiative between the federal government, Communitech, Waterloo Region tech firms and the University of Waterloo.
The aim of the $6-million project, which officially launched in May, is to unlock the commercial value of public data stored behind government firewalls and encourage the formation of new businesses around it.
