Thomson Reuters Labs made an energetic debut in Waterloo Region today, as a who’s who from the global media and information giant turned out to launch its new data innovation space in the Communitech Hub.
Describing the initiative as “personal” given his family’s deep Canadian business roots, David Thomson – chairman of Thomson Reuters and Canada’s wealthiest citizen – joined President and CEO Jim Smith in cutting a big, red ribbon on the new space, as more than 100 guests and local dignitaries looked on.
The launch coincides with Techtoberfest, Communitech’s annual startup celebration, which runs through Wednesday.
“To be standing here in Waterloo [Region] as this innovation lab opens means more than you can fathom,” said Thomson, 58, in a rare public appearance. “It seems to be not the ending, but the beginning of a journey that has so much further to go.”
With operations in more than 140 countries, 53,000 employees and 2014 revenue of $12.6 billion, Thomson Reuters provides specialized information to businesses and professionals, and sits on vast stores of industry data it collects from a range of sectors.
The company evolved out of the Thomson Corporation, a formidable family media empire that began with the purchase of a single newspaper in Timmins, Ont. by David Thomson’s grandfather, Roy Thomson, in 1934. Once home to hundreds of print publications around the world, Thomson was an early mover into digital media in the 1990s, a prescient transition given the decline of newspapers since the rise of the Internet.
As the latest large company to partner with Communitech on corporate innovation, Thomson Reuters, which formed in 2008, is eager to tap into Waterloo Region’s teeming community of 1,100 startups, not only to help solve problems for its customers, but to hone its own innovation capabilities.
In his brief remarks, Thomson made it clear the company did not hang a shingle in Waterloo Region just for show.
Thomson Reuters Chairman David Thomson and CEO Jim Smith cut the ribbon on Thomson
Reuters Labs at the Communitech Hub, Oct. 13, 2015. (Communitech photo: Meghan Kreller)
“We’re here not to be positioned; to have yet another circle on the global map,” he said. “We’re here to actually find ways to become more relevant to our customers, to our community, to our company.
“I could go on and on, but I wanted you to know that this really means something, and we will put every ounce of our heart and soul into making it, well, frankly, disruptive to ourselves.”
In welcoming Thomson Reuters to the partner area of the Communitech Hub – where its neighbours include TD Bank Group, Canon, Canadian Tire, Deloitte and Manulife – Communitech CEO Iain Klugman underscored the importance of large companies becoming “ambidextrous” as they work to sustain existing operations while simultaneously innovating.
“It really is about being able to do two things at once,” said Klugman, who wrote extensively on Communitech’s corporate innovation model last week. “You need to be focused on driving the existing business, and at the same time, making the bets necessary to ensure you’re not disrupted.”
Smith, who sat down for an interview with Communitech News before the launch party, touched on similar themes in explaining why Thomson Reuters chose Waterloo Region as a base for its data innovation activities.
The full text of the interview follows here:
Q – Why did Thomson Reuters choose to set up a data innovation lab here?
A – I think there’s something really special going on here at Communitech. We have operations in 140 countries around the world; we’re a very global company. And I can tell you, from travelling around like I do, that there’s something very special going on here.
Q – This is not Thomson Reuters’ first or only data innovation lab; you have another in Boston.
A – We’re hoping to have another one in London as well, and we’re having a good deal of conversation about how many we should have. One thing we do know is that, in today’s networked age, a company can’t survive and thrive just upon the innovation within its walls any more.
It’s all about creating networks; it’s all about creating and thriving in ecosystems, and we really want to speed up the pace at which we develop products, the pace at which we innovate for our customers. And we have to find ways of tapping into that innovation, both inside our company and outside our company.
Q – How will this particular lab be different from the others?
A – I think what we have here is a place that will be our foundation. I think what it’s going to accomplish at Communitech is a greater degree of organization and discipline around the infrastructure of the startup community.
I know that sounds kind of odd, but until I came here last year, I couldn’t quite figure out how we could connect a large global company with a diverse startup community, and to do that at scale.
What I saw here was infrastructure and discipline that allows startups to connect with large global companies and innovate quickly, but to take care of all that stuff in the middle that has to work.
Q – What will the success of this lab look like to you?
A – To me, success at this lab will look like faster innovation, quicker time to market and the seeding of innovation throughout our entire company.
Q – What are your impressions of the Communitech ecosystem so far?
A – It’s interesting; I was just speaking with someone about what I thought about this versus other hubs that we’ve experienced around the world.
I think there’s so much a greater sense of community here at the Communitech Hub and, frankly, it’s quite extraordinary.
Q – As a company that collects business data, Thomson Reuters has a front-row seat to the disruption happening across all industries. Quite simply, big companies don’t last as long as they used to. Why is it important for them to engage in ecosystems like the one we have here?
A – Because the world’s changing so fast.
If we’ve done one thing right over our history, it’s deeply ingrained in the Thomson DNA to morph with changing markets.
Think about a company that started in Timmins, Ontario with a small newspaper, and went on to build a great global newspaper empire, and then to completely get out of that and into online digital information the way we have, and to morph in and out of industries in opportunistic fashion, I think that’s core to the DNA of our company. And I think it’s what companies have to do to survive and to thrive.
If we look at the waves that are moving through the world right now, these currents of digital disruption are all about networks and communities and ecosystems. And if we’re going to thrive, we have to tap into those, and we have to be part of that. We have to have a seat at the table.
And how we manage that – although it’s going to be far more ambiguous, and perhaps less comfortable and certainly less controlled than many of our past businesses and lives and incarnations – is absolutely essential if we’re going to thrive in the future.
Q – What are you likely to tell others about your visit here today?
A – I’ll likely tell others just how jazzed I am, and that I can’t believe we actually pulled this together so quickly.
It has been less than a year since I first made the tour here, and started noodling how we might take advantage of this incredible facility and everything that’s been built here.
To be here today and cutting the ribbon and starting off on a journey that I’m so excited about…when I think about my priorities for next year – things I personally want to be involved with – this is right at the top of the list for the coming year.
And the way we’re approaching this is not just to come into a cool place and do cool things. We’re starting off where we should start off: with a real customer problem, real issues to be solved, and big-data issues as well.
We couldn’t be more excited about engaging with a broader ecosystem of developers.
