At a recent event BC Tech asked our members who sell products, solutions and services into non-tech businesses which industry is most advanced in its adoption of technology.
Unsurprisingly, Finance, Insurance & Real Estate led the way, but it was good to see Manufacturing, Construction & Transportation as fast followers. This aligns with what we see in the productivity stats on these key industries.
Of more concern was what our audience told us about what is commonly thought of as BC’s traditional industries. They are seeing modest uptake of technology in the extractive industries but very little in harvesting industries such as agriculture, fishing & forestry.
Happily, BC Tech has members working in all these spaces who can help BC’s non-tech businesses to accelerate their adoption of technology.
From Semios in agriculture to ThisFish in fishing, MineSense and Ideon in mining, Apera AI in manufacturing and DarkVision in Oil & Gas, BC Tech members are delivering technology solutions globally that can also accelerate the journey of BC’s traditional industries.
We also asked which industries our members expect to see the biggest further gains from greater adoption of technology and here Mining and Oil & Gas lead the way.
This makes sense with environmental concerns and regulations incenting the adoption of technology. Whether it is to ensure that the supply of critical minerals is secured or to minimize the disruption to communities and livilihoods as we manage the transition away from carbon-based fuels, strategic deployment of technology will be key.
With fantastic home-grown innovation and passionate entrepreneurs, if our traditional industries can be persuaded to accelerate their adoption of technology, BC’s economy can thrive in the 21st century. That’s the new economic narrative that is ours to write.
Sign up here for BC Tech’s upcoming thought-leadership webinars, here to access our library of Scaleup Academy content to accelerate business success and here and here to access our New Economic Narrative research reports.
Jill Tipping is the President and CEO of the BC Tech Association.
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