NEXT Canada, GRIT Ed.06, Brain Gain vs. Brain Drain - Magazine - Page 2
Pavla Bobosikova
CONTENTS
BRAIN DRAIN
VS. GAIN
B
Mathieu Plante & Alexandre Vanier
6
A ROBUST COMPUTE
ECOSYSTEM WILL
ATTRACT AND RETAIN
CANADIAN STARTUPS
PLUS
By Graham Taylor
10
IN THIS ISSUE:
BLENDING
NORTHERN ROOTS
WITH U.S. AMBITION
20
28
WAVING TO THE
FUTURE
Q&A WITH
SANDRA
ODENDAHL
By Kerry Roberts
By Shawn Hewat
12
2
CREATING A NEW
CANADIAN ECONOMY
WITH FINTECH
42
GLOBAL
AMBASSADOR
RETAINING EMPLOYEES
WITH THE POWER OF
MONDAYS
By Guillaume Laliberte
By Pavla Bobosikova
BONJOUR MONTREAL:
CANADA’S STARTUP GEM
By Mathieu Plante
ASK A
FOUNDER
By Andrii Tsok
16
18
30
TRYING CANADA’S
STARTUP ECOSYSTEM
ON FOR SIZE
By Mohamad Sawwaf
26
THE CALL OF
THE VALLEY
By Cathy Han
LETTER FROM
THE EDITOR
32
COMMUNITY
NEWS
rain drain and brain gain has been a topic of conversation for many years. In Canada, we have a
great education system which has enabled us to
attract young talent and develop them into future
leaders. The challenge Canada has faced over the years
is, how do we retain the talent that we’ve nurtured?
There are many factors that come into play, and while
we’re not all experts in the field, our choices impact the
brain drain and brain gain flow in Canada.
With this edition, our goal is to give you some insight into why some of our alumni make the choices
that they do. We were also so lucky to have Graham
Taylor, Academic Director of Next AI, and recently appointed Interim Research Director of the Vector Institute, provide his expert opinion on what’s needed to attract and retain talent in the Canadian tech ecosystem.
With over 750 alumni in our network, we interviewed both alumni who have moved to the USA, and
those who have moved to Canada and chosen to stay
here. In interviewing them, I was, personally, very inspired by their stories, what factors impacted their
choices, and their opinions on the future of work.
One of my favourite discussions was with Guillaume Laliberte, Co-founder and CEO of Setter, where we
talked about the need of brain drain in order to have
brain gain in the long run. In his experience, one of the
best ways to represent Canada, is to travel and live
abroad, so that you have an outlet to export the best of
Canadian culture and import the best of another country’s culture. This particularly resonated with me as I’ve
moved away from Canada twice in my life - once to
Hong Kong for 4 years, and once to New York City for 7
years - but I’ve always found my way back home.
For me, and for all the alumni we talked to, whether
they’ve chosen to move away or stay, there’s no place
like Canada. For those who have moved away, they all
see a path that could lead them back to Canada. They
all have a desire to share their experiences abroad and
give back to the Canadian tech community.
If you have a story or opinion you’d like to share on
the topic of brain drain vs. brain gain, please reach out!
Brain drain and brain gain is a fluid conversation, coloured by your opinions and experiences, so the team
and I would love to hear from you.
JAINY TONG
Director of Marketing and
Communications, NEXT Canada
34
10 VENTURES
TO WATCH WHO
ARE MAKING
WAVES AT HOME
AND ABROAD
GRIT, Edition 06; Sept. 2021 PUBLISHER: NEXT Canada, Kyle J. Winters, CEO EDITOR IN CHIEF: Jainy Tong
By Kyle Winters
BE THE FIRST TO RECEIVE GRIT. JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Kaleigh Donnelly, Naomi Heller ART DIRECTION & DESIGN: Olivia Tomic
COVER ARTWORK: Manuel Pasmino | NEXT Canada, 175 Bloor Street East, South Tower #1800, Toronto, ON
M4W 3R8 | grit@nextcanada.com
www.nextcanada.com Charitable Registration No. 81519 8403 RR0001
We do not trade, buy, or sell your information and you may unsubscribe at any time.