we're making Halton a high tech hotbed!
The Program
On December 14, 2010, at Sheridan College, a presentation was given by Trade Commissioner Mary St. Mary, of the Canadian Consolate in Buffalo, about hi tech company's entry in to the US. St. Mary's presenation covered many aspects and considerations for Halton hi tech companies considering establishing a US presense ( The takeaways bulleted a little further below). The presentation concluded with a panel Q&A consisting of Mary St. Mary and four Silicon Halton members who have experience in the US marketplace. The panel provided a valuable balance to the St. Mary's presentation. The audience was not short of questions for all panel participants, nor was the panel short of real-world answers, perspectives and experiences. We learned again that significant knowledge exists right here in Halton.
Panel Participants (L-R)
- Mary St. Mary, Trade Commissioner, Canadian Consolate in Buffalo, N.Y
- Linda Elphick, CFO of iView Systems, Oakville.
- Martin Drew, President of iView Systems, Oakville.
- Pamela Steer, past-CFO of Fusenet, current Board member of Fusenet, Oakville.
- Scott VanDam, Practice Director, Utilities, Waggware, Burlington.
Presentation Takeaways...
- Export USA / New Exporters to Border States Handbook (PDF) to Upstate New York, Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia
- The DFAIT handbook is available for download here: DFAIT Handbook_states_FINAL.pdf.
- Link to pdf of the Export Development Program for Ontario IT Companies, ITEXus - IT Exporters to the U.S. Boarder States.
- The next "New Exporters to Border States (NEBS) Mission to Buffalo" is February 16 - 17, 2011. This 2-day mission is designed to help new exporters intestigate the process and meet with various organizations in Buffalo and surrounding area. More details here.
- St. Mary's slide deck is below...
View more presentations from Silicon Halton.
Read a members perspective of the meetup here.
Read Oakville.com's report here.
Special Thanks
Special thanks goes to Sheridan for allowing the use of the auditorium. Sheridan was admirable hosts and we hope to be back many times. Thanks Darren Lawless, Dean of Research, and Kelly Karius for all their hard work in making this event possible. Thanks also to the Q&A panel participates - they provided expectional real-world expertise.
World Recognized Institution - While waiting for the event to begin, Silicon Halton co-founder Rick Stomphorst happened to overhear two of Sheridan's students speaking about their school selection. The students didn't know each other; one student was local, the other from China attending Sheridan. When the international student was asked why he selected Sheridan over other internation institutions available to him, he quickly responded that Sheridan's Digital Annimation program is very well regarded internationally. He said that "everyone in Hollywood knows of Sheridan". You can't get a better endorsement than that of an international student who could have went anywhere for his post secondary education!