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News From NATI

Year in Review

Thursday, August 17, 2017

NATI's 2013 Year in Review

2013 has been a busy year here at NATI! Through our working partnerships with OceansAdvance, The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, The St. John's Board of Trade, and The International Business Development Agreement ICT group (IBDA), we continue to accelerate the business of technology.

In January, NATI celebrated its 25th Anniversary with our partners and friends at the Rooms, where we commemorated 25 years of success in Newfoundland and Labrador's advanced technology sector.

This year NATI led one pan-Atlantic trade mission toGame Developers Conference(GDC) in San Francisco, and NATI represented the technology sector of NL atBIO Chicago, andOceans 2013.NATI also led a provincial ocean technology trade mission to theNavalshoreConference in Brazil.

In March NATI hosted its annual industry conference,Knowledge Summit 2013, which was themed 'Embracing a Global Vision.' An outstanding line up of speakers and an engaged audience of representatives from private sector, public sector, and students, made for an excellent conference.

NATI supported the creation and growth ofStartup St. John's, and helped marry the local startup community with the National Startup Canada movement. In November, NATI CEO Ron Taylor attendedStartup Canada Day on the Hillwhere over 700 people, including 450 entrepreneurs, met with our nation's elected representatives and engaged in a discussion to foster a culture that celebrates and supports entrepreneurial ambition.

This year NATI alsobrought in expertson topics such as international business development in the ocean tech and digital media sectors, and continues to work with member companies in these areas.

In June, NATI worked with Tedx St. John's to feature the Venture Village, sponsored by Course Park, at the sold out Tedx event. The first-ever Venture Village featured some of the hottest start-ups and small businesses our city has to offer.

In September, NATI helped organize the International Workshop on Atmospheric Icing of Structures (IWAIS), where experts from around the world spoke about various topics related to icing.

NATI also hosted its annualBio Partneringevent in November, and is coordinating the NL portion of theSanofi BioGENEius Challenge Canada.

NATI worked to betterengage with the studentsof the province. Students were invited to attend the Knowledge Summit conference, and partnerships were advanced with several student groups including SIFE, MUNTech, and NL WebDevs.

NATI partners with ACOA to execute theExport Program,andthe Internship Programswhich include theInternational Export Internshipand theCommercialization Officer Internship. NATI's Internship Programs are the only ones of their kind in the province, and support local companies in hiring recent post-secondary graduates to grow export activities.

NATI's Ocean Technology Commercial Initiative (OTCI) continues to support collaborative initiatives designed to augment the capabilities of our ocean technology sector.

NATI has worked hard to ensure that as the voice of the NL technology sector it has been heard loud and clear in 2013 throughsocial media, a constantly updatedwebsiteand events calendar, andweekly newsletter. NATI represents the province's technology sector at outside events, and sits on various committees and boards to give the industry a voice where it needs one. NATI staff volunteer with the IBDA ICT committee, the NL Business Coalition, the St. John's Board of Trade, Startup Canada, and the Innovation Council. Additionally, Natasha Hudson continues to serve on the National Advisory Council for Canadian Women in Technology (CanWIT), extending NATI's reach to a national level.

NATI hosted itsAnnual General Meetingin May where a new Board of Directors was elected. NATI was thrilled to welcome Brad Dobbin, Chris Dillon and Ajay Pande to the Board. These new directors joined Chris Spurvey, Mandy Woodland, Gerard Duggan, Geoff Davis, Terry Hussey and June Turpin to form the 2013-2014 Board of Directors.

Throughout 2013 NATI hosted a number of networking events which were open to members, partners, and friends. The Summer BBQ and Holiday Social reached capacity with almost 200 people attending the Summer BBQ and more than 100 people attending the Holiday Party.

The NATI Board has enhanced itsengagement with Provincial Government stakeholders. This included working with the Department of Innovation, Business, and Rural Development to ensure NATI input in strategic planning consultation for economic development in the technology sector, and working withOCIOto help inform the mandate and support for industry development. The Board has also led thecreation of a communications strategyand media management process with help from Cape Consulting. Additionally, the Board has drafted an initial framework for a moreformal Post- Secondary engagementinitiative.

Going forward the Board will be working towards animproved membership value strategyand membership recruiting, board member recruiting, closing out 2013 fiscal year and organizing the Knowledge Summit scheduled for May 2014.

It has been an incredibly successful year for NATI and for the technology industry as a whole.A special thank you goes out to all of our members, partners, and our Board of Directors for their continued commitment to ensuring the success of the sector.

We look forward to working with you all again in 2014, in what is sure to be another excellent year for the technology sector in Newfoundland and Labrador!