National Post Thursday, September 30, 1999 - Business High-tech sector discovers the wonders of rural Newfoundland By Beth Ryan, Financial Post
Owners of high-tech companies in rural Newfoundland say their isolated locations aren't keeping them out of the international marketplace. Throughout the 1990s, politicians have touted technology as a means to reinvigorate rural communities. Dozens of entrepreneurs responded by establishing businesses in small towns around the province, specializing ineverything from Web page design and software development to marine communications. About 30 high-tech firms operate in the province outside St. John's, up from only a handful five years ago. Some are home-based operations, employing one or two people, others have up to 30 staff. - The founders of IES Health Technologies Inc., Kim Crosbie and Stephen Mercer, grew up in small towns on the province's east coast and that's where they wanted to settle down after graduating from Memorial University. IES created a computer game that helps children with asthma manage their condition. Their partner is Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. "It didn't make a difference to them that I was based in a rural community. That whole deal came together long distance, with me in our home office in South River," says Ms. Crosbie in Conception Bay North, more than an hour's drive from St. John's. - On the island's west coast, Innova Multimedia Inc. develops educational software in Stephenville and sells it from China to Chile to Jordan. Its annual revenue is $500,000. Joe Wiseman, Innova's president, makes the pitch and negotiates the details via the Internet and travelling to meet potential clients. "When you're dealing with international markets, location is not an issue. It's not significant to the rest of the world if you're from rural Newfoundland or a city in Ontario," he says. "We can produce software here and ship it anywhere in the world as easily as if we were in Toronto." - Jack Botsford, president of Operation Online, an organization that promotes the high-tech sector, says companies from outside the province have realized that Newfoundland has a steady supply of technically skilled workers looking for IT jobs. A recent example is Data Processing Solutions Inc. of Greensboro, N.C. It has hired 26 entry-level computer programmers to work in Grand Falls, a pulp and paper town in central Newfoundland. It plans to employ up to 100 people within a year.
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