It’s great to have the world come to your doorstep to share new ideas and technologies, but when it comes to resource innovation, British Columbians need only look in their own backyard. B.C. is leading the way in developing new, exportable technologies that are not only changing the way we develop our province’s resources, but we’re having an impact globally.
That was the message Kirsten Enemark of the Council of Canadian Innovators and Jackie Griffiths of Invest Vancouver delivered loud and clear at the Web Summit Vancouver 2025 in May. The event saw thousands of international entrepreneurs, investors and Indigenous leaders gather at the Vancouver Convention Centre to display a vast array of innovation and technological advances.
Speaking on a panel in the Future Economy Summit series sponsored by Richards Buell Sutton LLP, Enemark and Griffiths told a packed audience that B.C. is shrinking the world’s water use, reducing greenhouse gases in other countries and continuing to find new ways to make resource development more sustainable.
“We have a rich history whether it’s in mining or in forestry in sustainable practices that have been developed and that are really so instrumental for us to market abroad and attract new investment,” said Griffiths, CEO of Invest Vancouver.
Invest Vancouver (IV) is Metro Vancouver’s regional economic development service, working to increase economic resilience, strengthen strategic export-oriented industries and attract investment. Griffiths says IV research shows one of the ways to achieve those goals is for B.C and the Metro Region doing a better job of selling the province’s innovation aboard.
“One of the things that we learned is there’s still more work to be done in terms of global recognition. Not only do we want to build up what we have locally, we want to be attracting those strong foreign direct investments,” she says.
“We’re not just sort of a small and medium enterprise, we are on the global stage and we can’t shy away from thinking as big as some of the other jurisdictions. We need to be prepared to take risks.”
Enemark says some of the best stories B.C. has to tell come from the resource sector. Novarc Technologies, a Vancouver-based robotics company, specializes in the design of collaborative robots. Their Spool Welding Robot is the world’s first of its kind in pipe welding application. Enemark says this AI driven technology has huge benefits to resource companies.
“This technology can be used for major projects like pipelines,” she says. “We’re hearing from our members more and more that you can really embed technology into our traditional economic sectors like the resource sector to grow productivity.”
Another example is 4AG Robotics. Based in Salmon Arm, the company is an ag-tech innovation leader, having developed the world’s first fully autonomous, AI-driven mushroom-harvesting robot. Meshing with existing farm infrastructure, this groundbreaking technology automates the delicate and demanding task of mushroom picking. Not only does this result is greater efficiency, reduced waste and the ability for farms to meet growing demand sustainably, it addresses critical labor shortages in the sector.
“4AG Robotics’ technology isn’t just used locally – it’s being exported internationally,” says Enemark. “We have so many other great stories in mining, built environment and water-tech to tell.”
The mining sector in particular is leading the way in developing water purification and waste production technologies that are now being used around the globe. Cities like Tel Aviv are embracing it, as are others, says Griffiths.
“I think in part we need to be really proud of our history – proud of the work we’ve done in terms of that resource focus and let it inform where we want to go to in this new innovative economy,” she says.
Griffiths and Enemark agree that industry and government should work together to help create a policy atmosphere that encourages more resource innovation and market it to the world.
“When we hear that government is announcing major projects, which is great, let’s spur on major projects and remove the red tape,” says Enemark. “Let’s move forward and it would also be really great if layered onto that is a tech strategy so we know what we have to do domestically.”
Griffiths urged a bold approach that would put B.C. at the forefront of the innovation economy.
“I think we have to be prepared to think big and think globally so we can attract the investment we need to be present on a global stage,” she says. “We need a national focus to have an international impact and be a winner.”
Don Hauka’s column appears weekly at Resource Works News.
