We are only scratching the surface of high-tech industry growth across the Okanagan, says the president and CEO of the B.C. Innovation Council.

Carl Anderson said that opportunity has been created by the combination of how upgrading technology expands access to information-related services at lower costs and the Internet information highway continuing to build on the concept of accessing information from anywhere you want and anytime you want.

含羞草研究社淭ech availability has and will continue to be incredibly accessible to each of us. It含羞草研究社檚 what we call exponential scaling, where the cost to execute a particular function drops so significantly that you end up with massive additional capability opportunities,含羞草研究社� Anderson said.

He points to cell phones today as an example of how technology enhancements have become more accessible, and expanded the multiple platform uses that device can serve.

含羞草研究社淭hink about the example of film, taking pictures, and how the machinations of that process have changed to an incredible extent,含羞草研究社� Anderson said.

含羞草研究社淣ow you can do 10 different things with a photo that you couldn含羞草研究社檛 do before, and that is all because the cost behind that has gone down with technology envelopment and advancement.含羞草研究社�

Anderson was in Kelowna last Friday to stage the Regional Innovation Opportunities Tour, offering a platform for industry, government and regional stakeholders to discuss their technology innovation challenges with tech researchers, companies and entrepreneurs.

Andrew Greer, a program strategist for Accelerate Okanagan, said high-tech is a $1.3 billion industry across the Okanagan, with high expectations forecast for that economic impact to widen.

含羞草研究社淚t is trending in the right direction. There are 633 tech companies in the region employing 7,600 people, and we含羞草研究社檝e seen an 1,100 job growth over the last two years,含羞草研究社� Greer told the conference.

含羞草研究社淭his growth is happening in communities like Okanagan Falls and Enderby. It含羞草研究社檚 just not about Vancouver or Kelowna.含羞草研究社�

Green noted that Accelerate Okanagan is a high-tech incubator, one of 14 established across the province, that matches experienced entrepreneurs with tech entrepreneurs trying to grow their companies.

含羞草研究社淲hat we are starting to see now is a growing community of people all swimming in the same direction across our region,含羞草研究社� Greer said.

The province indicates that 95 per cent of B.C. tech firms are small businesses with most employing fewer than four employees.

The Kelowna conference saw participants such as the B.C. Ministry of Transportation, BC Safety Authority, IBM, BC Lottery Corporation, FortisBC and Microsoft share their demands for service technology improvements with local potential technology software developers.

Anderson said in the technology field, typically an entrepreneur will develop a software product, and then face the marketing challenge to to sell the technology.

含羞草研究社淏ut the other side of it is technology demand, where you illustrate where a technology development is needed. Produce a solution of a potential client and you have an automatic market,含羞草研究社� Anderson said.

含羞草研究社淭hat含羞草研究社檚 what is so exciting today. You need both the push and (demand), but the pull has the tremendous capacity for a higher startup survival rate because you are trying to fill a specific need.含羞草研究社�

Anderson said the advancement of the cloud technology is also advancing the scale of processing storage.

含羞草研究社淲hat has happened is we started out with a computer, then we bought a spare hard drive, then we got a server, all in one room. Then we advance to a larger storage facility full of servers with greater storage capacity.

含羞草研究社淏ut with the cloud, now we are talking about millions of boxes of servers up there somewhere. We don含羞草研究社檛 even know or have to know how they work.

含羞草研究社淣ow we can solve computing problems it would have taken you three years to work out on our laptop in 10 seconds by hitting a button to access the information you need in the cloud.

含羞草研究社淪uddenly you are able to solve problems that seemed impossible and doing things you thought would be impossible, and you are doing it for pennies in cost.含羞草研究社�

Anderson says bullish outlooks for the growth of the Okanagan high tech industry are grounded in genuine optimism.

含羞草研究社淲hat is unique here and is really neat is you have seen successful companies develop here and cash out, and the founders stay here,含羞草研究社� Anderson said, referring specifically to the success of Club Penguin which was sold to Disney.

含羞草研究社淐ompanies like that started as an idea years ago, and the people behind them are people you know, you might of had a beer with at some point, and they still live in the community today.

含羞草研究社淵ou see how they were able to cash out and make millions of dollars, and you start to think maybe I can do that too.

含羞草研究社淚 think that has more impact that if a high-tech multimillionaire comes to town and talks about how he made his money, because of that lack of a personal connection.含羞草研究社�