Lexpert Magazine

LEXPERT MAGAZINE | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 63 BY GEORGE TAKACH TECHNOLOGY Canada's innovations have included high-tech IMAX, but also the snow plough, Canada Dry ginger ale and Pablum Happy Innovation Birthday, Canada! THIS MONTH, January 2017, marks the start of Canada's 150th year as a nation. During this sesquicentennial year you will see many celebrations of the anniversary — in print, digital media and otherwise — of some aspect of our heritage. My own contribution to this noble and useful effort of self- congratulation is to re- mind us of how innovative a people we are when we put our minds to it. is is impor- tant, because the success of Canada over the next 150 years will depend even more on our capacity to innovate. Remembering our past successes isn't just for feeling good; it's also for inspiring us to step up our in- novation activities. IMAX 'EDUTAINS' THE WORLD Speaking of birthdays, right around my tenth my mother took my older brother and me to Expo '67 in Montréal. I well remember standing in the Canadian pa- vilion, wowed by a multiscreen, split-image audiovisual presentation. I thought it was very cool. Little did I know that it was a precursor to an equally niy new filmmak- ing and presentation system, to be unveiled soon aerwards as IMAX. Invented by Canadians, the IMAX tech- nology has morphed and evolved over the past 50 years. Today there are several ver- sions of IMAX, including a 3-D variation. And what a great international success it is, with some 1,100 IMAX theatres now in about 70 countries. Who says Canadian technology can't be exported around the world at scale? FROM SKI-DOO TO SEA-DOO One lesson to be learned by tech entre- preneur wannabes from the IMAX case study is that you can never stand still in the innovation business; almost by defi- nition, you have to keep innovating once you start, or you'll be le behind. Bombardier Ski-Doos are a good ex- ample. ey are also a Canadian invention, and again, like IMAX, they have a global market (though if you don't have snow in your region, you are probably more familiar with the water cra version of the Ski-Doo, namely the Sea-Doo, which also originated in Québec). Interestingly, though, our winters (re- plete with ice and snow) have always been good drivers of innovation. In 1869 a Ca- nadian invented the rotary snow plough, a precursor of the snow blower we see today on Canadian streets in winter. A year later another Canadian adapted this automated snow plough for the front of a train, which would otherwise be im- peded by a great snow wall that had buried the tracks. e resulting patent was called the Railway Screw Snow Excavator. And yet another Canadian invented the modern snow blower in 1925. (While Canadians appreciate snow, we also love inventing useful gadgets that help us move the stuff in high volumes soon aer it falls from the sky.) Products like snow blowers and the Ski-Doo and Sea-Doo must constantly be updated and upgraded, if they hope to remain relevant and competitive. And so I was delighted to hear recently that a group of young entrepreneurs in Québec is working on a new model of Ski-Doo with a drive system that will be entirely electronically powered. Beyond the positive impact on GHG emissions, there will be the not insig- nificant benefit of a quiet vehicle. Hikers, cross-country skiers, and others who walk rather than ride through the great Cana- dian forests will really appreciate this inno- vative breakthrough in "Made in Canada" electronic drivetrain technology. HOCKEY AND ITS PROGENY is phenomenon of constant continuing innovation is nothing new (and the initial invention is just the first step, followed closely by the second, third and fourth, etc., innovation). A good example of this theme in action is our favourite national sport, hockey. Hockey was "invented" in Canada sometime in the 1800s, apparently on the frozen St. Lawrence River. But we did not stand still on our hockey-invention laurels. No siree! Instead, we invented various hockey "product extensions" that we now know as numerous products and services. Examples from the hockey world, you ask? Well, no snickering, please, but in 1927 a Canadian filed a patent application for the jockstrap hard cup (there's another emblematic Canadian trait: safety in all things). en, in the 1930s, yet another breakthrough: this time the invention of the table hockey game. Meanwhile, back on the real ice, in the late 1950s Jacques Plante invents the goalie mask for hockey players. Net-minders in the world's fastest game — especially when the small, hard disk comes hurtling at the goalie — all owe Plante a huge debt of gratitude. Very oen innovation is a boon to human health and to wellbeing in a very direct sense. PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK | COLUMNS |

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