When David Alston travelled to Estonia two years ago to film the documentary Code Kids, he saw a country decades ahead of its time. Not only had the education system infused coding into its curriculum, the government had embraced the cloud and adopted an entrepreneurial culture. Unable to tell bureaucrats from entrepreneurs, the culture of innovation made a lasting impression on this East Coast entrepreneur that he applies to his work in Canada.
“(Estonia) skipped a couple of generations and built their entire government on the cloud. This is where government should be… Why don’t we adopt similar technology and get government in the cloud?”
Championing this forward thinking approach in his home province of New Brunswick, this serial entrepreneur (Alston is the talent behind Salesforce Radian6, Brilliant Labs and Introhive) is leading a movement to build Atlantic Canada into a cluster of startup provinces.
In this episode of the #StartupPodcast, host Rivers Corbett chats with Alston on the opportunities for the small and agile provinces of Atlantic Canada to become global leaders in entrepreneurship and innovation.
The Startup Canada Podcast Show is a production of Startup Canada, a grassroots, entrepreneur-led movement to bring together, celebrate, and give a voice to Canada’s entrepreneurship community. On the podcast, award-winning entrepreneur host Rivers Corbett speaks with the movers and shakers of Canada’s entrepreneurship community to give a glimpse into the future of business, and share insights on everything from social innovation to the future of work, investing, and why we need to think bigger to take our businesses global. Join Rivers Corbett for new episodes every Tuesday airing at 10 AM ET for lessons, trends, and opportunities in entrepreneurship from Vancouver to Fredericton; and Israel to Peru.
You can find every episode of The Startup Canada Podcast Show at www.startupcan.ca/podcasts/.
