Insights with Don Mills and David Campbell- An Acadia Broadcasting Podcast

In the latest "Insights" podcast, Jean-Paul Boudreau, the President of Mount Allison University and "CEO of Optimism," underscores the many roles that the post-secondary institutions play in the communities where they are located, especially smaller ones like Sackville.Beyond the role of educator, universities are important economic enablers as an employer and consumers of goods and services; as innovators and researchers; as incubators for entrepreneurs; and as community partners."It's the largest employer in Sackville, the majority of our faculty and staff living in the local area that includes, of course, Amherst, Moncton, Memramcook, Port Elgin," says Boudreau."Twenty-three hundred students, local landlords, services, grocery, retail, and restaurants. If you want across campus you'll see a number of renovation projects going on. You'll see building projects, the delivery of goods and services...These bring people and dollars to this community."The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca/atlantic-canada-is-home/

It is hard to overestimate the impact and importance of the contribution of the Nova Scotia Community College to Nova Scotia's economy and the communities where the College has campuses.In this episode of the "Insights" podcast, Don Mills and David Campbell talk to CEO Don Bureaux about the transformation of the institution over the past 20 years, its role as an employer and economic enabler, and its success adapting to changing labour market needs."We exist ... to produce the human capital for the economy," says Bureaux. "Approximately 90 per cent of our students are working within six months of graduation within their field of study. About 90 per cent of those graduates are working in the province of Nova Scotia. Even more impressive, a large percentage are working within the county or the next county in which they studied.""So we tend to have students who live in their community, study in their community and work in their community."We also talk about the increasing collaboration between the College and the universities in the province and the work of the College directly with the private supply to train workers to meet increasing job demand.The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca/atlantic-canada-is-home/

On the latest episode of the "Insights" podcast, Don Mills and David Campbell are continuing their series of conversations with organizations helping to foster innovation in Atlantic Canada. Don and David talk with Dr. Beth Mason, the Chief Executive Officer of the Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment located in Cape Breton.Listeners may be surprised to hear the organization is one of the larger research and development organizations in the region with 40 staff. The Centre is working with 40+ companies to develop innovative new bio-economy and green energy ideas.Dr. Mason has big plans for the bio-economy and clean technologies in Nova Scotia. Could Cape Breton develop a model and the results we have seen with the PEI bio-economy?"When I came here what I saw was Cape Breton when I left it more than 30 years ago - dying primary industry and a hotbed for future innovation," says Dr. Mason."The challenge was we just weren't recognizing that. The longer you don't recognize it the longer you stagnate. But if you think globally about what the world needs today, there is absolutely no reason you can't do that in Cape Breton, in Nova Scotia, in Atlantic Canada, in Canada as a whole."Up next we will be talking to Michelle Simms, the President and CEO of the Genesis Centre at Memorial University.  Lots of great things happening in Newfoundland and Labrador these days.  Subscribe to the Insights podcast wherever you get your podcasts and never miss an episode.The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca/atlantic-canada-is-home/

The Huddle "Insights" podcast has now surpassed 25,000 downloads since it was launched a little more than a year ago. And the show's most popular episodes are with the region's successful entrepreneurs. The feature interview with J.D. Irving, Limited Co-CEO Jim Irving topped the list. He emphasized that the key to growth for companies in the region is population growth and immigration.“If people feel welcome they generally stay if there are reasonable opportunities,” says Jim. “Just like we tell the government, money goes where it’s wanted. Well, people will stay where they’re wanted," he told "Insights" hosts David Campell and Don Mills.“There are always opportunities,” says Jim. “Number one, though, we’ve got to get the population up. There are going to be limited opportunities if we have a declining population.”The interview originally aired in April of last year, but the issue and Irving's analysis still resonate today.The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region."After more than 50 conversations with some of Atlantic Canada’s top business and government leaders, I am more convinced than ever that the region has a bright future," says Campbell. "We have many challenges ahead of us and I look forward to shining a light on those challenges in the months ahead through the Insights podcast."Campbell says the podcast is offering a unique perspective in a fast-growing global podcast market."There are more than three million podcasts on Spotify and Apple podcasts but as far as I know only one that is going deep on the economic and demographic issues that matter to us here in Atlantic Canada. It’s worth an hour of your time each week."Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca/atlantic-canada-is-home/

Innovacorp is the only organization of its kind in the region, perhaps the country, that combines incubation, acceleration programming and funding to the start-up community.Its one-stop approach has been proven successful, recently celebrating its first unicorn investment where its investment of $3-million in Meta Materials Inc. six years ago has returned $101-million to the crown corporation. Innovacorp operates three separate incubation facilities, the Labs, the Bays and COVE."They have utilized all of the services at Innovacorp. They've been in our incubation facility. They've used all of our acceleration programs. We invested capital in them," said CEO Malcolm Fraser. "We believe doing all of those things...provides a higher likelihood of success for these companies."In his conversation with Don Mills on the latest episode of the Huddle "Insights" podcast, Fraser talks about the focus of Innovacorp and its success, as well as the increasing collaboration within the region with similar organizations.You can listen to the conversation with Cooper in the player above. Better yet, search for “Huddle Insights” on a podcast platform like Apple or Spotify. Follow the show and never miss an episode. You can also listen to past episodes on those platforms.The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca/atlantic-canada-is-home/

As part of their ongoing "Insights podcast series on fostering innovation in Atlantic Canada, David Campbell and Don Mills talk with Jeff White, the CEO of the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF). White talks about the importance of investing at the earliest stage in the life of an innovation-focused company.These early investments allow the firms to attract other sources of capital and ultimately scale their innovative ideas to national and international markets. White says NBIF has generated an average annual return of 6.6 percent over 18 years on the money it has invested in startup companies. Too bad they are not open to individual investors.The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca/atlantic-canada-is-home/

As part of a new series of Huddle "Insights" podcasts, Don Mills and David Campbell are talking to experts to determine what we should do to foster a more innovative economy in Atlantic Canada. New research published by the OECD finds the four Atlantic Provinces invest far less than the OECD average in research and development as a share of GDP.What would it take to encourage businesses to invest more into innovation? How can we better leverage public research and development expenditures to create stronger provincial economies?What is the role of entrepreneurship and innovative start-up companies? This is where we start the series by talking to Matt Cooper, Chief Innovation Officer at Volta in Halifax. Cooper goes deep into how Volta is supporting tech-based entrepreneurship in Atlantic Canada and helping nurture new companies with great ideas.From recruitment support to preparing a compelling business plan for investors, Volta and other incubators around New Brunswick have an important role to play.You can listen to the conversation with Cooper in the player above. Better yet, search for “Huddle Insights” on a podcast platform like Apple or Spotify. Follow the show and never miss an episode. You can also listen to past episodes on those platforms.The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca/atlantic-canada-is-home/

CEO Wendy Luther joins Don Mills and David Campbell to discuss Halifax Partnership's new five-year strategy, which focuses on three themes: People, Planet and Prosperity.This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca.

In this episode of the Huddle "Insights" podcast, Premier Andrew Furey provides a thoughtful overview of the demographic and fiscal challenges faced by Newfoundland and Labrador, the need to diversify the province's economy, and the near term opportunities for the province's oil industry which represents 25 per cent of its GDP in the wake of the war in Ukraine.The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca.

Premier Tim Houston of Nova Scotia wants to be remembered for setting the stage for growth when people look back on his government's achievements decades from now. Population growth is a top priority along with improving access to healthcare, he tells Don Mills and David Campbell on the latest Huddle "Insights" podcast."People drive economies so we need people," says Houston of his ambitious goal to grow the population to two million by 2060. "We know the flip side of that from depopulation. We know what happens when communities lose people. Schools close, stores close, and then you get caught in that negative3 vortex because it's oftentimes it's those that remain are aging. The cycle goes on and on.""The cycle is being broken; the population is turning around. People are realizing what we already know, and that's the quality of life here, where you're never far from a city and you're never far from a beach. You can have everything you want in between, so we have a lot to offer people."In his chat with Mills and Campbell, Houston also says improving access to quality healthcare is his other main priority.This is the third of our exclusive series of "Insights" interviews with Atlantic Canada’s premiers; on the last episode Mills and Campbell spoke with New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs.This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca.