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Alex Carrick
Chief economist, Reed Construction Data Canada, Markham, Ont.
“The move to green is not going to go away — it’s going to become ever more important. The wave of the future is in all the areas where there’s going to be better use of power, better lighting systems and so on. There’s also the movement toward green buildings, such as the “passive house” [an extreme standard of energy efficiency], which is growing in Europe. Anything to do with electric power is an obvious area of opportunity, because the adoption of the electric car depends on electricity being readily available. And broadband and wireless is an obvious growth area — somebody has to build those networks. Generally, construction firms will have to be more diversified in the future. They won’t be able to operate in just one market segment.” — Ian Portsmouth
Dave Ulrich
Co-founder, the RBL group, Provo, Utah. Named the most influential person in HR by HR Magazine
“The leaders of HR departments face challenges managing talent, changing culture and building capabilities in leadership, speed, accountability, innovation and service. They’re looking for two types of analysis to inform their decision-making. One is workforce analytics: data and statistics that track issues related to people, such as, ‘What is our hiring rate?’, ‘Where do we hire from?’ and ‘What is our employee-engagement score?’ The other type is workplace analytics: data and statistics that track an organization’s capabilities, such as capacity for change and speed of response. These analytics turn managers’ impressions into concrete data so they can make more informed decisions. The HR-services startups most likely to succeed are those that address these areas.” — Kim Shiffman
Jonathan Kallner
National industry leader, industrial markets, KPMG, Toronto
“Following almost every downturn, there is spending on innovation that ends up driving outstanding new opportunities. One of the key areas emerging now is green technologies. Government is absolutely supporting it, and so are a lot of large players in industry. I think the manufacturing sector will play a key role in helping Canada become a world leader in sectors such as wind energy and hydrogen fuel cells. For example, there’s a need for manufacturers that are able to work with turbines and different kinds of composites — the automotive sector is a perfect example of this — to link up with the opportunities in wind power. We have vast manufacturing know-how in Canada, and these skill sets, processes and people absolutely could be utilized in green technologies.” — Jim McElgunn
Alan Middleton
Marketing professor, Schulich School of Business, Toronto
“The No. 1 medical problem after smoking is the rise in diabetes, which is directly linked to food habits. What’s panicking people is diabetes in the young. So, we’ll see a massive increase in food advertisers talking more about what’s good in their food and taking out what’s bad, as Campbell’s Soup has done with sodium. Or they’ll be forced into it — cereal manufacturers are under huge pressure to do so. Unfortunately, governments think that telling people the vitamin and fat content in foods is communicating. The fact that something has 200 calories — is that good or bad? Nobody knows. So there’s an opportunity to create marketing agencies or consultancies specializing in helping food processors communicate to consumers how to eat better, and how to demystify fat, calorie and vitamin content.” — JM
John Williamson
National leader, energy and utilities group, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Calgary
“The big trend in natural-gas exploration is the shift to shale gas, because technology now exists to extract the gas from this type of rock consistently. Drilling companies need specialized extraction equipment, trade schools to train crews and even couriers that can, on a moment’s notice, find a tool, fly it in and drive it to the drilling site. And among oil refiners, profits are being squeezed because of low demand for oil products and a rising price for oil. Yet they need to upgrade their plants to reduce CO2 emissions and sulphur content to meet changing government standards. If you could go to refiners with cost-effective technologies to do that, you’d be well received.” — JM
Retail
Diane Brisebois
President & CEO, Retail Council of Canada, Toronto
“The biggest opportunities are in lifestyle retailing, like Lululemon. There’s still a lot of room there. People are becoming more and more active, and those who are rediscovering physical activity are older and have money. You could find niches in apparel, sporting equipment or providing experiential travel. And you should be looking at product and service niches where people are prepared to pay a premium — where they are not going to shop on every website and visit every store to find the best prices. They’re looking for, in that category, a guarantee that ‘This is going to be the best experience’ or ‘This will be the most comfortable jogging suit.'” — KS
James Bowen
Technology entrepreneur and adjunct professor, Telfer School of Management, Ottawa
“Now that the Human Genome Project is being completed, with the information that we have from that and our understanding of DNA, pharmaceutical companies are pushing toward tailored drug products. So, you don’t just buy a drug off the shelf; you buy one that’s tailored to your DNA. That’s going to be very big. Specifically, the opportunities are in the biotech area for new proteins and in new software for managing and analyzing DNA, as well as for testing drugs against DNA. There’s also a push to have diagnostic units that are at bedside or in people’s homes to avoid long waits. For example, perhaps cellphones could have the ability to record your blood pressure or heartbeat. On-the-spot diagnostics is a big area.” — KS
