EuroWire March 2017

Transatlantic Cable

Mr De Vynck observed that Google, Microsoft and Amazon all have sizable o ces in Canada and are knowledgeable in immigration matters. He pointed out that these American rms have been known to bring workers to Canada from South Asia or Eastern Europe “to get them closer to headquarters” while they wait to clear the more stringent USA visa procedures.

Technology

A Canadian counter-proposal: welcoming technicians stranded by a US order barring citizens of seven majority-Muslim nations “Canada’s technology community is urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to snap up industry workers caught in US President Donald Trump’s border crackdown, saying that embracing diversity drives innovation and the economy.” When Gerrit De Vynck of Bloomberg News led his report, several major airports were still engulfed in chaos following the issuance of Mr Trump’s executive order denying entry to the USA to citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The overture to Mr Trudeau was in the form of an open letter from dozens of Canadian tech chief executive o cers recommending that Canada o er entry visas, e ective immediately, to those hit by the order. (“Canada CEOs Urge Trudeau to Take Rejected US Tech Workers,” 30 th January) Calling Mr Trump’s order “extreme,” one of the signers, John Chen of BlackBerry Ltd (Waterloo, Ontario), urged that Canada persist with its more “embracing policy” of o ering visas to quali ed people. The reference was to last year’s move by the Trudeau government to create a fast-track visa programme enabling tech companies to bring workers to Canada in two weeks, leap-frogging the usual months-long bureaucratic slog. “In choosing to hire, train, and mentor the best people in the world, we can build global companies that grow our economy,” wrote the CEOs, in a frank appeal to self-interest. Their letter noted the contributions of earlier newcomers. Mr Chen wrote on BlackBerry’s blog that more than half of the company’s executive team and many of its employees, including himself, are immigrants. The tech leaders’ letter prompted a fast response from Ottawa. Within hours of its publication, Canada’s immigration minister Ahmed Hussen – an immigrant from Somalia – announced that any traveller stranded in Canada by Mr Trump’s order would be granted a temporary residence permit. † As for the Canadian CEOs’ opposite numbers in the USA, tech leaders there also condemned the USA ban on grounds that immigrant engineers and software coders are essential to their businesses and entrepreneurship. According to a paper from the National Foundation for American Policy, cited by Bloomberg , some 51 per cent of American companies valued at more than $1 billion had an immigrant co-founder.

The British government’s plans for a sweeping new industrial strategy will privilege the tech sector

“That is why the government is spot on to place investment in tech at the heart of its modern industrial strategy. The ‘industries of the future’ will be tech enabled and tech driven. Digital transformation is the future.” The British government initiative welcomed by Antony Walker, deputy chief executive of TechUK, is Prime Minister Theresa May’s sweeping new plan, announced on 23 rd January, for boosting productivity across every industrial sector of the United Kingdom. As reported by City AM technology editor Lynsey Barber, Mrs May pledged to place the tech sector at the heart of the strategy, with $5.9 billion funding for research and development into smart energy technologies, robotics, arti cial intelligence and 5G mobile network technology. This would be a bigger increase than voted by any Parliament since 1979, Downing Street said. But Mr Walker sees the investment as very broadly bene cial, driving innovation and boosting productivity across all industries. He told Ms Barber, “In tomorrow’s economy, every sector will be a tech sector.” (“Here’s What UK Tech Thinks Of Theresa May’s Modern Industrial Strategy,” 23 rd January) City AM political reporter Mark Sands took note of the general enthusiasm prompted by the prime minister’s industrial strategy Green Paper, with the business community throwing its weight behind the government’s call for businesses and workers “to help us create a high-skilled economy where every place can meet its potential.” (“British Business Groups Welcome Theresa May’s Wide-Ranging Industrial Strategy,” 23 rd January). Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, and Terry Scuoler, chief executive of the manufacturers association EEF, both called the plan “an important rst step” towards more collaboration between government and industry; while the Federation of Small Businesses welcomed $212 million of funding for the new Institutes of Technology.

Image: www.bigstockphoto.com Photographer Zsolt Ercsel

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March 2017