Kirk LaPointe: Why B.C.'s innovation framework needs a rewrite for Indigenous tech |
Indigenous participation in the tech sector remains strikingly low, below one per cent. It would take an eight-fold increase for participation to have parity with population.
That gap is often framed as a pipeline problem, suggesting the solution lies in more training, more exposure, and more time. But the persistence of the disparity points to something deeper. The constraint is not a shortage of talent or ideas, but the design of the innovation system itself.
Modern tech ecosystems are built around a narrow set of assumptions: rapid scaling, standardized ownership structures, short commercialization timelines and access to risk capital that expects a predictable exit. Those assumptions work far less well for Indigenous enterprises, because many operate under governance and ownership models involving community accountability, shared equity and longer time horizons.
The economic implications of that mismatch are increasingly difficult to ignore. Indigenous businesses already contribute more than $50 billion annually to Canada’s GDP, despite being concentrated largely in such sectors as construction, tourism and resource services. Technology remains one of the lowest-penetration areas of Indigenous enterprise, so the fastest-growing segment of the economy is also among the least inclusive. For a province that competes on innovation, productivity, and exports, that represents a structural weakness, not simply a social gap.
Indigenous tech entrepreneurs encounter barriers that are rooted in history but enforced through contemporary systems. Access to education pathways, venture and growth capital, procurement opportunities........