Inaugural Ideas Festival Challenges Leaders to Act
November 5-7, 2008
St. Andrews by-the-sea, NB

St. Andrews, NB - The 2008 21inc ideas Festival brought together brought together more than 200 of Atlantic Canada’s emerging and established leaders for two days to exchange ideas and encourage their application across all sectors. The first of its kind in Atlantic Canada, the festival explored issues ranging from global economic integration and attracting venture capital, to the role of branding and the arts.

Attendees heard from prominent thinkers such as Lt.-Gov. Herménégilde Chiasson, former Supreme Court Justice Michel Bastarache, former Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove, author Antonine Maillet, and innovation guru Richard Ogle.

The Festival was a partnership between 21inc, an organization dedicated to developing entrepreneurial leadership in young people, and the New Brunswick Business Council. It built on efforts ongoing since 2005 to foster a more dynamic and creative New Brunswick. The 21inc Ideas Festival expanded these efforts to the rest of Atlantic Canada.

"We need to change how we think about ourselves in Atlantic Canada,” said Tim Coates, Executive Director of 21inc. “We have a mindset that says we're only successful once we’re successful elsewhere.” Besides hearing from leading thinkers and practitioners, Coates says the Festival will introduce young people to regional business and government leaders, and introduce established leaders to some of the top leaders of tomorrow.

Helen Walsh, Publisher of the Literary Review of Canada, who lives in Toronto and had never before visited New Brunswick, said she was impressed by the festival's unusual and high energy and its demographic diversity: attendees ranged from age 18 to 72 and represented a variety of backgrounds, including journalists and policy experts, business people and bureaucrats, and academics and authors from across Canada and the United States.

Topics explored at the Festival covered issues rooted in the Atlantic Canadian experience yet are still relevant to a national audience, including: innovation, immigration, global economic integration, the arts, energy, and rural renaissance and urbanization.

“Before the Ideas Festival the region didn’t have a forum where like-minded intergenerational leaders could tap into for a dynamic learning experience," Coates said. "We created the Ideas Festival to do exactly that.”

"I believe it’s started people thinking about what’s possible here," Coates said. "With a little vision and hard work we can do a lot in Atlantic Canada."