I left the McKenna Institute’s Digital Innovation Summit energized. Not because of the technology.
Because of the leadership.
Grateful to Kathryn Lockhart, whose leadership at the McKenna Institute brought the Wallace McCain Institute and the whole ecosystem into the same room.
Frank McKenna said it right: Tracy Bell at WMI and Kathryn, leading together. The sparks. The energy. We’re moving now!
He’s right. And the magic runs at least five deep.
Cathy Simpson at TechImpact, whose Digital Boost program is giving thousands of New Brunswick businesses their first real on-ramp to digital adoption.
Traci Simmons, ICD.D at Opportunities NB rewrote the playbook on supporting companies’ growth: From a jobs creation play to a productivity play. That shift changes everything for business owners scaling
Monica Gaudet-Justason at the New Brunswick Business Council, pulling the province’s bigger business leaders into one conversation about what’s actually possible.
Here’s why this matters.
Most regions talk about AI adoption. Very few have the supportive ecosystem pulling in the same direction: entrepreneurship, education, economic development, digital infrastructure, and industry. All in one room.
All hearing each other. All executing on one vision.
New Brunswick does.
And the movement has already started in the right direction.
A big congratulations to the Sweet 16, the WMI companies leading the way right now.
Because here’s what two years of study from BCG and McKinsey confirmed.
AI only works when it’s CEO-led. When it’s a mindset shift, not a tech purchase. And when it’s done with motivated people, not to them.
That’s the hard part.
And that’s exactly what these sixteen companies are taking on.
But here’s an uncomfortable truth. None of this means anything if more businesses don’t also take up the call.
Not the alignment. Not the leadership. Not the summit.
Ninety eight percent of New Brunswick is small business. The productivity equation only turns when those businesses decide to move.
The ecosystem is aligned. The leadership is here. The opportunity is real.
It is up to every business to drive AI integration.
The question is whether you, as a business leader, will take it on.
