Authored by: Heather MacLean

Canadian-based Blue Spurs is recognized for their service and product offerings

that enable clients to optimize technology through custom solutions and managed cloud offerings. As an organization focused

on innovation, the entire team is dedicated to continual advancement. This drive to serve clients and continually innovate, results in opportunities to collaborate in the most unexpected areas. The net result? Amazon Web Services (AWS) presents Blue Spurs with an global award for its IoT Blue Kit.

BackgroundWinning the AWS Global City on a Cloud Innovation Award did not happen by chance or in isolation. In fact, the culmination of this award is the direct result of four organizations coming together to make something pretty unique happen.

In late 2016 Blue Spurs’ CEO, Mike LeBlanc and CyberNB’s Managing Director, Allen Dillon and their respective teams became engaged in conversations about what were the latest developments and opportunities in the Internet of Things (IoT) and cybersecurity spaces respectively. Blue Spurs’ business model grew organically into the IoT space, a natural pairing in the world of cybersecurity. CyberNB, a special Operating Agency of Opportunities NB is focused on facilitating a safe

How Collaboration Led Blue Spurs to Win a Global AWS City on a Cloud Innovation Award

“The level of cooperation between two arms of

government and industry is unparalleled. Innovation of this sort has allowed teachers to be a part of a development team for a truly world class piece of educational hardware and software. Education wins in the broadest and most focused ways. Industry gains access to on the ground resource production and vetting. The result is an international award. Outstanding! This model should be in place across all frontiers that intersect with education. The future of this province depends on the teaching and learning of relevant concepts in the most engaging way. CyberNB, EECD and Blue Spurs have hit this one out of the park.” Bill Kierstead, Education Specialist

and resilient internet for Canadians. As a part of their role, they work with local, national and international organizations - industry, academia and government - to execute Canada’s first comprehensive cybersecurity strategy.

Blue Spurs, through their partnership with AWS had a natural link to work with Noodl, a prototyping solution created by

Topp of Sweden in their IoT offerings. Leveraging Noodle technology gives Blue Spurs a unique insights-based process and approach to product and service design, driven through effective prototyping and research.

With technology, expertise and a concept for an IoT kit in hand, Blue Spurs and CyberNB got together to brainstorm ideas on the art of the possible in terms of IoT. “When you expose yourself to new people and new ideas, you never know where it is going to lead,” noted Allen Dillon, Managing Director, CyberNB. “This was very much the case with Blue Spurs and CyberNB. The results have given rise to what we believe is the first of its kind for teachers and students.”

A Learning Experience Theme EmergesSitting around a boardroom table and talking about the art of the possible, the teams started throwing out ideas. Nothing was off the table. One idea lead to another and before you knew it, a theme began to emerge. That theme was tied to skills development.

A significant component of CyberNB’s strategy is focused on skills development and is known as CyberSmart. It’s no secret globally there are one million cybersecurity jobs that remain unfilled. With cybercrime increasing the need for qualified professionals is more important than ever. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, by 2021, the global vacancy rate will increase to approximately 3.5 million.

Developing a strategy that can help mitigate the shortage of cybersecurity professionals is exactly what CyberSmart is all about. In fact, as a part of that quest, CyberNB had developed solid working relationships with the New Brunswick Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (EECD) and the Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour (PETL) along with private and public colleges and Universities

throughout the province. The goal was to start with a provincial

skills and workforce development strategy that could then be used to facilitate, scale and lead conversations for a national strategy. Like Blue Spurs, CyberNB realized that they could not come close to achieving this goal without collaborating locally, regionally and nationally.

“We all want to say that we are collaborating because it’s what we should be doing. However, most of us realize people often collaborate within their own four walls more than they should. That’s not how we think at Blue Spurs. Working with CyberNB and EECD was truly one of the best experiences we have had. Every person involved was rowing in the same direction. Every person involved wanted the Blue Kit to be a tool that would not only teach, but inspire students to develop their skills both in the short-term and over the long-term. Helping foster that kind of passion is something that gets me and my team very excited.” Mike LeBlanc, CEO Blue Spurs.

It Turns Out Size Does MatterThe combination of Blue Spurs’ expertise in IoT and CyberNB’s network and leadership in the cybersecurity space resulted in the idea to develop the toolkit that could be used in high schools and then middle schools to teach students not only about IoT technology, coding, and product development, but also about cybersecurity, and personal and professional protection while on the internet.

CyberNB was able to bring the EECD to the table to discuss how realistic it was to develop this toolset for the school system. Blue Spurs CEO, Mike LeBlanc, knew that there could be challenges working within a school system and had a couple of conditions: let’s make sure that this is possible and that we can succeed. To do that, we needed not only administrative support and buy-in, but it was critical to have teacher buy-in and input.

By bringing the right people together, a plan was forged to engage technology teachers from the onset, getting their ideas and input for the toolkit, test, and build curricula that would actually support the kit. Without teacher involvement, custom curricula, training and actual projects that could be used with students engagement built-in, the risk existed that it would be just another “thing” that already very busy teachers had to learn about.

Blue Spurs realized that there were two very compelling advantages to executing this project in New Brunswick:

First, the relationships with CyberNB resulted in getting access to the right people in a very timely manner. This idea emerged in the fall of 2016 and within weeks, EECD was involved and committed. By the spring of 2017 kits were already being leveraged by teachers in the class.

Second, New Brunswick represents the perfect environment to build, test and deliver products and services. Not only is it easier to leverage relationships and expertise, but because the province is smaller in size it is extremely easy to scale a product and/or service role out. It is a powerful ecosystem to operate from and one that makes it easy to scale for larger markets.

“As this project and this product emerged, it became very apparent to me that while we could possibly do this in another jurisdiction, what really set this project a part from others, is the partnerships that we have and the strength of those partnerships to bring the right parties together in a very fast and effective manner. I don’t believe that we could have moved as quickly and effectively as we did in New Brunswick without the right people to ensure success had we been in a larger jurisdiction. Working with CyberNB meant we were connected with the right people from the beginning.” Mike LeBlanc, Blue Spurs CEO.

“Education and Early Childhood Development

realized that the standard development cycle used in education in the past would not produce learning artifacts and teaching strategies fast enough to benefit students. EECD welcomed CyberNB and industry partners from the onset. The approach had to be collaborative and fast tracked if cyber education/cybersecurity and interrelated learning, coding, and computational thinking were to be included in technology related subjects and integrated Into prescribed subjects across the K-12 curriculum. Involving teachers in the planning, design and beta testing ensured resources were developmentally appropriate, as students provided feedback.” Brian Gray, Director for Skilled Trades and Technology

Heather MacLean is the Marketing Lead for CyberNB and is an award-winning MarComm who has worked in more than seven industries and 20+ countries.

Recognizing Success Early OnIn May 2017, CyberNB hosted the first international CyberSmart Summit with Delegates attending from across Canada and the United States. The goal of the Summit was to start the discussion for a pan-Canadian Skills and Workforce Development Strategy.

During the Summit CyberNB recognized 10 individuals and organizations for their contributions to the industry. Perhaps it was foreshadowing for the Global AWS City on a Cloud Innovation Award when Blue Spurs was awarded one of these prestigious awards for innovation and excellence for the Blue Kit.

Based on the origins of this project and ultimate product, it’s really no surprise that the Global AWS City on a Cloud Innovation Award for Partners in Innovation has been presented to Blue Spurs! We can’t think of a better example of collaboration or partnering. This product wouldn’t have come together without industry, academia and government working together for one possible outcome: success!

To learn more about

www.bluespurs.com

www.cybernb.ca

and how you can be a part of this winning formula

contact CyberNB.

CYBERSECURITY EPICENTREFOR CANADA

Congratulations to Blue Spurs and all their partners that made this a success.