May 2023

Kootenay Lake Innovation Centre (KLIC) is in its third year of operating a Non-Profit Society for Open Source Technology & Creative Coworking Space from the Kemball Building in Kaslo. Our community has the opportunity to blend creativity with business development in a shared space with innovative programs. We accommodate youth, older adults, creatives, non-profits, technologists and entrepreneurs to grow business with a new economy workforce.

Our community received a grant from the Province of BC of $1 Million Dollars towards building improvements for the Innovation Centre. Village of Kaslo will conduct a construction management procurement review but the top tenant priorities are the following, which will allow us to retain and support our members.

HVAC: Heating/Cooling fixed for year round comfort

Carpets/Flooring: Remove to replace with modern, durable and sound dampening material

Windows/Curtains: Easy to open efficient windows and best shades

Painting: Complete makeover inside – we love neon 😉

Lighting: Suggest options for new efficient lighting and consider ambient and lamps

Datacenter: Consider what we need for datacenter room in basement

Kitchen/Lounge: Sink & small space to store dishes and food for all tenants

Where? Kaslo, but part the Kootenay coworking and innovation centre collective in the region.

What? Creative and digital technology spaces tied together with fibre internet and programs that educate and develop applications for the wealth of the community and environment.

Who? Community Leaders & Sponsor Organizations will support intergenerational programs.

When? 2023

Why? Digital Technology is the number 1 industry on earth and BC is a national supercluster. Regenerative business is key to integrate the needs of society with integrity of nature. We need better civic engagement events around these topics and support the creation of affordable living so everyone can focus on, and invest in climate action.

How? We will support the community digital and regenerative transformation with our own application and infrastructure development. These products will replace many of the most used of mainstream proprietary applications and we will create new and major revenue streams for the region. Please read about the LightWeb. We will also attract new entrepreneurs to the smart regions to work with locals into the community. Our civic engagement platform will bring forward solutions to housing, food and resilience.

Highlights

• We have spent hundreds of volunteer hours so far, and are breaking even with some membership growth during a global pandemic
• Partnered with all coworking spaces and innovation centres in the region for growth
• Partnered with Kootenay Association of Science and Technology for startup programs and started our first cohort with the Investment Readiness Training
• Partnered with Coworking BC for operational and marketing support
• Officially recognized as a member of the Canadian Accelerator and Incubator Network representing 100+ top innovation centres in Canada
• Listed on an international network of coworking spaces called Deskpass
• Completed 2 summers of weekend music shows with the Langham serving thousands with critical culture
• Started the Kootenay Lightweb open source software and datacentre
• Completed a large fundraiser for KLIC programs: Camp Kaslo for Jazzfest
• We are actively working 3 subgroups, each with their own leadership and volunteers including Tech Team, Resilience Group and Creative Collective
• We have supported 12 people into new careers with our digital technology program
• We are working towards installation and operation of a unique community datacentre
• We are continuing to write grants and corporate sponsors for programs, infrastructure, operations
• We have letters of support from organizations including Selkirk College and Chamber of Commerce

Team

9 board members and 12 regular members

10 partners including The Langham Cultural Center, Selkirk College, Kootenay Associate of Science and Technology, Coworking BC, Canadian Accelerator and Incubator Network, Kaslo infoNet, Chamber of Commerce, Village of Kaslo

Hundreds of people who have attended events at the Kemball and support us in our initiatives

Space + Service Desires

• Community Cloud with computing services including application development for local business
• Comfortable furniture, phone booths, meeting technology, expandable spaces + lounge and kitchen
• KAST Startup: connection to coaches + consultants in technology, marketing, operations etc.
• Living Lab, including real affordable housing for locals and entrepreneurs who need to spend more on their business and less on living. Health, Wellness and Creative Spaces.
• Kootenay OS Programs (below)

Action Plan

Q1 2023

• Launch open source software and datacentre program Lightweb and solicit community for support and feedback on next apps to develop
• Monthly community engagement events and technology programs below
• Fine tune business plan with revenue generating product and membership goals for program and operational funding from sponsors

Our Programs

Technology Programs

Blockchain

Our current Selkirk College partnership includes these courses taught by Board Member Dan Nesbitt. Contact us if you’d like to join!

1. Blockchain 101: 2 courses on concepts and 2 courses for those interested in development. 

Blockchain Concepts I

• Blockchain historical development
• Bitcoin Overview
• Cryptographic primitives: Hashes (aka cryptographic digests), public key encryption, digital signatures
• Wallets: managing and protecting crypto assets
• Consensus: network models, corruption tolerance, sybil resistance
• Consensus: security, attacks and incentives, Proof of Work (PoW), Proof of Stake (PoS), Proof of Authority (PoA)
• Ethereum: Decentralized Apps, EVM, and the Ethereum blockchain
• Legal aspects and regulation

Blockchain Distributed Application Development I

• Perform Bitcoin transactions using python-bitcoinlib
• Programming in solidity
• Deploying Ethereum smart contracts using web-browser based tools (eg. Remix)
• Developing, testing, deploying Etereum smart contracts using Hardhat
• Creating Ethereum tokens extending Open Zeppelin standard based contracts using Hardhat

Blockchain Concepts II

• Non-fungible tokens
• Composable non-fungible tokens
• Oracles: integrating real world data and event triggers with smart contracts
• Counterfactual instantiation and off-chain data storage
• Scaling the blockchain: payment channels and state channels
• Scaling the blockchain using optimism and using SNARKs
• Privacy: de-anonymizing the blockchain and mixing
• Recursive SNARKs

Blockchain Distributed Application Development II

• Escrow contracts
• Non-fungible tokens: Create a custom NFT by extending Open Zeppelin ERC721 contract
• Composable Non-fungible tokens: Create a custom NFT by extending Open Zeppelin ERC721/ERC1155 contracts as per ERC998 standard
• Oracle integration: Integrate Chainlink data-feeds and secured HTTP GET
• Counterfactual instantiation
• Student defined project

Web Development and UX Design Cohort Spring Summer 2022

Our partner BrainStation has worked with the province to create an opportunity for British Columbian’s to upskill and become Developers or Designers through our digital skills training programs. Thanks to this partnership, there are some upcoming cohorts​ that could allow you to participate in our tuition-free Web Development and User Experience Design Bootcamp programs.​ Our Bootcamps are educator-led, taught online live and allow you to learn from the comfort of your home. We focus on interactive ​Project-Based Learning (outcome focused) so you can get hands-on experience as you go through the program. While you are in the program, our Career Accelerator Program runs at the same time. Which includes a number of professional development workshops as well as 6 months post-bootcamp support to help you land a job as a Web Developer or UX Designer.

​If you have thought about becoming a developer or designer, or simply curious to learn more about these career paths and how we could support you, let’s connect!

Eligibility Criteria

1. Must be 18 years of age or older.

2. Must be a Resident of British Columbia

3. Must be a Canadian Citizen, Permanent Resident or a Protected Person entitled to work in Canada.

4. Must be underemployed (working less than 30 hours a week)

5. If you are receiving Employment Insurance (EI) or Income Assistance (IA) there is an additional form you must submit to the Federal Government in order to enrol in either program.

6. Must not currently, or have previously enrolled in another federal or provincial funded program within the last 12 months

UX Design

UX Design—an abbreviation of “user experience design”—is the craft of making the user’s experience when interacting with a digital product as effective, efficient, and pleasant as possible: the process of building products with the user in mind. A UX Designer’s work touches the entire end-to-end journey of a user’s interaction with a product, and includes identifying new opportunities for the product and business.

Web Development

Think of all the websites you have used over the years – Web Developers built those sites, making sure they functioned properly and performed in ways that allowed for a great user experience. Web development is closely related to the job of designing the features and functionality of websites and apps (often called “web design”), but the “web development” term is usually reserved for the actual construction and programming of websites and apps.
Established in 2012, BrainStation is the global leader in digital skills training, and has trained 250,000+ professionals for careers in Technology.

Next Steps If interested in learning more, please email us at klic@kootenays.org