PwC announces winners of 'crowdsourcing' competition to define Canada's
future role in the digital economy

Broad national discussion coincides with Canada 3.0 conference

TORONTO, May 13 /CNW/ - After six weeks of heated debate from online discussions about Canada's future in the digital economy, three winners emerged from the 'crowdsourcing' competition called Canada's Digital Compass, hosted by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC). The dialogue was spread among contributors from all parts of Canada and included more than 1,200 site visitors and overall, 70 ideas were submitted for voting.

The categories were judged by a panel from a wide range of industry backgrounds as well as community participation. Each week, starting on March 16, a new subject competition was launched and the five topics were: technology, education, media production, connectivity and policy development.

    
    The winners were:

     -  First place: Brady Gilchrist for his ideas on "World Leadership in
        Digital Health Care." In his summary, Brady believes that digital
        health care is the merger of traditional healthcare with new ideas
        born of digital technology to aid in solving complex problems and
        infusing "net style innovation into solving complicated problems."

     -  Second place: Russell Fordham for his thoughts on "Digital Literacy
        for All Canadians." Russell suggests that for Canada to be a global
        leader in the digital economy, all our citizens need to have the
        basic abilities to function and thrive in this environment, supported
        with the partnership of government, educational institutions and
        businesses.

     -  Third place: Alan Sawyer for "Implementing Temporary Advertising Tax
        Credits to Stimulate Canadian-based, On-line Video Distribution."
        Alan notes that implementing tax credits for allowable expenditures
        on advertising at Canadian-owned, new media content sites would
        stimulate the development of new Canadian sites and increase Canadian
        content available for Canadian-owned media distribution.
    

The winners all received tickets to the Canada 3.0 Conference in Stratford, Ontario which took place May 10-11. The event featured leaders from across the country who continued the conversation on the future of digital media in Canada. "We created Canada's Digital Compass to encourage new discussions to a broad audience on this topic and our goal was certainly accomplished," says Tracey Riley, partner and national leader of the Technology, Information, Communication and Entertainment (TICE) practice of PwC.

Riley was happy with the turnout of participants to the crowdsourcing event and the wide range of topics that were being debated. During the last day of the competition, voting became more frequent and the leader-board changed hands several times. "We had lots of submissions on mobile and wireless project ideas but we were a bit surprised there wasn't more discussion on cloud computing and green tech which are very popular topics at the moment," she said.

Some of the topic ideas that were debated included a copyright model for the digital age, a government department devoted to innovation, evolving liberal arts education into digital arts and why Canada needs fibre-to-the-home.

In the education category, one of the most discussed themes, ideas focused on the opportunity to develop new curricula or educational institutes to encourage, teach and inspire Canadian students to lead in the digital economy. Connectivity was one of the most controversial themes. The winner proposed putting a stake in the ground and pursuing one particular technology to build Canada's broadband infrastructure. The debate continues on the best technology to solve Canada's urban and rural divide that will recapture our global leadership in broadband.

For a full list of submissions and top ideas by categories, you can view the site at www.pwc.com/ca/compass.

About PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

PricewaterhouseCoopers (www.pwc.com) provides industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to build public trust and enhance value for its clients and their stakeholders. More than 163,000 people in 151 countries across our network share their thinking, experience and solutions to develop fresh perspectives and practical advice. In Canada, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (www.pwc.com/ca) and its related entities have more than 5,300 partners and staff in offices across the country.

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For further information: David Rowney, [phone], [email protected]; Jessica Draker, [phone], [email protected]