Automotive News Canada - June 2022 - 16

16
* JUNE 2022
Tech corridor is a pipeline to auto opportunity
SPOTLIGHT
15,000 companies in the
Toronto-Waterloo cluster,
and some are finding their
way into the blossoming
electric-vehicle space
By DAVID KENNEDY
T ORONTO BUREAU CHIEF
THE PATH THAT LED TORONTO'S
Polar Sapphire Ltd. to the auto sector was
hardly a straight one.
The company was founded a decade ago
to produce material used in synthetic sapphire,
widely used for LEDs and as a rugged
replacement for
glass. Today, it's scaling
up production of
high-purity alumina
- used in separators
that keep a battery
cell's positive and negative
electrodes apart
- at a new plant in
Oakville, Ont. Polar
Sapphire is counting
EV battery suppliers
among its chief prospective
customers.
It's one of many
companies in the
diverse cluster along
the 110-kilometre
Toronto-Waterloo corridor
that are branching
out into automotive.
Smith:
Polar
Sapphire's
alumina, a
key ingredient
in some EV
batteries, " has
opened up a
big market
for us that we
hadn't originally
planned on. "
SUPPLIED PHOTO
The burgeoning
segment " has opened up a big market for
us that we hadn't originally planned on, "
said Polar Sapphire COO Dan Smith.
Hamilton:
Tech companies
along the
TorontoWaterloo
corridor
have
much to
offer the auto
industry as
it enters the
electric era.
PHOTO: LINKEDIN
The auto industry's gravitational pull
comes from the big new opportunities in
the sector as established companies grapple
with the revolutions in
electric and autonomous vehicles
(AV).
" Many of the startups we
introduce to our automotive
partners
aren't
focused on the sector
per se and in some
cases never even considered
the sector, "
said Tyler Hamilton,
director of clean tech
at the Toronto startup
incubator and innovation
hub MaRS
Discovery District.
" But the opportunities
are there. "
UNTAPPED TECH
Hamilton and other
experts say technology
companies throughout
the corridor - focused
on everything from
artificial intelligence
(AI) to advanced materials
- are poised to play a major role in
the auto industry's evolution.
" If you break down all the elements of
an electric vehicle - body, powertrain,
entertainment system, advanced navigation,
seating, lighting, battery system,
wheels, communications, cybersecurity -
you start to realize how much you need to
look beyond traditional auto tech firms to
find technical solutions, " Hamilton said.
MaRS uses its partnerships with government
and industry to make the connections
upstart companies will need to commercialize,
Hamilton said.
Like other tech incubators along the
TECHNOLOGY
corridor, such as Communitech in the
Waterloo Region, MaRS is not focused
solely on automotive. But it sees a growing
role for Ontario tech companies
as the emphasis on EV
and AV technology grows.
MaRS was among the early
investors in Polar Sapphire,
and it " wouldn't have even
gotten off the ground " without
the startup accelerator, Smith said.
Today, the company has shifted to scale
up from startup. It plans to ramp up production
of alumina and double its employee
headcount to 60 in the near term.
Smith estimates that about one-third of
the plant's output could be destined for the
lithium-ion battery industry.
'OVERLAPPING CLUSTERS'
From process innovators to more traditional
software-focused companies, the
loose conglomeration of tech talent along
the Toronto-Waterloo corridor totals
nearly 300,000 workers and 15,000 companies,
of which 5,000 are startups, according
to the Waterloo Region Economic
Development Corp.
Not all of these companies are active
in automotive. But Ross McKenzie,
managing director of the University of
Waterloo Centre for Automotive Research
(WatCAR), said Ontario's automotive
heartland - stretching from Oshawa on
the east end of the Greater Toronto Area
to Windsor - creates a ready market for
technology companies.
" It augurs well for the [tech] corridor
to support the automotive sector because
... we're the only jurisdiction in North
America where you have the overlapping
clusters, " he said.
In the United States, the auto industry
is centred in Michigan, while much of
the tech sector is in California's Silicon
Valley, McKenzie said.
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other. "
The simultaneous advance of AVs and
EVs has opened the door for software companies
capable of making sense of the
data that next-generation vehicles rely on.
There's also opportunity for companies
able to help suppliers develop new, often
untested electrical components.
OUTSIDE EXPERTISE
One such example is Vaughan, Ont.based
Kepstrum Inc. Its methodology and
accompanying software help parts suppliers
develop, prototype and qualify new-vehicle
components faster and with less
risk of recall, said Siavash Kianpour, who
heads business development
at the company.
" The
different components
are coming
to market at a really
unprecedented pace.
A really rapid shift
with very limited data,
that's where our expertise
comes into play. "
Kepstrum's process
relies on modeling as
opposed to historical
data, a clear competitive
edge when most
EV parts have not
been put through their
paces in real-world
conditions, Kianpour
said.
There are more than
" Here in Canada, one sits on top of the
McKenzie:
Canada benefits
by being the
only place in
North America
where the
tech and auto
sectors are in
the same region.
FILE PHOTO
The company recently partnered with
parts supplier Stackpole International Inc.
and London, Ont.'s Armo-Tool Ltd. on an
end-of-line tester, based on Kepstrum's
analytical algorithms, to improve quality-control
processes in plants. The
SEE UNIVERSITY PAGE 20
TikTok is a long play, dealer says
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9
social media, it is free to use.
A search of auto dealerships
on TikTok will net dozens of
videos, ranging from whatwe-drive
interviews to vehicle
deliveries, customer endorsements
and vehicle spotlights.
Rarely seen are " buy now "
pitches, said Holtz.
SALES PITCHES ARE TABOO
TikTok users " can smell an
ad coming from a million clicks
away, " he said.
Instead, content focuses on
what viewers care about, such
as a vehicle's computing power
and sustainability. Sometimes,
TikTok users just want to be
entertained, Holtz said. There's
no right or wrong approach,
but " you have to have fun on
TikTok. "
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SC 13749
At Medicine Hat Nissan in
Alberta, sales associate Taylor
Hockley produces and appears
in TikTok videos, including
one in which she shows off her
" ladies " - various vehicles -
while lip-syncing to a seductive
male voice.
" Taylor has been a great representative
for us, " said Sales
Manager Jastej Arora. " We're
being very progressive in how
we market. "
Hockley pitches ideas, and
management ensures that the
content stays within the dealership's
community standards of
good taste, Arora said.
" We've seen [dealership]
traffic coming in through
[Hockley's TikTok] account. "
BUILD THE BRAND AND A BOND
Tsai said TikTok is most likely
to succeed when the vehicle
is the type a typical user of the
medium might buy - such as
an affordable entry-level vehicle.
" If I'm a Mercedes dealer, I
might want to stick with more
traditional media, " Tsai said.
" If I'm selling Kia, then I'm likely
to be after a younger audience. "
Kasparian
notes that TikTok
is a long play; dealers should
not expect instant sales results.
HGregoire uses it to " focus on
brand notoriety and relationship-building "
with young people
who are either buying their
first vehicle or soon will be.
" The goal behind our social
media strategy is to build more
of an in-depth and meaningful
relationship with our end consumer, "
Kasparian said. " It's
not necessarily to sell directly
or drive customers to the dealership. "
Tsai
said regular postings
- at least weekly - help build
audience. But he has one key
piece of advice for dealerships.
" Comedy is great, but make
sure it works, " he said.
" There's a billion of those
videos out there, and only one
per cent will go viral. " - ANC
http://www.JoeVerde.com/CAN32
Automotive News Canada - June 2022

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