The second-annual KORE Outdoor Rec Tech Summit was held at the Kimberley Conference Centre from October 11 to 13, drawing together a crowd of recreation technology designers, manufacturers and industry leaders to learn, network and share ideas.
“The KORE Outdoor Rec Tech Summit 2023 is a first in Canada,” said Matt Mosteller, KORE board chair. “It is an industry leading initiative to educate, build capacity, network and inspire ideas that impact communities, outdoor craft gear innovation, environment and people in a positive way. Really creating opportunities and opening doors for rural economic development.”
VIDEO: The 2022 KORE Outdoor Rec-Tech Summit
Kimberley Mayor and KORE Board director Don McCormick, said that with the summit’s inaugural year in 2022, it was easy to develop that initial energy, but the event was unquestionably a big success.
“Following that up the next year though, there are expectations now,” McCormick said. “There were no expectations last year, now there are expectations with respect to what’s intended to be delivered.
“Universally everybody was talking about what an awesome lineup it was, and then just to get the industry and the stakeholders together to be able to network and share experiences and share stories and dreams and aspirations was a huge part of the conference and I didn’t hear anybody who suggested it wasn’t anything but an outstanding success.”
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Following a kickoff for the student contingent and then a welcome reception hosted at the Stemwinder, the summit officially began early Wednesday morning. There was a large group of key note speakers scheduled throughout the two-day conference, kicked off with Kimberley local P.J. Hunton, a senior designer with Norco Bicycles.
“It really is amazing,” Mosteller said. “All of the speakers who shared incredible insight and knowledge, this collective knowledge base and sharing of that knowledge is so powerful and you can only do this by bringing diverse backgrounds, experiences and insight together to connect, listen, learn and develop further sustainability and circularity solutions for the outdoor industry.”
Another presenter Mosteller was personally very excited to have hosted was Phil Shellhammer, the Senior Director of Business Incubation Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Arkansas’ Sam M. Walton School of Business.
“We are proud of the shared learning that is happening from this exchange, as Bentonville, Ark. has redefined a healthy lifestyle community through biking and we all believe that working collaboratively together, we can further enhance healthy community initiatives through the outdoor recreation economy.”
Following the Summit, attendees did a survey, and KORE executive director Kevin Pennock said that the number-one benefit reported was the unique networking opportunity the event provided.
“There is no other opportunity to get together with similar likeminded makers and designers,” Pennock said. “That gathering of the sector in Kimberley is so unique, it doesn’t happen anywhere in Canada.”
Pennock also highlighted the program that KORE facilitated alongside the Kootenay Association for Science and Technolgy (KAST) and the Economic Trust of Southern Interior BC (etsiBC) that allowed 15 students to attend the entire summit on a subsidy.
Kailey Allan of Selkirk College gave a presentation geared towards the youth about how they can get into the outdoor recreation sector.
“We really wanted to raise awareness to youth that this is a career path that exists,” Pennock said. “Because it’s not really well known that you can actually have a job, have a career in designing or making gear, so that was quite successful.”
There is a great deal in store for the future of KORE. McCormick said that everyone on the board agrees that moving forward, the Summit is to be a signature event for KORE each year.
“There’s no question that it has legs under it, based on feedback and the energy and everything associated with this,” McCormick said. “So the challenge we have now is to start planning next year today, based on the feedback from this conference and to build on the success that we’ve had.
“We need to innovate, we need to bring in new things and grow it this year so that people want to come back and then we can grow attendance. I think everybody agrees that it was not only a successful event in and of itself, but has really set the stage for what’s going to be long-term success.”
Mosteller mentioned the launch of #KootenayApproved as another component coming up soon, which involves the making and testing of outdoor recreation in the rugged landscape of the Kootenays.
“Gear designed and tested right here gets #KootenayApproved,” he explained. “This is super exciting work done by Kevin Pennock, Executive Director of KORE Outdoors and the KORE Craft Outdoor Makers. Outdoor Craft Gear made right here in the Kootenays will be a highlight attraction at this years kick off of the Banff Mountain Film Festival.”
Mosteller also spoke more broadly of the place KORE’s community of outdoor craft gear makers play in the outdoor recreation economy as a whole — something Mosteller said is “currently being overlooked by the BC NDP, the BC Green Party and the BC United Party.” He believes that the outdoor recreation economy is vital to rural regions and particularly communities like Kimberley, to give them a climate-friendly option to substantially boost their economies, draw and retain residents and attract tourists.
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“It is a massive opportunity to support rural and urban economic development, environmental sustainability, and most importantly it’s the only economic segment that can have huge positive impact on the Health Crisis,” Mosteller said. “Getting people outside, walking, biking, and into local parks, creates better physical and mental health.”
The KORE Summit also highlighted the Kimberley Conference Centre’s role as a boost to the town’s economy during shoulder season, which was one of the primary goals of the building when the concept was conceived just in advance of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.
“Money from those Olympics was used to build the Conference Centre and one of the primary goals was to extend the seasons beyond just summer and winter and conferences tend to do that,” McCormick said. “So it is definitely in keeping with what the Conference Centre was designed to do.”
Keep up to date with what’s happening at KORE by visiting koreoutdoors.org and following them on social media.
paul.rodgers@kimberleybulletin
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