Started writing this President’s Note on the Saturday night direct flight from Ottawa to Edmonton <yay Porter Airlines – thanks for the standard free WIFI!> As a fun coincidence, it turns out that there are plenty of Alberta Innovation community members on this flight.. but more on this shortly.
Last week’s call for a “Team Alberta” presence while I was participating on a CFI panel at the 16th Annual CSPC 2024, Canadian Science Policy Conference, came to fruition. With over 1000 national/international participants, Alberta had a valuable opportunity to be heard nationally – while like every province, sharing local strengths of national value – as well as hearing global perspectives in plenary sessions. I was pleased to meet with Alberta leaders from Calgary, Edmonton, and Lethbridge – some that are now working in national leadership positions such as Chief Science Officers. Also great to hear Quebec and Ontario leaders recognize Alberta’s tech sector strength.
When asked ‘what is causing this all-of-a-sudden growth’ in Alberta’s tech sector – it is alot like the ‘overnight success’ of many hard-working start-up/scale-up companies. Alot of the work was putting the right ingredients in place, and another part was to have the right market conditions in hand. It had been years in the making – but the ‘hockey-stick’ curve can make it seem like it happens all at once. Through years of targeted funding, Alberta investments in the innovation system, outstanding state-of-the-art facilities and post-secondaries, high concentration of engineering, science, and business talent – connected with the needed investment capital through Inventure$ held in Calgary, the Alberta Accelerators (connected with Silicon Valley networks), private capital, and municipal initiatives like OCIF (Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund). While in the past, the tech sector always found it hard to compete with the salaries that the oil industry could support – the COVID period’s effect on oil demand created accessible talent supply that allowed the Tech Sector to take off. Then.. nothing attracts success, like success.
How to scale this success across the province? Well one-part framework, two-parts programs. Alberta’s Regional Innovation Network framework provides access and learnings for entrepreneurs in every corner of the province, and the Alberta Accelerators continue the timing and programs that keep the momentum going. And then another part program comes through a new and interesting Government of Alberta supported MIT REAP connection – with Edmonton and Alberta Innovation Champions as part of global innovation cohort 11.
More to share here in future weeks and over the next 2 years – but now getting back to the flight home. An hour into the flight, I stood up to allow the passenger next to me to walk by – when I was pleasantly surprised to hear a “Hi Gail!”, and “Tom, Christiana, Darren, Sean, Tim we are all here, flying back from Boston!” Coming fresh from the Linked-in announcements of this team’s launch at MIT just a few days ago – to now seeing them all together, I was not only surprised but inspired. These innovation leaders all do a great job separately and within their roles for their organizations – within Industry, Government, Academia, and Entrepreneurship – but now to see them work together within this cohort, is exciting!
And just like the investments made by Alberta thus far, this is an opportunity for all of us to contribute – by providing additional support around this cohort’s work in the future, and more – so that Alberta’s tech sector can realize great growth. Supporting this strength, with more strength – and then doing it again, around the next initiative.
Looking forward to us all working together everyone – and so pleased, and inspired, that we are all part of Team Alberta!
Gail J. Powley, P.Eng
Executive Director, ASTech Awards
President, Technology Alberta
[email protected]
