How Tech Thursday Became the Heartbeat of Canada's Prairie Tech Ecosystem

What The Tech?

What The Tech?
How Tech Thursday Became the Heartbeat of Canada's Prairie Tech Ecosystem
Jun 22, 2026 Season 2 Episode 111
Boast AI

Here's how you know you're in the right place: You walk into a podcast studio in a shared co-working space in Calgary called Thin Air Labs. It's the kind of space where real work happens; not polished, not pretentious, just functional and full of energy. And it's become the epicenter of meaningful conversations about building tech companies in Canada. 

That studio is home to Tech Thursday; and Phil Burns, who created it, is the kind of person who believes that the best ecosystems aren't built top-down, but instead by showing up, week after week, and asking the right people the right questions. 

Boast accelerates the success of innovative businesses globally with software that integrates financial, payroll, and engineering data into a single platform of R&D intelligence.

Visit Boast.ai, sign up for our Blog newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn for weekly #InnovatorsLive sessions and the latest news to fuel your growth.

Intro and Outro music provided by Dennis Ma whose mixes you can find on Soundcloud at DJ DennyDex.

Episode Artwork How Tech Thursday Became the Heartbeat of Canada's Prairie Tech Ecosystem 19:48 Episode Artwork The Secret Costs of Condo Living (And How CondoScan Decodes Them) 27:14 Episode Artwork The $50,000 Question: How Bōde is Fixing Home Selling 28:35 Episode Artwork How Purelend Is Eliminating Hours of Manual Document Review 24:59 Episode Artwork How Bidaya AI Levels the Playing Field for Government Contracts 17:39 Episode Artwork How Think Accounting Helps Innovation-Driven Companies Scale Smarter 30:42 Episode Artwork How telli Automates Customer Journeys Without Losing the Human Touch 18:47 Episode Artwork How AirDev Turned No-Code Development Into an Assembly Line 22:37 Episode Artwork How Symbiotic AI Is Making Precision Heart Health Decisions Data-Driven 26:59 Episode Artwork How Possibility Neurotechnologies Is Making Brain-Controlled Interaction Accessible to Everyone 19:44 Episode Artwork How Nimble Science Is Unlocking the Small Intestine's Secrets 22:44 Episode Artwork How Patabid Uses AI to Make Construction Estimating Safer and Smarter 43:05 Episode Artwork The Burnout Tax: Why R&D Investment Fails Without People Investment 41:21 Episode Artwork Think Bigger: How AI is Reshaping Staffing, IP Strategy, and R&D Funding for Startups 51:57 Episode Artwork From Painful to Unsustainable: How Frugal AI Helps Developers Fix Cloud Cost Before It's Too Late 24:34 Episode Artwork Beyond the Bright Shiny Objects: How Ollon Helps Teams Build Better 16:19 Episode Artwork Turning Moments Into Memories with Sophie Jiang of MoVA Realities 24:54 Episode Artwork Building Without the Boys Club: How Athena Collective is Democratizing Entrepreneurial Success for Women 28:05 Episode Artwork Turning Conversations Into Action: How Momentum.io Makes Conversational Data Your Competitive Moat 23:40 Episode Artwork Beyond the CRM: How Bloks is Building the Ultimate Relationship Management Tool 23:44 Episode Artwork Quebec's AI Revolution: Inside the CDAE-IA Transformation and Boast's Purpose-Built Solution 22:51 Episode Artwork How EnviroApps is Digitizing Hazmat Transportation Safety 31:34 Episode Artwork From Police Officer to Civic Tech Pioneer: How CocoFlow is Transforming How Communities Connect 16:43 Episode Artwork Bringing Sustainable Manufacturing Home: How CTK Bio is Reshoring Production and Scaling Plant-Based Materials 24:51 Episode Artwork From Finance Leader to Founder: How Profitual is Democratizing Financial Intelligence for Startups 28:45