Shift by Alberta Innovates
Shift by Alberta Innovates
Alberta's Innovation Ecosystem: Fostering Tech, Community, and Entrepreneurship
Discover the shimmering opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship in Alberta as we welcome insights from our guests, Tracy Stroud from APEX Alberta, Terry Rock from Platform Calgary, and Tom Viinikka from Edmonton Unlimited.
Tom Viinikka, CEO of Edmonton Unlimited, walks us through he and his team's groundbreaking mission to nurture tech innovation and community building in Edmonton.
We're spotlighting captivating events like Startup Week in Edmonton, Innovation Week in Calgary, and the Small Business Week activities like APEX Alberta's Business Growth Tradeshow happening across the province that are fueling Alberta's entrepreneurial spirit.
And make no mistake, these events are for EVERYONE.
Expect to be inspired by the stories these three leaders share, as they work to redefine the landscape of entrepreneurship by creating vibrant spaces for networking, learning and support for Alberta's tech entrepreneurs and job seekers.
Join us as we explore how Alberta is a hotbed for tech and knowledge-based innovation, from ideation to commercialization. Tracy Stroud of Apex Alberta shares incredible insights into the province's regional strengths, highlighting aerospace and drone innovation. Meanwhile, Terry Rock from Platform Calgary talks about Calgary as a thriving hub for tech entrepreneurs.
We discuss the role of community events and reverse trade shows that connect service providers with entrepreneurs, exemplifying Alberta's commitment to collaboration and growth in both urban and rural settings.
As we wrap up, the conversation shifts to the importance of community and networking in fostering entrepreneurial success. Hear about Alberta's burgeoning venture capital scene and how it's positioning the province as a leading contender for entrepreneurs in Canada. The conversation emphasizes the significance of industry leadership, long-term investments, and the efforts to support rural entrepreneurs in high-potential sectors.
Finally, listen to Terry, Tom and Tracy pitch each of these extraordinary events:
- Startup Week in Edmonton from October 15 to 19,
- Small Business Week from October 20 to 25 featuring the Business Growth Tradeshow in Medicine Hat on October 23, and
- Innovation Week in Calgary from November 13 to 21.
Don’t miss the chance to connect with visionaries who are helping to shape Alberta's future in driving our ecosystem forward.
Shift by Alberta Innovates focuses on the people, businesses and organizations that are contributing to Alberta's strong tech ecosystem.
Welcome to fall in Alberta, a beautiful time of year. The leaves are changing colours and everyone's changing into shorts and into long johns. One thing that doesn't change, however, is Alberta's support for entrepreneurs. This time of year brings Startup Week in Edmonton, innovation Week in Calgary and Small Business Week across the province. With opportunities and activities that our partners in the innovation ecosystem have cooked up for entrepreneurs, there's something for everyone everywhere.
Jon:Sit back and settle in. Welcome to Shift. My guests today are Tracy Stroud, terry Rock and Tom Wienicke. Tracy's the manager of the Regional Innovation Network of Southeast Alberta, or Apex Alberta, erry's the CEO of Platform Calgary and Tom's the CEO of Edmonton Unlimited. How are you guys doing today? Great?
Tom:Really good, fantastic, yeah, thanks for having us.
Jon:Well, I'm so happy you guys were able to join us. Let's dive right into our conversation and start with To Tom. Why don't you tell us a bit about Edmonton Unlimited, what you guys do, how you do it, where you do it, and what people can expect from Startup Week, which, incidentally, is running October 15th to 19th?
Tom:You bet yeah, it's coming up next week Super excited. So Edmonton Unlimited is a tech and innovation hub here in Edmonton and we have some great space right downtown Edmonton where people entrepreneurs can come and work or convene or meet people, network and work on their businesses. But we're more than just a space. We are definitely you know, we're a convener. We work to bring people together in the community, to build relationships, and then, of course, we deliver programming too, to help develop businesses and to commercial successes and hopefully with some global impact. And so at the core of what we do, it's entrepreneurs and founders. They're the focus and we want to help elevate them and help them get the resources that they need to be inspired by each other, by other entrepreneurs, to grow and to learn from each other and then to take that learning and turn it into something awesome. You know that has an impact on the world. So that's kind of the core of it.
Tom:And then Startup Week is coming up, as you said. We're really excited for that and it's really at its core. It's a celebration of entrepreneurship as well, and so we have 10 companies that will be highlighting at at launch party. We're really excited for that to show off the really awesome stuff that's happening here in edmonton and then for the rest of the week it's it's about learning, developing, convening, building relationships, fellowship, and then we have some exciting moments as well, too.
Tom:Chris is a founder who created and eventually sold MapQuest in the '90s and since then has been super involved in community investing and building community hubs or innovation hubs like ours, across the continent, so we're really excited to have him come and speak and talk a little bit about some of those underlying principles that, as community builders, we need to be thinking about. When I say community builders, not just, you know, folks like us on this call, but like entrepreneurs themselves, because really this is about people building their community for themselves, and so I think there's a lot of great stuff that you know for really everyone to be able to get from that.
Jon:Right Now you also have a weekly coffee right Every Wednesday people can go to uh Edmonton Unlimited hangouts meet you, meet your colleagues, talk business. What time does that run?
Tom:You bet so every Wednesday from seven-- I think it's seven, I haven't been to it that that early yet in the morning.
Tom:To 11, we have community coffee and, as you said, it's open to everyone who wants to come and we get a lot of different like a cool cross-section of folks from the community, in that there's lots of really cool opportunities to talk and find out what's happening and whether you're interested in the community and just kind of want to see who's there, or if you're a founder looking for other founders to talk to, you know, or sometimes we'll get other folks you know decision makers and things like that that that pop in and and it's an opportunity to bump into those types of people too. And then for us we love it because it's a great way for us to kind of feel or get a pulse of of what's happening in the community and, um, so yeah, it's, that's. That's one of the ways that people can really quickly, easily connect with us, of course now, I should, I should also qualify this and say tom, you've.
Jon:You've been in this gig for a very short period of time three months months or four months? Yeah, four months, four months now. So, hey, happy 130th year anniversary. Thank you, it's a lot to manage and, yeah, you guys have a beautiful space out there on the corner of Jasper Avenue and 101st Street. Tell me a little bit about the impact of Startup Week on the city.
Tom:Yeah, I mean, I think for one. I think right now, one of the important topics is how we get downtown activated and and, uh, you know, have things happening there. And that's one thing we're really proud of is the, the um, you know, the attraction to the, to the downtown core of, through through our programming, through events, networking and all kinds of things like that. And so, um, we really we're excited to see that, that boost and activity down here and showing people what, what it is that we love about down. I mean, one of the. As you said, it's been four months since I got into the role and I have I've never actually worked downtown for an extended period of time and I've loved it. It's been really an awesome um thing for me and, and so I'm excited to be able to kind of show that off and support more activity here and around us.
Tom:But, yeah, so I think that's one thing that impacts the city. And then, of course, our goal, ultimate goal, is to impact entrepreneurship in the city and to give more courage to people or have entrepreneurs kind of share that courage with each other. And so that you know, one thing we really would love to see coming out of this is the stimulation of more people thinking hey, you know what I should, I should try that. I should do that. When I'm around entrepreneurs, that always happens to me. You know I go on these visits to go see what's going on and I could feel it like start to stir in my soul and I'm like I want to go start a company and you know so we hope a lot of that happens. You know, people, people feeling like, hey, I want to do it can be infectious, okay.
Jon:Well, let's thank you for that. Let's move on to Tracy. Tracy, why don't you tell us a little bit about Apex, alberta? And we're also going to kind of put it on you to maybe speak more about the rural context? You're based in Medicine Hat, as everybody I think most of our listeners will know. We have eight regional innovation networks in the province, one of which is the Edmonton Regional Innovation Network, which Edmonton Unlimited is part of. The other is the Calgary Innovation Coalition, of which Platform Calgary is a part of. And then, tracy, there's the six rural. So I'm not going to lump it on you entirely, but speak about Madison Hat and the activities you guys have coming on at Apex.
Tracy :With Alberta Innovates, funding the eight regional innovation networks across the province. We're all striving to help those entrepreneurs, those innovators. We're all striving to help those entrepreneurs, those innovators. So we focus on those tech and knowledge-based companies and we help them right from the stage of I have an idea. I don't know if this is a viable business, but I want supports to find out if it might be. So we help at that very early stage, even before prototype, that stage all the way to. I'm an existing business owner. I've been around for 20 years now and I've developed something unique and novel and I don't know how to commercialize it in this tech space. Or I don't know how to access some of these supports that are out there, such as you know, do I need to fundraise? Do I need to go to the venture capital route, the angel investor route? So that might all be new to them even though they've been in business for a long time. And so we're seeing clients across this really broad spectrum and then we're working with them to navigate them to the supports that can best help them. So in the rural areas we will not have all of the services of a larger center, but we are aware of those services and where a company can go to get help. And so we navigate entrepreneurs to the supports that are best going to serve them.
Tracy :And each RIN also has its own strengths, and so in my area, for example, we're nicknamed the drone RIN because we have a lot of innovators in that space and it makes sense with some of our natural assets that we have here.
Tracy :So we have Beyond the Visual Line of Sight Innovation Centre, so that's the only one in Western Canada is in our region. So if you want to be able to do that, to have your drone go Beyond the Visual Line of Sight, that's where to get that training and that expertise. Also, another asset we have in our area is Defence Research Development Canada Suffield. We have a research centre, so it too is the only one in Western Canada. And so on the defence side, that research side, a lot of our aerospace connection companies have that connection there and so they can tap into some of that expertise.
Tracy :We also have brought on a Rural Aerospace Development Manager, so they're a Community Futures Entrecorp employee, but they serve all the rural areas in terms of aerospace and helping them access programs, but then also working with our larger centres like Calgary, for example, with their Aerospace Innovation Hub, making sure they're aware of those supports that could be available to them, done some work with the Edmonton International Airport and some of the opportunities there. So really we provide those local services that our entrepreneurs need, but then we're also looking at what's available across the province that those entrepreneurs could access that would benefit them, and then vice versa, what are some of the opportunities in our region that other entrepreneurs might benefit from? And so it really goes both ways.
Jon:Tracy, why don't you tell me a little bit about what you guys have in store for Small Business Week?
Tracy :Yeah, happy to. So we, for a couple of years now, we have done the Economic Growth Forum, and so what that is is it's a highlight of what's happening in Southeast Alberta. We work with a lot of different economic development organizations and so creating awareness of what's happening locally, but then also bringing in experts across Canada to speak to how what we're seeing locally also ties into that bigger picture. So that's a two-day event we've been doing for a few years now, but now over the last two years this will be our second year doing it we've added in a business growth trade show to kick off the forum. And what this is is so we lead that as the Apex RIN and we invite all the service providers who have government funded programs those not for profits that provide services to business to come to the trade show.
Tracy :So it's a bit of a reverse trade show.
Tracy :So we're all behind the booths and we're talking to all these companies about what services we can provide them. So it's innovation services, but it's also workforce services, because we know a lot of our innovators need talent and so we bring them in Some basic business services too, because sometimes it's a marketing challenge that our innovators are having. You know, whatever it could be, and so we bring all of these service providers together to speak to the companies. It's a free trade show for them to attend, and the other thing is it's not just service providers from Southeast Alberta. We invite those across the province and even, in some cases, across western canada to come and speak about their programs. So we have service providers from um across western canada that attend us, and so it's one night, but it kicks off small business week and we really want to make sure that our entrepreneurs know like these are services you're you're entitled to, and please take advantage of them, because sometimes it's just that awareness piece that's missing that could help them grow to the next level.
Jon:Well, that's exciting Tracy, and now let's move over to Terry Rock with Platform Calgary. Terry, why don't you give us a little overview of Platform Calgary and your mission?
Terry:Well, platform Calgary. People might recognize a giant parkade across from Calgary Public, the new Calgary Public Library downtown. It's more than just a parkade, it's an innovation center. We have 55,000 square feet of space. We really are trying to be a front door for innovation for our city and you know we talk about our mission being making Calgary the best place in the world for anyone from any background to start and grow a tech company. And so that you know, creating that home for innovators, that community, is a key, as we've all talked about. That's essential to what we do.
Terry:When you walk in the front door, you're going to be greeted by a coffee shop. That's going to be young folks who are keen on tech and innovation. They'll serve you a coffee, they'll ask you what you need. They might even sell you a soup or something like that. We call it fuel for innovators, whatever you need to keep going through the day. And then we're really trying to connect people to the things that they need.
Terry:So the first thing is connect to a community and your peers. Second thing is capital. We have the National Bank Investor Hub available inside there We've got. Then it is connecting to talent. We've got a number of partners that can help people get jobs in tech or upskill, and then finally, it's really where are those customers coming from?
Terry:And so, connecting to industry, we run programs in partnership with through funded by Alberta database, through the regional innovation network, but also scale up gap in partnership with Tom, a team at Edmonton Unlimited. That's really gives you a kind of EMED Edmonton Limited. That really gives you a kind of we think of it as a seamless support from idea to scale. And we have a coaching network over 100 coaches and training programs that work really well and we work with folks across the province to white label that content so that we're all kind of singing from the same song sheet about what it takes. A couple of other things about Platform. That is unique is that we're member-based as of two years ago. So we're now 550 tech companies, big and small, that are members and we all sort of share that vision of building an inclusive um future driven by technology innovation to to build prosperity now I probably should have qualified this at the very start.
Jon:When we're talking about all of this, it's it's tech entrepreneurs tech and knowledge based.
Terry:I mean, we're, we try to. We try not to have I don't know if what everybody else is this common conversation, but we try not to have bright lines, because one of the key things is that technology is transforming every industry in our province and that's the opportunity that we have to capitalize on. So there's, you know, I think, where the province is and where we are. A lot of it is helping people understand the resources and expertise that their neighbors have and to tap into that to whatever they have. So we try to be, you know, especially our innovation center, like, I'm sure, all that. You walk in the door. We're not asking for your creds. We're saying come in, be part of this community and get connected and you'll have something, somebody to connect to, something to offer. Tell me a little bit about what you guys have lined up for Innovation week, which, incidentally, folks, is running November 13th to 21st. Right, it's an eight, eight week, eight day week. Um, innovation week, uh, you know our theme for this year is all in and we really uh calgary does just recently talk about being the blue sky city, uh, and we think part of that story is that really we're, we're seeing momentum across across the province. Uh, it starts on November 13th with a kind of a sneak, a peek, kickoff, a round table, um, and culminates on the 21st with our launch party uh, which is similar to Edmonton our the top 10 startups of the year big party. We'll be 1,500 to 2,000 people down at the Big Four celebrating these, celebrating people who have put it all on the line to build companies that are shaping the future of our province.
Terry:On the 20th in Calgary is the Start Alberta Awards, part of this year's Innovation Week. We're also super excited. We have a number of tracks that showcase what's happening in specific verticals like aerospace, health, health and life sciences, financial services. So we're really trying to spotlight those areas of our economy where we see lots of innovation happening digital media, emerging technologies and then Innovation Week is actually presented by University of Calgary, and so there's a number of pieces of how the University of Calgary is going to integrate into that.
Terry:And one of the things we're super excited about is this will be the second year that this is integrated is Google DevFest Calgary. Now our Google Dev community is so vibrant. We are going to be at the Platform Innovation Center hosting the DevFest. We think 800 people or more will be involved and speakers from all over the place coming, and that's Friday and Saturday, the first weekend, 14 to 15. And it's two full days of talks and engaging with Google. So that's super exciting. And you know the Innovation Center itself is the headquarters, but stuff happens all across the city. Last year was something over 100 events that happened across the city, so it's a pretty exciting time.
Jon:Yeah, no kidding, it's a really exciting time in the province. I think you know, when you think about October, November, fall in Alberta, like we're, you know the two major cities, the rural areas, there's something really going on.
Tom:Yeah, I mean, I'm a huge believer in that. I'm an Oilers fan and I love the competition between our cities in that context. But I also think that it's super important that we put that aside and we work together on some of these other topics. And we are, you know, we're much stronger as a province when we work together.
Tom:At the end of the day, our organization has really been looking at this through the lens of critical mass, and this is the challenge we're trying to resolve in our own city. But part of the solution of critical mass is not just ultra-local, it's provincial, and so the stronger we are in terms of a talent base, the stronger we are in terms of the resources, investment resources, capital, all those other components. The better we are in terms of the resources, investment resources, capital, all those other components, the better we are as a province and individually. And so I'm a huge believer in a collaborative approach to this industry and others.
Tom:Imagine, you know, imagine 40 years ago or 50 years ago, if you were trying to kind map out the, the path of the oil and gas industry and you were like, but I just wanted to be in one of the cities. You know, like how ridiculous would have that been and uh, or you or we were pitting one city against the other at that point in time, like at the end of the day, the whole province has has had tremendous amount of prosperity from that industry and its success as a province, and I I believe the same thing is the approach we ought to take for the tech industry. Tech and innovation industry is provincial in nature.
Jon:So now, Tracy, taking up where Tom left off with critical mass and developing that from your perspective in Medicine Hat and speaking more broadly about the rural areas, how does that feed into the work you're doing?
Tracy :Yeah, I completely agree with To m. Just like our companies need to compete on that global scale likely to have a fall, for example. So this tech, when it was getting started, they were told well, you're going to have to go down to Silicon Valley for this to really be a global company. You won't be able to do that here from Alberta. And you know from medicine, huh. They have now access services, like they're working with the U of A, for example, with some of their research, and they're working with Alberta innovates the federal IRAP program. All these different services, and now they're in 12 different countries. Their product is in eight different languages, and so you know, if we hadn't all the province adopted this entrepreneur as our own, they wouldn't be as successful as they now are, and they have shown that they can do it, and they can do it from anywhere in Alberta, and so I think that's really important and that is a win not just for my RIN, right Southeast Alberta, that's a win for the whole province.
Jon:Terry, build on that a little bit from your perspective. But I also want to ask you start with you about successes, because'd mentioned this, the uh, the scale up the gap program, and when I think of, yeah, one of the uh, one of the accelerators they're focused on, on kind of that highway to evanston and calgary uh activity that's going on. So flesh out from your perspective what it is and then talk to me a little bit about some uh, some success.
Terry:Well, I mean, I I'm uh I try to be a realist when I come at this and we've done a lot of benchmarking around the world and there is just kind of a brutal fact that we have to deal with and that is that asset mass matters. So how many assets you have, how much experience you have in your community, makes a big difference in how fast and far you can go. The more connected an entrepreneur is to the community around them of investors and people with smart people and customers and those kinds of things, the faster they're going to grow, the bigger they're going to grow, and we're just one of those places in the world that's on the journey now. We're starting, we're getting there, we've got a few cycles, but other places have more, and so we have to recognize that, that we have an amazing asset base here, but in relative terms it's smaller. We have an amazing asset base here, but in relative terms it's smaller. So if we take a confined view, we're just not going to achieve our potential, and that's also not sugar-coated.
Terry:It is not easy to collaborate across organizations or across cities and things like that, the incentive structures. It's way easier for me to just focus on my thing A lot of times economic development agencies in different regions. The best thing they can ever do is beat their most closest competitor or city. So you know, just like Calgary, winning an account over Edmonton is like the best possible thing because it came to Alberta and we got it. That's just got to stop. But it takes realignment of incentive structures. So you know, when I think about wins we tend to focus really on the bigger picture, like is as a whole. Are we starting to see more capital flowing to our highest potential people? Are more people starting high potential businesses and taking advantage of this ecosystem that we're building? And from the entrepreneur perspective, they don't care where their great support comes from. They really don't. They prefer it to be local and easy to access. Um, they prefer it to be people they could trust because there's reputation in the community that they know. But sometimes the best resources might be at Mars in Toronto or something like that, and we see some of our companies taking advantage of that and that's fantastic, as long as they ultimately still, we would like them to grow their companies and have jobs and accrue that to Alberta.
Terry:So if you look at the numbers, look, look at venture capital. First half of this year, calgary was the third highest in the country for venture capital. That's the first time that this city has been in the top three. Alberta is showing up on those numbers as well. We're the only province that showed growth throughout the past four or five years, when other places slowed down, when there was a bit of a pullback in tech as a whole. That just shows that the momentum is building and that the people that we put our attention on who are the people who are taking those big risks? You know, betting the farm, sometimes literally, on a tech company, that something is happening and we're getting the resources to them. They're connecting to their markets and they're actually building companies that are growing. We're tracking companies.
Terry:I don't particularly like calling out names because we work with so many. We had almost 700 companies last year. We're through our things, but if you look at a company like Bolster that was in the predecessor to Alberta Catalyzer in 2019, they're now over 100 employees based in downtown Calgary. Pay Shepherd is on the growth path. They were in the same cohort in 2019. And they're winning because their technology is better and they're fantastic entrepreneurs. They're taking advantage of their community, they're building community themselves and continue to grow. So that's just. Those stories are just going to continue to compound Because because in 2019, we were working with about a hundred 250 companies a year, we're now 700. Like that's in five years. That's the growth that has happened in the province.
Jon:You've all been saying many very interesting things, but a couple of things that popped out to me that I'd like to flesh out a bit more is this building of community, and, tom, I think you refer to it as kind of building that fellowship. Is that correct, building fellowship and and building those communities? And then, uh, terry your notion of realignment of the incentive structures, that we need to do that in order, because albert is geographically massive, you know, and uh, it's sure we can hop on a phone call or a video call and have conversation, but quite often we want to get there face-to-face. It's not always easy. So first off, tom, tell me a little bit about this notion of fellowship in your mind and how that fits into community, and then, if everybody else wants to comment on that, and then I want to dive into this realignment of incentive structures. What do we need to do to realign those and who's realigning them?
Tom:so, tom, take it away. Yeah, so I mean, fellowship to me is is, uh, convening, except convening, you know, in a meaningful way. It's about actually having relationships, stronger relationships that will inspire people or elevate people or to deliver a stronger outcome. I think, as an example, you could go listen to a TED Talk or whatever from a founder and listen to their story and that could inspire you to go do something. But I think what is much more inspiring is someone who you can actually have a relationship with. If you really meet someone, talk to them, get to know them, go to war with them, so to speak, go somewhere and try to accomplish something together and really understand that person and become inspired by that person.
Tom:Those are the types of things that have inspired me to take action, that have really caused me to think about what could be to have the courage to try it, to feel supported in that next step, and really those are some of the key things in terms of entrepreneurship, like being able to start and then even to carry on. I mean entrepreneurship, let's face it, it's not easy, it's hard, and so you need that support around you. And that, again, to me, is not these kind of surface level connections, it's about a deeper, more meaningful connection. Deeper, more meaningful connection, and so that I think the the the stronger that is, the more we work as a group and and and are able to accomplish our, even our own personal goals. But we, we move forward as a group and so that that's a really important thing, that's infused in everything that we do. Um out of Edmonton Unlimited.
Jon:I really like that idea Cause you know, you, there's, there's relationships like on LinkedIn. We all have networks. I probably think maybe 80% of my network I've never met. I've never. You know, it's hey, you're doing this, cool, let's get connected, but it's nice, but how meaningful is that at the end of the day? So I really like that idea that there's going to be some depth to those networks and I think the opportunities that you guys are putting forth with the events will really help people develop those Tracy. Do you want to talk about that a little bit, about the benefit of networking and those depth of fellowship relationships in your area.
Tracy :Yeah, one thing that we've done that relates to that quite well is we have Tech Nights every other month and it's called Tech Nights but it's actually focused on the STEM community and the main partners of that, besides ourselves, are OPEGA, our local OPEGA branch, as well as Medicine Hat College, and at these events we are getting entrepreneurs, we are getting professionals in the STEM world and we are getting new talent as well that are coming to these. So we have them, like I said, every other month. We get about 50 to 60 people. Every time they are casual networking events, but then we bring in a speaker to speak about something, something cool that's happening in the community. So we've had our police force talk about them adopting drones and some of our research students talked about it. We've had other health innovators that speak to remote health, and so the speaker always presents on something unique and novel that's happening in space, but it's not always an entrepreneur. And then we have networking and we're purposeful that we actually have the presentation be shorter, so it's 20 minute presentation, 10 minutes of questions, and then we have another hour of networking and we are finding that is really building the community and creating some of those relationships. That wouldn't happen without those events because we're not putting the pressure on either, we're letting it happen organic and people are making those connections and so it is done a great service even for some of our students who attend and then have those relationships.
Tracy :Because with employment, you know, it's 80% is who you know, not those job ads, and so building those connections so it's helping the entrepreneurs, they're growing their network, as alluded to before, but then also we have that talent pipeline coming in on the other side to help with scaling those companies. So, yeah, so that's something I think of. That comes to mind. The other thing I want to mention really quickly is as regional innovation networks, we meet twice a month, so I really know what's happening in other parts of the province and other challenges that are happening, parts of the province and other challenges that are happening, and we can say to each other you know this is a challenge or you know what this is working really well in my area and it might help your entrepreneurs too. So I do want to mention that in terms of growing those networks in different ways growing them from the entrepreneur level, absolutely, absolutely and then also growing them as a service provider as well no, I appreciate that.
Jon:Um, a quick aside you mentioned employment and, and my last podcast was on quantum and I spoke to a number of people there and and, uh, one of my guests spoke about the need for my guests spoke about the need for specific skills, particularly sales and in in quantum. So I just wanted to get a sense from the three of you, just like a. Yeah, I know, or, when people come to your events I know they're not job fairs, but I'm thinking people who maybe aren't tech entrepreneurs do you think it would be smart for somebody to come down and check it out and go kind of get a bead of what's going on in the tech ecosystem? Like you know, maybe I've got some skills as a salesperson and we've got a shortage of tech sales in Alberta, from what I understand. Is there a benefit for people to, you know, non-tech entrepreneurs to come to the events or maybe to go to one of the open houses that you guys have? Go sit down and have coffee and just listen? From a job perspective, Terry, why don't we start?
Terry:Yes, for sure. So we have a group of partners that are all talent partners. We run an event that is a semi-regular event called Tech Talent Tuesday, where we put tech companies on stage and the reality is that half and they talk about their work culture and also the jobs that they have available. There'll be some of the upskilling groups will be there with their students and it's focused on networking. But half of the jobs, as you grow your tech scene, half the jobs are going to come from non-technical roles. So the number one click on our website is get a job in tech People looking to find out job opportunities. And our number one piece of advice is come to one of the events. Just come and learn and start meeting people. That's a key thing.
Jon:So don't feel uncomfortable, come and check it out. No, I mean that is a again, you guys are all welcoming.
Terry:I mean it is. It's intimidating because I think we use we tend to use some exclusive language and things like that as a as a sector. That's one of the, I think, logics behind Startup Week, innovation Week, small Business Week is to make it just like an invitation to people to come and see that it's not scary and it is for them and that their daily life is being made better by people who are building tech in their own backyard, and to maybe just get a relationship with it.
Tom:But yeah, Tom, would you echo those? Yeah, 100%. I mean, I actually came from traditional business myself. I had a lot of different traditional businesses and my entry into this industry was exactly that it was going to events and getting a feel and feeling a little, you know, sensing a difference and feeling a little like I needed to catch up on some terminology and just a couple you know attitudes and the way perspectives and the way that we look at the world. And in fact, that was one of the things that I really noticed.
Tom:I was down in San Francisco for an accelerator there and that stood out to me. There was a meaningful difference in approach to business. And so, yeah, there's some differences and the only way to get through that is to spend some time around it and dig into it. And so if you're interested in this space which we hope you are and you should be because it's exciting you have to spend some time around it and we would love for people to do that. So you have to spend some time around it and we would love for people to do that.
Jon:So if we're circumlocuting the synergies of raises and virtue of venture capitalism, I'm just throwing out words. I have no idea what they mean.
Tom:Don't let that stop you. Well, the only way to learn it is to spend some time around it. You just got to be immersed around it.
Jon:And Tracy, you started us off. You were the one that kind of piqued my, uh, my, attention with that. So I I think I know where you're coming from, but I'll let you, uh, I'll let you flesh it out a little bit.
Tracy :Yeah, I think that talent piece is so, so important if we we really want to see um companies scale and grow, and so, um. The other, the other um way that if, if it's intimidating to come to a straight tech event, the other approach is a look at for some of the industry sector events, like, I think, about egg smart. That happens every year. Old college puts that on um. If you're more comfortable with agriculture, that's a great place to to dive in and and learn, you know it. Just, it depends on those topics, but there's so many great events across the province and so I would say, like, dive in there If manufacturing is more of your thing.
Tracy :There's always the big events in Red Deer, and so there is these sector-specific events that provide that access point as well. One event in our area that's coming up in May that we're really excited about is we're actually hosting with the Aerial Evolution Association of Canada. We're hosting their drone competition this year, and so we'll have 130 aerospace engineers from across Canada coming to Alberta for the first time, and so you know, a great opportunity to showcase to as well to talent, what's happening here in the tech space. So I think, yes, we need people to get out of their comfort zone and go to these events, but we also need to provide some opportunities as well, for for them too, and so, again, I think it goes both ways on on on that side right, let me, let me be so bold as to put a plug in there for adventures as well.
Jon:I think that's that's. That'd be a really good opportunity for people to come and see, like the 10 000 foot view of view of Alberta's technology ecosystem. And that's in May as well, and there's more information on the website. Terry, I want to get back to you real quickly about the realignment of incentive structures. Who's responsible? How do we do it? How long does it take? What role can I play?
Terry:Well, I'm going to take this right from where we were just talking about, about the importance of fellowship and community. Tom and I were just at a retreat of CEOs for Canada's Tech Network and one of the things that became super clear is that what I think of as network value is one of the key things that we provide, which is effectively making the resource base for our founders closer at hand by increasing the connectivity between them and the resources available in the community. And we think a lot about you know. For example, we would love for Alberta Large Enterprise to work more closely with Alberta Emerging Tech. And how do you do that? Because they have the same issues with incentives and intimidation that we all do.
Terry:And I fundamentally believe that it's starting with social. So starting with getting to meet the people and starting to get comfortable with the lingo and understanding the lay of the land. And one of the key things that we can do is spend time building those social connections between and among the members of our community. And that is a hard business case to make for funding, because you also want to. You know we're super careful to understand that people with economic means can spend time doing that. There's a lot of advantages and privileges that people have that just allow them to go start a business and if it fails it's okay, and other people don't have that. So we have to figure out a way to make sure that the tools and resources that we have available, are available to, that are easy for me to get, are available to everyone. And I think that starts with this focus on building community. Building community here, but also in our own city, in our own building, but across the province, across the country, around the world. So whose job is that and how do you make it so that my personal bonus, if I have one, doesn't depend on me winning business that could otherwise go to Edmonton and those kinds of things? So it does. You know you have to have the mission direction of the organization, from the board on down, to be aligned with fostering a collaborative approach. So if I'm somehow bonus on winning business that could have gone to another place or incented as the leader of an organization to do it, I'm going to act that way. That's what's going to happen, and a lot of, I think, in economic development-based spaces in general that happens.
Terry:So somehow we need it's the patient investor approach from government, from the community leaders, and one of the things that we've done to try to open it up for us is we have philanthropists that work with us. So these are basically people who've, in general, they're people who have had major successes either in tech, business or business in general, and their concern is the future of the city, the future of the province. There's opportunity for people who are born here today to build a life and living and a family and keep their family here in Alberta and help Alberta thrive. And those people get it.
Terry:At that fundamental level of this is about changing the whole dynamic of our community so that these kinds of opportunities just naturally happen, and so they're so much more patient and we have so many less reports that we have to write to them.
Terry:We have so many less reports that we have to write to them. So you know, somehow you have to get a sense that there's a bigger picture here and that maybe these aren't things that are measured on a monthly basis, but they're measured over time, and that you know, like the worst thing, which I think we don't I don't know, I don't write the reports anymore, but we used to have to track every time we referred someone to someone else and okay, so that's like I get what we're going after there. But, boy, that is challenging to do because you don't actually want to do it, because you have to put in a report. You want to do it because you have the interest of the founder in mind, and that's the key is the interest of the founder in mind, and you have to be curious about what's around you, what the resources in our whole province are, have an asset-based view of what we're doing and then just generously connect people to each other. And I just believe, if you just do that over and over and over again again, that the winds become obvious and people recognize you for being a generous connector and um and and yeah, that's the bet we're making anyway I love it and it's a long play and we've got our work cut out for us, but it feels like we're trending in the right direction definitely, we are like
Terry:I mean, we've um, we have perspective on Alberta in the national and international context through various networks that we're part of, and when we gather people and we talk about how we work together here and how collaborative Alberta is and that we have common goals, it raises eyebrows Because people will remark we can't even get these people in a room together, let alone stand up and talk about each other and know what each other's doing, and we do that almost intuitively at this point. So it's a huge strength. Yeah, that's really cool.
Jon:Let's change speeds a little bit and we'll start to wrap it up, because this has been a fantastic conversation, learning more about what each of your organizations is doing and the activities that are coming up. But I want to speak about the future. So why don't we start with you, tom, and how does Edmonton Unlimited envision the future of innovation in Edmonton and the province collaboratively?
Tom:I mean, I think collaborative is one of those things I see us becoming more and more of that. I'm excited about the people and the personalities that are working on this together right now, and you know that matters a lot. Again, if you look at success anywhere, whether it's in a company or in a region or whatever, there's a group of people at the heart of that that work really well together. There's some magic that happens, and so I think that we have a really great group and strong people with similar good fundamental motivations and similar feelings, and that's exciting. And that's not.
Tom:I'm not just talking about, like you know, the people in these innovation hubs are ourselves in this, although I think we're part of that equation too but really it's about the people that are coming up, the entrepreneurs that are coming up through the ecosystem and their desire to work together and their you know how they get it and what, what that means to them. That's, um, that's what I I think is really exciting right now and um, and so I I see, you know, I see that being uh, what? What drives us to the future is that, you know, kind of critical, that critical mass of great entrepreneurs with really bigger vision than just what they're doing, but want to make good things happen as a group, and good things for their province, good things for their city, good things for their region. I think that's what leads us to the next stage Cool.
Jon:Now Tracy, from your perspective, and these are big questions, difficult to answer. But what's the future of rural innovation in Alberta?
Tracy :Well, I think two things. So the future is less barriers. So with rural Alberta, we again don't have all the services in our regions, so for us, entrepreneurs have to wait often to get access to those services, and so we've come up with some innovative solutions to help with that. There's a lot more online training. There's more connectivity across the province, so if I don't have something in my region, I can go to other parts of the province. So those things are helping.
Tracy :But you know, the fact of the matter is, when a rural entrepreneur wants to go to some of the bigger events across the province, there's that time away from their business, there's the cost for hotels, there's cost time away from their business, there's the cost for hotels, there's cost for travel, and so again, they start to stack up more of these barriers. I am seeing some new examples. A really great one is Innovate Calgary. The BIPOC Foundation and some of the rural RINs are working together on rural tech pitch competitions, together on rural tech pitch competitions, and in addition to there being prize money for the entrepreneurs, there's also you know what to get here. We'll cover your travel, we'll provide a voucher, we'll do things like that.
Tracy :Those are the solutions we need because rural Alberta can play. We know that. You know rural Alberta is only 18% of the provincial population, but we still produce 20%, 6% of the GDP, so we punch above our weight. So we know if we can reduce some of those barriers, we can get more companies on these global stages. But we need supports to do that because we have less options. When I go to leverage a program in my area, there's only so many people I can go to. So in recent years I've seen more working with larger centers to develop new projects and initiatives to get that mass that's needed, and so I really think we're on the right path.
Tracy :We're going there and let's have more of that collaboration, because it's the only way we get there.
Jon:No, I love that. That's great, and I had no idea that it was 26% of the GDP. That is significantly punching above the rural weight. So good for you guys, terry. How does Platform Calgary kind of envision the future?
Terry:of education. Well, I think the starting point is to continue to focus on stimulating the entrepreneurial engine of our province. So we've got to get more high-potential people starting more high-potential companies and we cannot let the foot off the gas on that. Even though we've made huge strides, there's still more work to be done there. It's a high-churn kind of place and there's concerning numbers across Canada about rate of entrepreneurship that we can't see Compared to the US, which has seen a significant surge. Canada has had a slowdown in entrepreneurship and we just have to have more entrepreneurs getting up every day wanting to build something big in Alberta. So that's the starting point. That's going to be, you know, for at least the next decade. That's going to be driving us.
Terry:The second thing that is key is that there's going to be a few key areas where we have natural advantages that we're going to see our world winners come from. So there's some obvious ones like energy, ag tech, health tech. We're seeing interesting things in financial services. We're seeing interesting things in gaming, bio. There's key areas that the next level, I think, of developing ecosystem is making sure that we shine in a few areas and building a little bit deeper support systems in those key areas and ensuring that. That's where I think we can really get industry leadership to play a significant role. It's very hard to push innovation uphill with those organizations. They've got to be taking the first steps and leading. And we're seeing in energy and property and construction and in gaming. We're seeing industry leadership that we can respond to and we can amplify. So those are a couple of the key things that I think are going to happen is that you're going to start to see our biggest companies are going to start to emerge in some pattern areas.
Terry:There'll always be stuff that is just like wow, I had no idea that that could be done. Here we're making a big bet on quantum. I was just watching as we were doing this. I'm watching people reset our building because we had Kai Ventures from Switzerland here with a global quantum hackathon on the weekend. A hundred I don't know what you call them quantum hackers in here. They're just really small.
Terry:I hope the space-time continuum didn't get affected somehow, but anyway, that's like an emerging area for Alberta that it's quite exciting that we're one of the areas in Canada, in North America, that is making a long bet on quantum, similar to how we did on artificial intelligence and machine learning. And so you know, when I talked about incentive structures earlier, like boy, it would be nice if we could just continue to make those long-term investments in these things that have the have. You know they might. We're not going to see massive economic impact from quantum in the next couple of years, but if we continue to invest in it, then we're better positioned than anywhere else. So those are the things that I want us to see, want to see us keep doing.
Terry:The last piece of that, going back, is that we've made this investment in artificial intelligence and we're making strides on company creation that's coming out of it and commercialization coming out of it, but other places are still doing more than we are on that front. So it's just a perfect example. Let's tie that back and make sure that we're making these investments in technology, that we're encouraging entrepreneurship and commercialization as one of the key companions of the research that comes out of it and motivating the entrepreneurial instinct of people, but getting our industry and other leaders from across our communities to dive in as well, because it's the problems that they have that we're going to be able to build businesses around, that are going to be the things that are our employer drivers in the long term.
Jon:So that's how I see it right, yeah, yeah, no, I think that's great, you guys. Um, and it reminds me, uh, your comment reminds me of uh one that megan lee from quantum city had made. Uh, we gotta keep our foot on the gas pedal. There's, you know, while we're doing well, uh, there's other countries that are putting a lot more money into it. Um, you know, and geographically, per capita, we're smaller, but, you know, to tracy's point, let's be like the rural areas and punch above our weight and keep going. Um, yeah, so what?
Jon:I I want to wrap this up, but I want to do it in a in an entrepreneurial style, because I know you guys have probably all done this to entrepreneurs. Let's have a little pitch competition of sorts. Not a competition, though, but what if I give you a minute each to pitch your events that are coming up? Uh, you know and and why people should come to you know what should be in pitch deck, so give that to the listeners.
Jon:So when the listeners are like I'm here and I can go to evanton, calgary or, you know, our medicine hat or any of the rural areas, why do I want to choose? Not necessarily one over the areas? Why do I want to choose?
Tracy :not necessarily one over the other, but why do I want to participate?
Jon:So who do I want to start with? Who's feeling gutsy, I got the three Ts here.
Terry:I went last. I went last every time, so I should probably go first. Oh yeah, okay, I volunteer. Give everybody else a chance to work on their deck.
Jon:All right, wait, let me hit and let me start the stopwatch Go.
Terry:Okay, well, you know, I think one of the things that we've learned over the years is that, whether you're someone who wants to build a company, you want to work in tech, you want to buy local tech, maybe you want to invest in it, you've got the message that this is happening in Alberta Every one of those people. So, if you're an investor, a talent, you're a potential founder, you or a customer, you don't know where to start. It's hard to understand, and so what we're doing in Innovation Week is bringing it to you and making it as easy as possible to get to understand. What's hot right now, what's happening, who are the people that are doing it.
Terry:When I think about investment, what's on the horizon If I'm an investor, what might take you three months if you're not part of this community? So Innovation Week is all of that, brought to you on a silver platter in an easy to access place. Plus, it is a huge amount of celebration. So imagine not only that, but 2,000 people celebrating the spirit of entrepreneurship, and the people are putting it all on the line. All in one week, easy peasy, and then, when you're done, you can keep going for the rest of the year.
Jon:Time Perfect. Okay. Now where do we want to go? Tracy or Tom, who's up next? I can go, okay, tom, who's up next? I can go.
Tom:Okay, tom, take it away Time I'll start with really quickly. My entrepreneur journey started because of someone that inspired me. It was my dad, and the thing that he did for me is I never saw him doubt something. I never saw him doubt something. Coming out of my childhood, I'd watched this person who had crossed an ocean to find a new place to live, who had tried all these things, and the word I can't never occurred to him, and I am super lucky to have had that in my own home.
Tom:But what Edmonton, unlimited, can provide is a room full of those people, people that will inspire you to try something new, to give you the courage to do it, to surround you with the support that you need. And that's the community. That's our team, to the extent that we can do that, but really it's about the people in this community in Edmonton that also gather here and if you want to be around those people and benefit from them in the same way that I benefited from my own father Luckily, by fortune the genetic lottery I got to be born into that home but we can do that for each other as a community. That happens in our space, it happens in Startup Week, it happens at Launch Party, if you want to be around that environment, come and check it out. My goodness you guys.
Jon:Tracy, Tracy, Tracy. All right, you ready.
Tracy :Go. It takes a village. You don't have to build your business on your own. If you are an innovator, if you want to grow your business, come to our reverse trade show, where you'll find all the supports and services in one place, where you can have those conversations and find out about programs available to you to take your business to the next level. Visit us at the Business Growth Trade Show apexalbertaca there.
Jon:You guys, that was wonderful.
Terry:I forgot my URL.
Jon:I'm going to put this on the page. I'll have links to all of that and just to remind everybody, all of our listeners, let me get on the right page. Here We've got Startup Week, so that's in Edmonton. That's running October 15th to 19th. The right page here We've got Startup Week, so that's in Edmonton. That's running October 15th to 19th. So right away here, next up, we have Small Business Week and the events that Tracy was talking about and that's running October 20th through 26th. And then, finally, we've got Innovation Week in Calgary. That's running the eight-day week, november 13th to 21st.
Jon:And you guys, this was an absolute pleasure to talk to all three of you and thank you for humoring me while I put you on the spot to do pitches. You know I sent you all kind of the framework of discussion and I quickly deviated from much of it. So you're all good sports and able to think quickly on your feet, so awesome. And I encourage everybody to go check out these events as much as they can and when you miss stuff still, if you're in those areas, go and check out all of these Apex Calgary pardon me Edmonton Unlimited and Platform Calgary. You know you guys are wonderful people and you're doing great work, so I appreciate what you're doing and, yeah, this is really great. Thank you for your time.
Terry:Thanks, John. Thanks to Alberta Innovates team for everything that they do for us. Thank you so much.
Jon:Thanks for joining us on Shift. I'm John Hagan. You can find us online at shiftalbertainnovatesca or on your favorite streaming service. Subscribe now so you don't miss a thing. Streaming service Subscribe now so you don't miss a thing. Have a good one Until next time.
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