Edmonton's Path to Becoming an Innovation Hotspot 🔥💭
A recap of 'The Future of the Edmonton Tech Ecosystem' Tech Thursday Session
Last week’s Tech Thursday, “The Future of the Edmonton Tech Ecosystem,” brought together leaders in the ecosystem to talk about where Edmonton is, what needs to happen so that the ecosystem can grow, and what the future looks like with proper support.
This is our recap of the top ideas from last week’s Tech Thursday.
“Edmonton is capital-efficient. Quality of life here is good, even if winters are tough. And unlike 15 years ago, we now have local opportunities to support investment.”
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TL;DR
Foster MORE Entrepreneurs: A thriving innovation ecosystem depends on more entrepreneurs supported by capital, talent, experienced founders, and community, turning local ideas into sustained growth and economic opportunity.
Explore ALL Funding Options: If struggling for local funding, founders in Edmonton should look beyond local capital and tap into national and global funding opportunities, leveraging post-COVID accessibility to fuel innovation while keeping the benefits of building in a capital-efficient city.
Collaborate Locally AND Nationally: Winning globally requires Edmonton to collaborate locally with its innovators and nationally with other Canadian cities, fostering cohesion, deeper understanding of tech, and shared growth across the ecosystem.
3 Ways Edmonton Can Continue Fostering an Innovation Ecosystem:
1. Foster MORE Entrepreneurs
At its core, an innovation ecosystem is the sum of its parts. With more entrepreneurs building in Edmonton, the ecosystem will organically grow. This emphasizes the importance of support systems being available, like grants, angel capital, venture capital, organizations like Startup TNT, experienced founders helping first-timers, and talent pipelines.
Why This Is Important: Entrepreneurship does not happen in isolation. Building an environment that fosters innovation is vital in both supporting local talent, and attracting builders, which both mean more opportunities for job creation and economic growth.
Key Takeaway: Innovation is the spark, but the proper support systems, like capital, talent, knowledge, and community, help nurture that spark into something bigger.
2. Explore ALL Funding Options
While Edmonton is on its way to becoming more of a tech hotspot, there can be some limiting factors when it comes to funding; be it investor readiness, understanding, or some companies not fitting the VC model. This is why it’s vital for builders in Edmonton to explore options everywhere (like Silicon Valley or New York).
Why this is important: The Covid pandemic changed the way businesses operate: in the past, founders would have to fly to San Francisco or New York to meet investors, or even be urged to move to these cities. Now? The virtual boom that resulted from Covid means funding can come from anywhere, and building with Silicon Valley funding in a capital-efficient, high quality of life city like Edmonton is a recipe for success.
Key Takeaway: Funding is no longer limited to the city you are building in. Exploring all funding options, nationally and internationally, can help kickstart innovation while fostering a stronger ecosystem locally.
3. Municipal Collaboration Locally AND Nationally
With tech being critical to growth locally in Edmonton, as well as nationwide, it is vital that the city itself collaborates with the innovators in the city, as well as collaboration with cities nationally. The competition isn’t a neighbouring city; it’s the world. And to win globally, there needs to be cohesion locally.
Why this is important: It can be easy to view other Canadian cities as competition, but the reality is that by collaborating in Canada, innovation will prosper nationwide. On a more specific scale, cities, like Edmonton, need to dive into a deeper understanding of what tech is: tech is so much more than ‘IT’; it is job creation, salaries, and the future of the Edmonton economy. Learning and taking notes of current tech hubs across the country should be viewed favourably, not negatively.
Key Takeaway: Being willing to collaborate with Canadian cities that are further along in their tech journey, as well as being willing to take a deeper understanding of tech within Edmonton will benefit both builders and the city in the long run.
Hot Take:
Edmonton Needs To Stop Thinking Small If The Tech Ecosystem Is To Thrive
Between other ecosystems funding ideas that are not as realizable as ideas that originate in Edmonton, to an implicit belief that the competition is Calgary or Toronto as opposed to the Globe, Edmonton, both its founders and its tech support systems, need to start thinking bolder if it is to become a thriving hub.
What does bold mean? Bold means pitching earlier, getting ideas out to customers, investors, and mentors. Bold means chasing the aforementioned Global funding. Bold means nationwide collaboration and celebrating Canadian and Edmontonian success stories. All of these things can help shift the view of tech in Edmonton, put the city on the innovation map, and grow the ecosystem.
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Don’t Miss Our Next Events!
🏛️ October 16th
Topic - Trust, Bias, and Responsible Use of AI Today
At this Tech Thursday, we will be discussing 'Trust, Bias, and the Responsible Use of AI Today'. Our speakers will discuss how AI is being implemented safely in Defense Tech, FinTech, and across industry.
Speakers:
Kimberly Van Vliet, Founder and CEO at WaVv
Cory Kapser, Head of AI at Neo Financial
Alyssa Lefairvre Škopac, Director of AI, Trust, and Safety at Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute