Shift by Alberta Innovates

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In this episode we talk with members of Alberta Innovates health innovation and platforms' team about digital health in Alberta. 

We cover everything from the ethics of going digital to the programs being offered to entrepreneurs, researchers, and innovators in the province.

Featuring:

Sean DeWitt, Senior Business Partner, Health Innovation
Sunil Rajput, Senior Business Partner, Health Innovation
Sandra Stabel, Senior Business Partner, Opportunity Development 
Tammy Mah-Fraser, Executive Director, Health Platforms 

Shift by Alberta Innovates focuses on the people, businesses and organizations that are contributing to Alberta's strong tech ecosystem.

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This episode we're talking with Alberta's Minister of Jobs, Economy and Innovation, Doug Schweitzer; and Alberta Innovates CEO Laura Kilcrease about diversification and Alberta's economy and more.

BIOS

Doug Schweitzer

Minister Doug Schweitzer was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta on April 16, 2019, as the MLA for Calgary-Elbow.

A dedicated husband, father of 2 young girls and a long-serving community volunteer, Schweitzer has a strong record of public service, including previously raising funds for military families and serving as Vice Chair of the Calgary Drug Treatment Court. He is passionate about restoring Alberta's promise – an Alberta in which, no matter where you came from, if you worked hard, you could succeed.

Schweitzer was a partner at a leading Alberta law firm as a restructuring and bankruptcy lawyer. This experience gave him a first-hand view of the staggering impacts of failed policies that have led to job losses, economic stagnation and a loss of hope.

Doug Schweitzer was appointed as Alberta’s Minister of Jobs, Economy and Innovation on August 25, 2020. Schweitzer will oversee the implementation of Alberta’s Recovery Plan, its sector strategies and Alberta’s growth agenda.

Schweitzer previously held the position of Alberta’s Minister of Justice and Solicitor General where he made important progress tackling rural crime, advancing aspects of the fair deal panel report recommendations, and creating a faster, fairer and more responsible justice system. (Minister Schweitzer's bio was taken from the GoA's website.)

Laura Kilcrease

Laura Kilcrease is the Chief Executive Officer for Alberta Innovates, including its subsidiaries InnoTech Alberta and C-FER Technologies.

Recruited from Austin, Texas, Laura is the founder and former-managing director of the venture capital fund Triton Ventures, LP. She is widely recognized as one of the key figures in changing Austin’s economic landscape from one struggling with the economic ups and downs that come with oil dependence to a high-tech environment that is today recognized as one of the #1 Entrepreneur City and best place to live and work in the U.S.

She is the founder of the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), one of the United States’ first technology business incubators, and co-founder of the Austin Technology Council, a premier networking organization that cultivated the growth of the Austin economy. Laura also launched Capital Network, one of the largest angel investor networks in the U.S. with over $150 million in completed transactions.

Laura has more than 25 years of hands-on experience in commercializing technology, and a deep understanding of how to identify and build new business opportunities. Prior to accepting the role as Alberta Innovates’ CEO, Laura was a seven-year member of the Alberta Research and Innovation Advisory Committee, which guided the former Alberta Innovates’ corporations.

In Austin, she gave her time and expertise to a number of non-profit boards, including the Women’s Leadership Advisory Board of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, the Beyster Institute, World Congress for Information Technology 2006, and the IC² Institute at The University of Texas at Austin, among many others.

Laura has often been recognized for her outstanding achievements. She has received numerous honors and awards, including the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Austin Business Journal’s Profiles in Power Award, and the University of Texas McCombs School of Business Women in

Shift by Alberta Innovates focuses on the people, businesses and organizations that are contributing to Alberta's strong tech ecosystem.

Send us a text

The Internet of Things (IoT) describes a network of  devices and systems that are embedded with sensors and other technologies that are connected over the Internet for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems.

IoT is a multi-billion dollar global industry. 

On this episode we talk with Brenda Beckedorf, the executive director of the Alberta IoT, about her organization's role in representing a unified voice for Alberta-based SMEs working in the field of IoT

The Alberta IoT is a nonprofit consisting of organizations with a vested interest in the success of the Internet of Things in Alberta. Their mission is to position Alberta as the worldwide center of excellence for the Internet of Things technology.

Shift by Alberta Innovates focuses on the people, businesses and organizations that are contributing to Alberta's strong tech ecosystem.

Send us a text

This is a special episode of Shift we recorded for Small Business Week in Alberta called Learn how to build a gazelle.

In this case, we're not talking about the four-legged variety. In this context, a gazelle is a young, very fast-growing company. This type of company maintains consistent and rapid expansion of both employment and turnover.

Join the Alberta Innovates Entrepreneurial Investment team as they lead you through an entrepreneur's journey of innovation from discovery to use.

Learn how we can help you with coaching, community, and capital.

Hear from:

Sandra Candie - Director, Global Partnerships

Mike Riou - Technology Development Advisor

Dana Smits - Director, Capital Access & Major Transactions

Presented by the Hosts of Shift by Alberta Innovates

This was a YouTube LIVE event. You can access the link here: https://youtu.be/Rq44eaNMObg

Shift by Alberta Innovates focuses on the people, businesses and organizations that are contributing to Alberta's strong tech ecosystem.

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We're Shifting speeds this episode and talking with local writer, Scott Lilwall, who sat down with people in Alberta's innovation community to talk about the value of failure and the lessons it can teach us.

Scott Lilwall is an Edmonton-based freelance writer and podcast producer. His writing has been featured on CBC, Alberta Innovates and many others. For this episode, he reached out and chatted with Alberta Innovates CEO Laura Kilcrease, Jessica Doody, lead program manager from Startup Edmonton, and entrepreneur Bradley Poulette to talk about the role of failure in innovation, and what it's taught them about success.

Read the articles referenced in the podcast

• The upside of failure
• Learning from failure inspires entrepreneur 
• Engineering failure to solve technology challenges

Shift by Alberta Innovates focuses on the people, businesses and organizations that are contributing to Alberta's strong tech ecosystem.

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The legalization of cannabis is not without its hurdles. Science is seeking to fill the knowledge gaps when it comes to the implications and uses of medical cannabis, and the impact cannabis can have on recreational users. Cannabis entrepreneurs are looking to create long-term sustainable growth for this new industry they feel can help diversify Alberta's economy, all while wrestling with black market purveyors of questionable quality and other obstacles. 

Today on Shift we explore both perspectives with John Carle from the Alberta Cannabis Council, and Dr. Sunil Rajput from Alberta Innovates.

And if you listen intently you may even hear a challenge to partner...


BIO

John Carle is the executive director of the Alberta Cannabis Council, a non-profit organization with the goal of bringing growers, producers, and retailers together to identify how this new business can reach its potential in a ethical and organized manner.

Dr. Sunil Rajput is a senior business partner with Alberta Innovates, and is the lead for the mCannabis program and the soon-to-launch mCannabisRWE (real world evaluation) program.

Shift by Alberta Innovates focuses on the people, businesses and organizations that are contributing to Alberta's strong tech ecosystem.

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As lead up to the September 15, 2020 Women Leading Innovation event presented by Inventures Unbound and SHEinnovates, our guest today is Dr. Elizabeth Cannon. Elizabeth talks with us about women in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics; what it takes to succeed and to be a true leader; her goal of supporting women-led business and the important role she feels mentorship plays in helping one another succeed.

BIO

Dr. Elizabeth Cannon is former president and vice chancellor of the University of Calgary. She is a professional engineer and previously served as Dean of the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary. Her technical expertise is in positioning and navigation systems with a particular focus on Global Positioning Systems.

Elizabeth is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Canadian Academy of Engineering as well as an elected foreign associate of the National Academy of Engineering. She served as co-chair of the Business-Higher Education Roundtable and is a past chair of Universities Canada. Previously, she was a member of the federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development’s Science, Technology and Innovation Council in addition to many other boards and advisory councils.

In 1998, Dr. Cannon was selected as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 and in 2006 was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network. Dr. Cannon holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in mathematics from Acadia University as well as a BSc, MSc and PhD in geomatics engineering from the University of Calgary, and has received honorary degrees from the University of Ottawa, Acadia University, the Université de Montréal and SAIT.

Shift by Alberta Innovates focuses on the people, businesses and organizations that are contributing to Alberta's strong tech ecosystem.

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2020 is the word we use for for perfect vision, but as with the year and how it's gone so far, we have to start seeing things in a new way. Today's guest, Karen MacKenzie, helps us to explore and understand the role Indigenous culture and practices play in contributing to building those new economies. We talk about female Indigenous entrepreneurs, building genuine relationships in business and how she works as a mentor to help other women grow as entrepreneurs.


BIO
Karen MacKenzie is a proud Cree-Métis woman and the co-founder and President of MacKintosh Canada, an Indigenous owned, international consulting company. 

Karen brings her traditional knowledge of indigenous ways into the contemporary workplace as this wisdom and way of being reflect “wise practices of high performance organizations”.

As an international professional speaker, Karen inspires audiences to find their inner passion and to move forward in the direction of their dreams. She challenges individuals to recognize their own gifts, talents and genius and to “let it all out”. 

She is passionate about supporting the dreams and aspirations of the people, organizations and communities. Karen is a member of the Edmonton Police Commission and the Circle of Elders for Edmonton Catholic Schools, heralded as a wise practice across Canada enabling greater success rates for First Nations, Métis and Inuit learners. 

Karen is a Senior Advisory for the Indigenous Women in Community Leadership (IWCL), Coady Institute, St.Francis Xavier University along with her advisory role to IdeaConnector an online community supporting Indigenous women entrepreneurs.

Shift by Alberta Innovates focuses on the people, businesses and organizations that are contributing to Alberta's strong tech ecosystem.

Send us a text

Starting a company with the goal of creating an over-the-top media service for kids where parents can feel confident their children are watching appropriate shows is no easy task. Couple that with YouTube being one of your main competitors and the task almost seems impossible. Well, that's what Neil Gruninger and his partner Michael Lowe did when they created Kidoodle.TV.

The online service has boomed in recent years, and we sit down to chat with Neil, the company's chief product officer, to get a better sense of how and why this Calgary-based company is achieving huge success.

BIO
Neil was trained as a user interface designer with a fine arts degree in New Media. He and company CEO Michael Lowe founded Kidoodle.TV in 2012. 

Shift by Alberta Innovates focuses on the people, businesses and organizations that are contributing to Alberta's strong tech ecosystem.