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Mark Korthuis, President and CEO of the Glenrose Hospital Foundation recently sat down with me to discuss a panel he'll be moderating at Inventures 2024 called Rethinking Approaches to Unlocking Health Data.

In our discussion, Mark sets the stage for what the panel will focus on: navigating the terrain between privacy concerns and opportunities that, if missed, could set health systems back as the world embraces the ubiquity of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and other technologies we've yet to imagine.

Mark provides invaluable insights into the transformative potential of collective governance and the imperative for a fluid exchange of health data across care settings.

Our conversation is only a teaser for the panel that should be a beacon for clinicians, patients, entrepreneurs, policy makers and anyone interested in data and healthcare innovation, seeking to understand the intricate balance of data accessibility and patient care.

In addition to listening to the podcast, check out the Interoperability Saves Lives report on the Alberta Virtual Care website. 

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

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Meet Hunter Cardinal, a man whose roots spread across a rich tapestry of Cree, Métis, Polish, French, and Russian heritage. Hunter will be joining us May 29 through 31st as our MC for Inventures 2024.

Our conversation rounds all sorts of corners as we talk about the roles of preparation and spontaneity in practicing for his role. He explains what he refers to as the 'drywall effect' where creating the perfect atmosphere is as essential as the nitty-gritty of scripts and technical coordination.

The role of an MC comes into sharp focus as we discuss how Hunter's presence at the helm can ensure an event's success by seamlessly knitting together speakers, technicians, and the audience into an unforgettable experience.

In something I found to be particularly meaningful, Hunter describes his role as MC as oskâpêwis, or Cree for helper. 

Tune in and learn about the potent blend of meticulous planning and the ability to pivot gracefully - the secret ingredients for maintaining control in a world brimming with uncertainties.

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Bio

Hunter, alongside his sister Jacquelyn, are the proud owners of Naheyawin, a social enterprise they built  to promote reconciliation and understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. 

Naheyawin takes a unique approach to Indigenous consulting and creates impactful training and unforgettable cultural experiences to help organizations unlock the transformative power of Indigenous ways of knowing and being, enhancing their diversity and inclusion strategies. Naheyawin has worked with various organizations, including for-profit businesses, non-profits, and government agencies. 

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

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Inventures isn't just any conference; it's a global gathering that puts Alberta's incredible pool of resources and talent under the spotlight. Whether you're an entrepreneur itching to make waves, a startup on the brink of breakthrough, or an international company eyeing Alberta as your next big venture, you'll find that Inventures is the ultimate stage for forging business connections and showcasing the province as a hotbed for innovation and growth.

In our brief discussion Marlene Arana, the director of Inventures, paints a vivid picture of an event that transcends the typical conference bounds, promising a holistic experience that melds technology, business, entertainment, and a taste of Alberta culture.

If you're curious about what the future holds, from digital health to clean tech, or if you're an institution aiming to commercialize cutting-edge research, this episode is your invitation to explore the rich tapestry of opportunity that Inventures weaves. Prepare to be inspired and to create impactful connections, for Alberta's innovative spirit is ready to dazzle on the global stage, and Inventures 2024 is where it all happens.

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

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On this episode  sit down with Gail Powley to tease some of the fascinating stories that have woven the fabric of Alberta's innovation landscape, from the Nobel Prize laureates who trace their roots to small towns like Medicine Hat to the cutting-edge developments that have shaped industries far and wide. As we explore the pivotal contributions of the Regional Innovation Networks, we uncover how these cornerstones of progress ensure that Alberta's entire expanse shares in the success of technological evolution.

Gail is the president of Technology Alberta and the executive director the ASTech Awards—Alberta's award of innovation recognition—celebrating 35 years of scientific and technological advancement.

This episode gives you some insights on the power of networking within Alberta's entrepreneurial scene. We talk about how the importance of having a compelling pitch and showing up with a giving spirit are essential currencies in our tech ecosystem, and we further explore the magic that happens at a technology and business convergence point like Inventures where you can pack 20 meetings into a day that would normally take you much longer. 

We hope you come away with an appreciation for the strong bonds that form the backbone of the tech community in Alberta, and the profound impact a culture of support and collaboration has on driving innovation to new heights. 

Welcome to Shift!

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

Send us a text

Inventures 2024 is almost here!

As with past Inventures, our goal is to deliver a global experience showcasing Alberta's innovation ecosystem. Exhibits, demonstrations, dozens of panel sessions, talks, networking and more! This can't-miss-event is ideally suited for entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, students, industry and more to come together to explore innovation at its finest.

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We've taken a wee break from Shift over the past few months, but we're back! Our next few episodes are going to help provide some sense making and way finding by shining a light on only a handful of this year's Inventures participants.

Make sure to check the Inventures 2024 website for session updates and other announcements.

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On today's episode we're talking with Erik Bitmanis from Canarie, a national non-profit organization who provides a unique service to Canadian entrepreneurs through its DAIR Cloud Program. 

This program helps Canadian tech innovators to accelerate new product and service development by providing them with free cloud resources and access to expertise in next generation technologies, giving Canadian start-ups and small & medium enterprises a boost toward commercialization.  

Welcome to Shift!

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

Send us a text

I had the chance to talk with  co-founders Megan Leslie and Julian Mulia about their work with Nanotess and their entrepreneurial journey while we are at Inventures 2023 this past May.

We dive into Nanotess 101, what it means and what they do and then we're right into discussing how Nanotess became certified as a manufacturer of medical devices with subsequent approval from Health Canada in an incredible two year time span.

Megan and Julian are very easy to talk to and are open in explaining their experiences as a young couple running an innovative company. We speak about using values and communication to guide the company in making decisions and much more!

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Bios
Megan Leslie – Co-Founder & CEO of NanoTess Inc

Megan holds two degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Finance. At NanoTess, Megan has led the company to achieve numerous critical milestones. Notably, oversubscribing NanoTess’ pre-seed and seed financing rounds, winning several pitch competitions and awards including Startup Canada’s global pitch competition in the scale up category, REHAB i2c pitch competition and the Start Alberta A100 One to Watch, securing funding from federal, provincial, and military sources, completing a successful project with the Canadian Department of National Defense, certifying NanoTess’ ISO13485/MDSAP quality management system for medical device manufacturing, and obtaining Health Canada approval for NanoTess’ flagship product - NANOSALV Catalytic Advanced Wound Care Treatment Matrix.

Julian Mulia – Co-Founder & COO of NanoTess Inc

As an engineer by training, Julian has worked as a management consultant, advising Fortune 500 C-Suite clients on Strategy, Operations, and establishing their innovation ecosystems and intrapreneurship practices. As a co-founder of NanoTess, Julian has led several critical milestones including securing dilutive and non-dilutive funding, establishing both an R&D laboratory and a production facility for NanoTess, developing scalable supply chain partnerships for equipment and materials to avoid delays associated with scaling production quickly, and securing several key business development partnerships with clinicians, health care organizations, and multi-national companies to help grow and scale NanoTess and its technology.

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

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Sacred Science brings together Indigenous knowledge and western science to create opportunities for new solutions to environmental challenges, including issues that are important to Indigenous People.

For this edition of Shift, I had the chance to sit with Alvin First Rider and talk about the Blood Tribe's Buffalo Restoration Project. We were joined by Emily Herdman from InnoTech Alberta and Brett Purdy from Alberta Innovates.

Alvin is a member of the Káínawa, or Blood Tribe,  in southern Alberta. Extending into US territory, these lands form the traditional territory of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Alvin speaks about his nation's use western science alongside Indigenous Knowledge to bring buffalo back to their historical plains.

We discuss the importance of restoring this iconic animal as part of an intertribal effort to restore the great plains ecosystem and to reclaim the traditions of the Indigenous peoples who have occupied these lands since time immemorial.

The Sacred Science video series, developed in collaboration with Indigenous communities in Alberta, Alberta Innovates and InnoTech Alberta, tells the stories of how these communities are leveraging Indigenous knowledge in tandem with western science to tackle complex conservation and land management challenges that impact all of us and to preserve their cultures.

These videos demonstrate successful collaboration between Indigenous communities and natural scientists that create meaningful impact and demonstrate our commitment to reconciliation, particularly in the natural sciences.
 
You can see all three videos here.

Bios

Alvin First Rider, Environmental Technician, Blood Tribe Land Management

Alvin is a member of the Blood Tribe of Southern Alberta and a descendant of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana both of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Alvin works as a environmental technician with Blood Tribe Land management.

He's been an advocate for the voiceless flora and fauna of Blackfoot Territory, and for traditional use land management practice such as bison, cultural burning, beaver restoration from a Blackfoot perspective.

Emily Herdman, Technical Lead, InnoTech Alberta

Emily is the Supervisor of Integration and Sector Alignment for the Environmental Services division at InnoTech Alberta. She supports project development and implementation in Environmental Impacts and Biodiversity Monitoring, while also nurturing strong relationships with key partners and progressing strategic planning for priority areas.

Bringing the right people together to solve complex client problems is what Emily enjoys most about her job. Her projects have included Indigenous communities, industry, academic, government, and regulators, reflecting her broad network and focus on collaborative approaches to achieve meaningful outcomes.

Brett Purdy, Executive Director of Environmental Innovation, Alberta Innovates

Brett is the Executive Director of Environmental Innovation at Alberta Innovates. In this position, Brett works with a talented team responsible for a supporting research and innovation in the areas of integrated land management, restoration and reclamation, climate adaptation and sustainable water resource management. 

Brett has worked in government and academic institutions as a reclamation research scientist, and has conducted research in reclamation, forest ecology, conservation biology, and popul

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

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I had a chance to sit down with Ian Beacraft, an engaging, energetic and creative visual presenter, while at Inventures recently. Ian had flown in from Chicago and was providing one of the keynotes the day we got to chat.

Ian is very well versed in artificial intelligence. He understands the nuances, the concerns and the opportunities. He was willing to go down any rabbit hole I wanted to explore and I feel it made for a great conversation.

Don't take my word for it, though. Dive in for yourself!

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Bio
Ian Beacraft, CEO and Chief Futurist, Signal and Cipher 

Considered one of the top voices in emerging technologies, Ian Beacraft is a trusted advisor to the world's most innovative companies. The founder and chief futurist of Signal and Cipher, Ian leads a strategic foresight agency that guides companies through the rapidly changing technology landscape and finds meaningful routes to innovation that impact the bottom line, inspire cultural change, and create new products and services. 

Previously responsible for P&Ls and innovation departments at the largest agencies in the world, Ian is known for making bleeding-edge technology understandable and monetizable. Brands he has advised over the last decade include Samsung, Intel, Coca-Cola, Google, Microsoft, Nike, and dozens more.

Ian has pioneered a digitally immersive presentation style that brings artificial intelligence and extended reality to life so audiences can understand the future of technology in actionable ways. Ian is also the co-owner of a production studio designing virtual worlds and the first person ever to host a news segment as a synthetic human, streaming to over 100 million devices around the world.

A classically trained musician, Ian understands the magnitude of AI's coming impact on human creativity. As a strategist and speaker, he strives to educate stakeholders on the real-world implications of emerging technologies so they can make informed decisions that positively shape our world and advance humanity. In a rapidly evolving world that some consider dystopian, Ian remains a steadfast optimist and offers what everyone needs now: hope.

Taken from Ian's LinkedIn profile.

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

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I met Ryan Greir from Whispering Cedars Ranch while I was at the Olds College of Agriculture and Technology AgSmart event in early August.

Ryan and his wife Janna are first generation Alberta farmers originally from British Columbia. I walked impressed with how these two are embracing and engaging a lifestyle that's not for everyone but one that everyone depends on.

On their farm, Whispering Cedars Ranch, they strive to raise Alberta lamb and provide the industry with healthy and proven purebred replacement breeding stock.  As entrepreneurs they're constantly looking for ways to diversify their income as they continue to grow sustainable farming in the province.

Sit back and settle in as Ryan sheds light on his experience and the joy he and his family derive from farming in Alberta.    

Additional links mentioned in our interview:

• Campaign for Wool
• OneCup AI
• Capital Power
• Alberta Lamb Producers

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

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Welcome to episode one of our KDays Innovation Zone retrospective! 

Alberta Innovates had the opportunity to participate as in-kind sponsors for the Innovation Zone led by Explore Edmonton. This was a great opportunity to meet and feature some Edmonton-based entrepreneurs, businesses and students on the Shift podcast. 

Other KDays Innovation Zone interviews include:

• Krishna Panchal from the University of Alberta's Future Creators, 
• Kathy Janzen and Ken Schmidt from Wilson Analytical, and 
• Joe Callahan from Correct AI.

This third episode is my discussion with Jean Bruce Koua from Elev Homes. Born from the shared struggles of three university students - Jean Bruce, and his partners Kevin Mpunga and Kwasi Boateng - Elev started as a side project but quickly turned into a mission.

These three weren't just sympathetic observers of the student housing struggle - they were in the thick of it themselves. Their drive to find a solution came from firsthand experience; they knew that by fixing this issue for others, they'd be fixing it for their own lives too.   

Bio
Dubbed the "Master of Making Things Happen," Jean Bruce Koua is one of Elev's founders. His first 'student home' in Canada was a budget hotel room.

Jean Bruce believes challenges are the greatest form of learning opportunities, and once overcome, can help efficiently address other sets of obstacles. As the co-founder of Elev, he is able to provide tools to help students facing challenges navigating the off campus housing market, an experience he endured as an International student studying in Canada.

Having worked in both the public sector with the Federal Government of Canada, and the private sector with the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, he is able to provide strategic input in the growth of Elev. Being able to merge his economics and problem solving skills allow him to make informed and calculated decisions that are key to the success of the startup.

Jean Bruce Koua believes that learning from one another is very important and looks forward to connecting with great minded people in the community! (LinkedIn profile)

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