Calgary’s Simmering High-Tech Community Set to Explode - Part Two
Hi Techvibes Readers,
I started writing for Techvibes about the Calgary, Canadian and Global tech scene a couple of years ago. Here's the post I did regarding Calgary's Simmering High-Tech Community Set To Explode from January 2008.
To quote myself :) "Calgary's high-tech scene is swimming in a sea of oil and gas" ... and that is still very much true. Many of the things that I wrote in that prior article still resonate:
- The tech sector is large and contributes significantly to Alberta's economy (is the third largest industry behind Oil/Gas and Agriculture)
- No-one outside of the sector really knows about it
- There's more happening than most people know (that's even more true in 2011!)
- There's still a great need for an Albertan Technology Investment tax credit for private investors, similar to the B.C. 30% tech startups have enjoyed for many years that has been instrumental in their high-tech scene success.
But, from my perspective, we *are* making progress here in Alberta. Slowly but surely.
My contribution to Techvibes dwindled over the last couple of years, and I want to change that. I've been active in the tech community as CEO of Mob4Hire, a technology commercialization consultant at StephDoKin.com, an advisor to several firms, and linked into what's going on like gov't and associations like the A100 (I'm a co-founder), C100, Alberta Innovates, Innovate Calgary (the merger of CTI/UTI), and Startup Calgary. Things are rocking here in Alberta, there's many great companies and stories ... I'm excited and want to share!
In the next few months, there's some great events happening that will highlight and accelerate the Alberta tech industry. I've got the great pleasure to co-M.C. the AccelerateAB event next week on July 13th with Kevin Swan from iNovia Capital; in Calgary ... you GOTTA go. There's also Alberta's participation at the 2nd Grow Conference in Vancouver in August (shaping up to be even better than last year), and then the road to Banff Venture Forum in early October. There will be lots to talk about, I really believe we've got great momentum in the high-tech community here in Alberta.
My friend, Sarah Blue will continue to contribute her perspective as a Techvibes writer in the Calgary/Alberta space, just in case you were wondering. Here's her blog posts.
