mayor jyoti gondek trumpets calgary tech at collision conference in toronto
calgary's tech sector has seen record growth in venture capital investment over the past six years
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dave abel/postmedia
calgary will be front and centre at canada’s largest tech conference in toronto this week, as the city eyes continued exponential growth in the sector. mayor jyoti gondek was in the spotlight on wednesday preaching the good news of calgary’s ecosphere, including taking part in a panel with leaders from mphasis, vivid theory and mercator ai on how a city becomes a tech and innovation hub.
she said she saw last year how the connections made at the event led to companies considering calgary and coming here.
“our startup system is valued at about $2.7 billion, and we are feeling that it’s probably going to grow by about 1,000 new tech companies by 2030,” said gondek, who also made a speech to industry on tuesday night aboard the alberta @ collision yacht party. “to accomplish those goals, we’ve got to be at the places where the businesses and talent are coming together, and this is such an opportunity.”
calgary has seen record growth in venture capital investment over the past six years, while international companies continue to embrace a city best known for oil and gas development.
the energy sector is still vital to the city, and it is leading the charge in calgary’s technological diversification as it seeks greener and more sustainable pathways.
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earlier this month, startup genome named calgary one of the top 100 tech hubs in the world and one of the top emerging markets.
one of the big themes at this year’s conference is the growing role of artificial intelligence, sparked by the emergence of generative ai and the evolving role it is playing in the business world. this is another strong suit of alberta’s, with companies such as altaml based out of edmonton and bluemarvel ai and sylvester.ai, both out of calgary and at collision this year.
“we need to give a full shout out to our private sector,” said gondek. “these are people that are problem solvers. they identify that businesses could be stronger, that people could be healthier, that the world could be better if we just use technology to change some things. and i think that’s the point we need to drive home: technology allows you to solve problems and that’s at the root of who calgarians really are. and that’s why we’ve been successful as entrepreneurs and we continue to do that in a new way.”
brett colvin, ceo of goodlawyer, said calgary is pushing to the front of the pack for those looking to invest in the sector. but the city needs to remain focused on developing the industry.
goodlawyer hosted its second annual yacht party on tuesday, which included 500 people and about 100 companies from across the globe.
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“we need to keep telling the modern calgary story,” said colvin. “there still is an image of alberta that is tightly defined by oil and gas. that is key to our province’s economy and frankly gives our province and our city a huge leg up, because there is a ton of capital and an entrepreneurial spirit in calgary that has been there for a long time.”
he noted there is potential for calgary to have an even bigger opportunity to tell that story, with collision’s contract in toronto ending after next year. with the bmo expansion set to be completed in 2024, it is exactly the type of event the city would like to attract.
“i definitely think there’s a chance,” said colvin. “it might be a bit of an outside chance right now — i know vancouver’s interested and there are some cities in the states that would be very keen to take over collision — but i would throw calgary’s hat in the ring.”
twitter: @joshaldrich03
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