Innovation Blast: Thursday, May 5, 2022
Here’s the latest on a wide range of innovation in the Edmonton region. Feel free to share it and let us know how we can improve the Blast. Let’s begin!

Innovate Edmonton Secures Federal Funding for ‘Innovation Gallery’ & ‘Capital City Pilots’
On April 29th, Innovate Edmonton participated in two federal funding annoucements. Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan) is investing more than $17 million to support 11 companies and three service providers in Edmonton’s innovation community. Through the Canada Community Revitalization Fund, federal funding of more than $6.7 million will enable community-led initiatives across Edmonton.
“Edmonton is known as a fantastic launchpad for entrepreneurs as they scale up and bring the best of our city to the global market,” said Mayor Amarjeet Sohi. “This funding allows us to unlock even more potential and use the City as a living lab giving entrepreneurs a chance to test their ideas. With many supports and our open-for-business policies, it is clear that Edmonton welcomes innovation, experimentation, and discovery. Thank you to the federal government for continuing to support Edmonton and our economic revival.”
Innovate Edmonton will receive $779,310 to develop a procurement model for small and medium-sized businesses to test their technologies with the City of Edmonton. CEO Catherine Warren said the project — dubbed “Capital City Pilots” — will provide companies with “a flagship municipal client to showcase on the international stage.” This is in addition to the $490,625 the organization received to create an Innovation Gallery as part of a separate PrairiesCan announcement on community-led infrastructure.
NAIT will receive $1.39 million to develop a standalone 5G network for product testing, and Startup TNT will receive $780,000 to support its investment summits.
Local businesses receiving funding include PBG BioPharma, AltaML, RWI Synthetics, Dryrun, EC Labs, Sidekick, Smart Access, and Sparrow Connected.
The federal government said it expects the investment to create 882 jobs.
Funding & Support for Entrepreneurship
- Calgary-based The51, which aims to increase access to women-led capital for women-led businesses, is coming to Edmonton. Kristina Milke, managing partner at Sprout Fund, along with Nicole Janssen of AltaML and Sharleen Oborowsky of Yogapedia, are helping The51 get established in Edmonton as ambassadors for the organization.
- Sprout Fund has surpassed the $10-million target for its second fund, which will invest in business-to-business software startups in Western Canada. More than 50 investors, primarily from Alberta, have signed on. The fund’s management team is now in the midst of due diligence with two companies and expects to announce the first investment within the next month. In addition to striking deals, Sprout Fund II will continue raising, with an eye to a second close later in 2022.
- Voting is open until May 9 for the three People’s Choice categories at the YEG Startup Community Awards: Connector of the Year, New Startup of the Year, and Startup Event of the Year. The awards take place on May 19.
- Among the Edmonton-based companies that made Startup TNT‘s Investment Summit V Top 20 are Adewunmi Skincare, Bladeflex, JustCook, and What’s The Deal. They’ll make their pitches on May 12.
- Alberta Innovates supported nearly 1,500 clients in 2021 and has aided the creation of more than 2,400 new jobs in small and medium-sized enterprises in Alberta over the past few years. “We are the engine that drives innovation in Alberta,” CEO Laura Kilcrease told Postmedia in a sponsored story. “Alberta needs an entity that’s looking to the future of what we need to do in the next one to 30 years.”
- Pow Wow Pitch launched their second annual Mailer Box in collaboration with Raven Reads to support early-stage Pow Wow Pitch entrepreneurs to accelerate their growth with $200,000 in purchase orders.
- San Francisco-based GrowthX announced the launch of the Alberta Innovates Revenue Accelerator. The 16-week program is a partnership between GrowthX and Alberta Innovates with a focus on helping founders acquire customers and grow revenue.
Tech
- The Alberta government is putting $3.4 million annually into GovLab.AI, a public sector artificial intelligence lab that aims to solve complex problems by pairing experts from AltaML with post-secondary students and graduates via Mitacs to work with public servants.
- Drone Delivery Canada, which is integrating cargo drones into the controlled airspace at the Edmonton International Airport, has won the Xcellence Award in Innovation from the Association for Uncrewed Vehicles Systems International (AUSVI). “We’re proud of our partnership as the first airport in North America to stage drone-based cargo delivery trials from restricted airspace,” EIA’s Myron Keehn said as he congratulated the company.
- Alona Fyshe, an assistant professor of computer science and psychology at the U of A, Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) Fellow, and Canada CIFAR AI Chair, suggests that understanding the human brain can lead to smarter AI. Fyshe discussed her research on machine learning and natural language processing on Episode 40 of the AskAi podcast.
Climate Emergency & CleanTech
- The City of Edmonton‘s carbon budget, a tool that integrates greenhouse gas emissions into municipal budgeting and prioritization processes, earned recognition from the 2022 American Planning Association Sustainable Communities Division Awards on May 2 in the Policy, Law, or Tool Award category. “This is North America’s first municipal carbon budget,” said Howaida Hassan with the city’s urban planning and economy branch, “meaning that in addition to measuring the dollars and cents of the budget, now Edmonton will also measure the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that a project adds or takes away from the environment.”
- ATCO signed an agreement with Canadian Pacific to provide engineering services for two hydrogen production and refuelling facilities at CP’s rail yards in Calgary and Edmonton. “We’re thrilled to be working with CP to advance hydrogen in yet another energy application, in this case for use as a commercial transportation fuel,” said Bob Myles, ATCO’s VP of corporate development. Construction on the facilities will begin later this year, with hydrogen scheduled to begin fuelling CP trains by 2023.
- German developer Alpin Sun is proposing a $340-million solar farm project for Sturgeon County. “We are proud of our ability to continue attracting investments in clean energy that showcase our commitment to sustainability, benefit residents, and aid the decarbonization efforts of industry,” Sturgeon County Mayor Alanna Hnatiw said in a news release. Alpin Sun is also building Airport City Solar at the Edmonton International Airport.
- Matthew Labbe, a PhD candidate at the U of A’s Faculty of Engineering, is working on lowering the cost of zinc-air batteries, a pricey but more effective alternative to lithium-ion batteries that he believes have great potential to store excess renewable energy on power grids. Labbe is expanding on earlier research in which he and his colleagues discovered the chemistry needed to use iron oxide as a catalyst on battery electrodes.
Digital Inclusion & Education
- Innovate Edmonton board member F. Haider Alvi was among a few professors from Athabasca University that published an article, highlighting four distinct aspects of online learning that should stick after the pandemic: learning to learn online, designing online teaching with purpose, blending space and time online and continued disruption with AI.
Food Security & Agtech
- The Organic Box was awarded $818,124 from Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan) to adapt The Güd Box food delivery service to “improve access to fresh, affordable, and seasonal produce to vulnerable low-income and new Canadian families.”
- In a separate PrairiesCan announcement of $6.7 million for community spaces, Explore Edmonton was awarded $99,950 to expand the Edmonton Urban Farm at the former Northlands site. The money will be used to repurpose an underutilized lot to increase food production and create a public gathering space.
- TrustBIX has signed a master services agreement with JBS Canada under which the former will leverage its proprietary platform to “support the evolution of the JBS Angus beef brand.” JBS Canada president David Colwell said “working with the TrustBIX team will enhance the JBS journey to provide unmatched quality and service along with accountability and transparency.”
Public Health
- NAIT will receive more than $1.2 million through the Health Innovation Platform Partnerships program (HIPP) from Alberta Innovates to enhance its Centre for Advanced Medical Simulation (CAMS). The centre has been used in the past for training and teaching, but the new funding will allow NAIT to extend access to health innovators and job creators across the province.
- A $450,000 grant from TD Bank Group will help radiologist Jacob Jaremko expand and test his AI-powered portable ultrasound devices. The goal of the project is to make “health care more equitable and improve outcomes for patients” by taking the technology to them rather than making them come to a major hospital, Jaremko told Folio.
Arts & Culture
- Sokaris Studios started with an immersive art gallery called About Light in City Centre Mall during the pandemic. Though that installation has since closed, founders Adon Lee Clements and David Kaminski continue to offer digital art that interacts with viewers in unique ways such as using augmented reality. “You’ll be able to look at it through your phone, and see it come alive,” Clements explained.
Bits & Pieces
- Jobber is a finalist for the 2022 North America Inspiring Workplaces Awards in the large business category.
- Trevor Caswell, manager of demand and product development at the Edmonton International Airport, has been elected as the new chairman of Pharma.Aero‘s board of directors. “Over the next two years, I look forward to working with the rest of our dedicated team…in order to continue building a strong organization for our members,” said Caswell.
Other Mentions
- Innovation Growth Council member and Unbelts founder Claire Theaker-Brown spoke with Taproot Edmonton about the challenges of manufacturing in Canada.
This Blast is brought to you by Innovate Edmonton in partnership with Taproot Publishing.