Innovation Blast: Thursday, June 2, 2022
Here’s the latest on a wide range of innovation in the Edmonton region.
Alberta and UHF put $98M into neuro ICU at Brain Centre
The provincial government has fleshed out its previously announced plans to expand the neurosciences intensive care unit at the University of Alberta Hospital’s Brain Centre.
Premier Jason Kenney announced a total government investment of $81 million towards the completion of the project, with the University Hospital Foundation contributing $17 million raised with the help of its Brain Centre Campaign. The money will fund an up-to-date space to replace the 1980s-era facility, more than doubling its capacity from 11 spaces to 24. It is expected to take five years to complete construction.
Edmonton’s Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit is one of two dedicated neurocritical care units in Canada, and the only one in Western Canada. It sees more than 900 patients per year, said Dr. Dennis Djogovic.
“As technology advances and our population grows, we look forward to being able to provide cutting-edge care to our patients with complex neurological and neurosurgical disorders in a quieter, more private setting that can better accommodate families as they provide essential support for their loved one’s healing,” he said in a release.
Tech
- Sparrow Connected, which recently received $1.42 million from PrairiesCan and last year secured funding from San Francisco’s Resolute Ventures, has established an advisory board to help it manage growth and explore new opportunities.
- Serious Labs is piloting a new commercial vehicle virtual reality simulator aimed at helping the trucking industry improve skills and onboard new hires. “The North American truck driving industry is facing unprecedented challenges and needs as much support as it can get,” CEO Jim Colvin told Access, Lift & Handlers. “With the colossal uptick of e-commerce, the demand for truck drivers is greater than ever. The labour shortage is only growing, road safety remains an issue and attention to carbon emissions is critical.”
- After a decade of creating data visualizations for Darkhorse Analytics, Eugene Chen is on to the next chapter of his career, having delivered one more wow-inducing piece of work: This is Edmonton.
Climate Emergency & CleanTech
- RUNWITHIT Synthetics is one of seven startups participating in Low-Carbon Hydrogen Accelerator (LCHA) put on by Greentown Labs, the largest climatetech startup incubator in North America.
- Invest Alberta has signed a memorandum of understanding with Inter Pipeline, ITOCHU Corporation, and PETRONAS Energy Canada Ltd. to explore the development of world-scale integrated blue ammonia and blue methanol production facilities in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland, adding to the growing list of planned hydrogen projects for the area.
- A tool called Ai4Buzz developed by researchers at the University of Alberta shows that Canadians aren’t as polarized about energy policy and transition as might be expected. The tool — which harvests, aggregates, and examines tweets — is intended to track and visualize conversations over time.
- Edmonton, Calgary, and a host of partner organizations will receive $2 million from Alberta Innovates for the reciChain program, a technology-enabled ecosystem that brings together all the plastic value chain players to enable the circularity, tracking, and sorting of recycled plastic. A functional platform in Alberta is expected to be developed by January 2024.
- Several new hydrogen-powered semis were featured at the International Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Event. Some Alberta companies are currently testing trucks that use both hydrogen and diesel. “We’ve got a couple of other fuel technology trucks that they’re going to be able to borrow within their fleets for a period of two to three weeks and try them in their regular business operations,” Terri Johnson with the Alberta Motor Transport Association told CTV News.
Digital Inclusion & Education
- Katrina Ingram of Ethically Aligned AI spoke to Women in AI Ethics (WAIE) about what attracted her to AI and how she has overcome barriers. “I am not a data scientist, but that doesn’t mean that the work that I’m doing isn’t as important as the people who are actually working on the data questions or who have more of a technical focus to their work,” she said.
Food Security & Agtech
- Alberta Innovates has invested almost $3.2 million through the Smart Agriculture and Food Digitalization and Automation Challenge (SAFDAC) to support 10 projects working on innovation in farming, agriculture, and food production. Local recipients include Mojow Autonomous Solutions Inc. ($500,000), the University of Alberta’s Derek MacKenzie ($497,000), and Wyvern ($380,000).
- More Edmonton backyards became homes to hens in 2020 and 2021 than in all previous years combined, City of Edmonton data shows. “It’s all about food sustainability,” Julia Watson, manager of Edmonton’s backyard hens and bees program, said of the influx of people keeping urban chickens.
Public Health
- True Angle was among the startups to demo at Plug and Play Alberta‘s Expo Day for Batch 1 in Calgary on May 31.
- The Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology at the University of Alberta has collaborated with Halifax-based Sixth Wave Innovations Inc. to test its Accelerated Molecularly Imprinted Polymer technology, which the company says can detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus at sensitivity levels 250 times lower than commercially available rapid antigen tests.
- Alberta Health Services has launched a website called HEAL, which stands for Health Education and Learning, as a resource for families seeking information about common minor illnesses and injuries in children, such as ear pain, fever, or rashes. The information was developed by emergency doctors and clinicians at the Alberta Children’s Hospital and Stollery Children’s Hospital.
Arts & Culture
- Story City is soliciting pitches for short stories from Edmonton writers or those who know the city well to integrate into its storytelling app, which delivers a story when a user is standing in the right location. The deadline for pitches is June 5, and 20 shortlisted writers will be notified by June 13.
- The Edmonton Downtown Business Association announced details of two alley transformations as it looks to create new and unexpected public spaces in the downtown core. The Works International Visual Arts Society will be working on transforming the Rice Howard Way alley and HCMA Architecture + Design will be working to reimagine a second alley way that runs from 103 Street to 104 Street south of Jasper Avenue. The area will be named Lulu Lane in honour of Lulu Anderson, a Black Edmontonian who sued a theatre for refusing her entry in 1922.
Bits & Pieces
- Among the Prairies regional finalists for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards are Cory Janssen and Nicole Janssen of AltaML, Adam Jessome and Shawn Martens of IronSight, and Piyush Sawhney of Dr. Phone Fix. The winners will be announced in July.
- Startup TNT is hosting an Entrepreneur Education Series every Tuesday until June 28, when Health Cities will present on validating your health tech.
- Housing affordability is key to attracting talent, which gives Edmonton a competitive advantage, says Jeff Bell, Director of Research and Business Intelligence for Edmonton Global.
- Day 2 of Inventures Canada took place today. Innovate Edmonton CEO Catherine Warren will be spoke on a panel this afternoon on the next economic leap for Alberta cities.
This Blast is brought to you by Innovate Edmonton in partnership with Taproot Publishing.