Fotis Georgiadis: As a part of our series about cutting edge technological breakthroughs, I had the pleasure of interviewing IDRIS MOOTEE of urbancoolab.
Idris is the co-founder of Urbancoolab, a company focuses on advancing applied AI in computational creativity. Prior to that he was the co-founder and global CEO of Idea Couture for 12 years until the firm was acquired.
Idea Couture has built its reputation as the most sought after innovation firm for Fortune 500s with offices in Toronto, San Francisco, London Amsterdam, New York City, Mexico City and Sao Paulo. Idris has a proven executive management track record and over 25 years of experience building business from scratch, he is passionate about building high performance teams to drive product innovation, velocity and scale.
What cutting-edge technological breakthroughs are you working on?
Urbancoolab’s mission is to employ machine intelligence toward various aspects of the creative fields. Because it is involved with creativity, the recurring theme around the concept is that it will somehow take away human jobs. But that’s really mostly a myth. Yes, there are industries in which automation can replace certain operational procedures but new jobs will inevitably be created. The renowned computer scientist Kai Fu Lee’s is convinced that given AI’s limitations when it comes to performing humanistic tasks and believes:
Tasks that are personal, creative, and compassionate — these are the jobs that will be safe from displacement. But this too may not entirely be true either.
Right now, we are pushing true creative collaborations between Humans and AI Machines. It is not the scenarios that one is the master and the other becomes the tool. The biggest limitation is subjectivity. How can machines perform subjective mapping between senses and sensual qualities to illustrate the dynamics between computing and consciousness?
It is unknown how our senses (e.g., vision, audio and olfactory) are translated into subjective human feelings and emotional responses that lead to creative outcomes. One scenario is that our machine will be able to translate visuals and sounds (and we’re already doing that), but the emotional responses we are getting from it might not be the same as they might be for humans. Either way it is a breakthough. And we can argue for another 50 years whether machine art is art or machine feelings are feelings because, clearly, we haven’t arrived at any consensus about what constitutes as art and which feelings are valid.
How do you think this might change the world?
We are optimistic that there is a version of the future in which humans and machines live, work, co-create and even play side by side. For instance, we enjoy driving a lot but there are times when we may wish the machine can self-drive, because we need a power nap or make a video call. We enjoy cooking a lot and there are times some of us would rather the AI kitchen can decide and cook something while we are finishing up work.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why
50% of business out there is a scam and don’t create customer value. You can find that in financial services when all they do is sell you funds and made commissions but have no value add.
50% of business out there are operating on an expired business model. Think about auto insurance and when you won’t be the driver anymore, so it will be Tesla or Google.
50% of customer out there have no idea what they want. As they say ask people what they want for their horse carriages, they’d a faster horse. But one wanted a car. No one wanted a self-driving car.
50% of all large companies simply cannot innovate they way into the future. They have too much vested interests in the past. Think Kodak as a chemical company and never wanted digital to work even they invested the first digital camera.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
Technologists at Accenture have unveiled their Tech Vision 2022 “metaverse continuum” – an overview that lays out how they believe businesses and individuals will interact across interconnected digital environments and services in the near future. The document – titled ‘Meet Me In The Metaverse’ – also highlights the four key technology trends they believe will impact our lives in 2022. It comes as the company announces the formation of a new business unit that will focus on making the metaverse work for its customers.
WebMe: Putting The Me in Metaverse. The Reimagining Of The Internet.
This encapsulates several ideas connected with the concept of identity in the digital domain and in the immersive digital realities that will one day become the metaverse. These ideas include the concept of “presence” – that we will have the experience of being present, through avatars or other representations of ourself, within the domain, rather than just observing it, as we do today when we browse a web page or use an app.
It also illustrates the idea that our data will be portable between different domains or metaverse lands, and our sense of identity and digital presence will move with it. This works towards creating the far more immersive experience that we believe will be a defining characteristic of the "metaverse experience."
The Programmable World: Our Planet, Personalized. The Next Version Of The Physical World
As the world becomes increasingly virtual, digitized, and computerized, our ability to control and manipulate it increases.
Daugherty tells me, "All those things are becoming reality, and it really extends what businesses can do and has a lot of benefits including sustainability … you can think about new ways to conceptualize and build products … things like this are really about how the whole world becomes programmable and the digital technology … is really going to change the whole world, not just the way that technology is used in companies.”
The Unreal: Making Synthetic, Authentic. Making AI Both More Fair & Secure.
Synthetic data is any data that is generated by computers rather than captured from the real world. In particular, it is created using artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms and digital twins that are able to model real-world objects, systems, and processes with increasing accuracy and therefore create data that has all of the value of real-world data.
In these situations, the important distinctions become less about what is "real" or "unreal" and more about whether the data is realistic or not realistic – or authentic or inauthentic. The technology known as “deep fakes” has made news headlines often for the wrong reasons in recent years, but it also has very positive potential uses where it can save companies time and money by creating synthetic content which, though not “real”, can still be considered authentic.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
Last week’s federal budget could be seen as a pivotal one, at least directionally for the emphasis it put on economic growth. “Now is the time to focus — with smart investments and a clarity of purpose — on growing the economy,” it boldly pronounced in the foreword. To the surprise of many, the words “productivity” and “innovation” even made their way into the budget plan several times. The first step to solve any problem is acknowledging one exists and, as such, the government deserves ample credit.
Where it disappointed was on the two flagship measures proclaimed as solutions to the problem: a $15-billion growth fund and a yet-to-be defined Innovation and Investment Agency that will provide “advice.” The issue with these instruments and structures is they already exist in various forms — or have been tried before — and for the most part, their track records on boosting innovation and productivity are very questionable.
How will these two flagship initiatives be different from the Strategic Innovation Fund and the Net-Zero Accelerator Fund that were presented in previous budgets as growth funds? And how will they accomplish anything different from the multiple layers of existing programs and funding at the National Research Council, the Canadian Infrastructure Bank, the Business Development Bank of Canada, Export Development Canada, Sustainable Development Technology Canada, the Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative, etc? Crowding out is an outdated — and wrong — way to think about industrial policy.
No matter what financial instrument is deployed, public “investments” won’t produce better outcomes if we don’t change the way we think, incentivize, and produce innovation. Being content with incremental innovation and technological adoption means Canada is leaving a considerable amount of economic wealth on the table to other countries.
Innovation economics is about amassing and leveraging intellectual capital into commercial assets. To only “adopt technology” means we will always be rentiers. This idea that Canada is great at invention but only needs reinforcement at the commercialization phase is false and misguided.
Just look at our record on patents creation over the last decade. Take artificial intelligence as an example: how can we be so good at R&D and so ordinary at reaping the commercial benefits at scale at a time when venture capital (VC) investing in Canada has reached historic levels? How will a new growth fund solve this?
Science and technology form the modern frontier of competitiveness and we need a capacity to better compete for new ideas and technologies. But Canada has an organizational structure for science that has not adapted to the 21st century. Our capacity to do industrial research at scale is almost nonexistent and our technology transfer mechanisms have not kept pace with developments in the creation of knowledge. There is still an overreliance on incremental innovation or safe bets. Ask yourself where we would be without mRNA vaccines or how we will reduce emissions to reach our climate targets.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
BIS | Raphael Auer, Holti Banka, Nana Yaa Boakye-Adjei, Ahmed Faragallah, Jon Frost, Harish Natarajan and Jermy Prenio | Apr 12, 2022
Overview
Central banks are considering how retail central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) may help support financial inclusion. While they are not a magic bullet, central banks see CBDC as a further tool to promote financial inclusion if this goal features prominently in the design from the get-go. In particular, central banks are considering design options around promoting innovation in the two-tiered financial system (eg allowing for novel non-bank payment service providers), offering a robust and low-cost public sector technological basis (with novel interfaces and offline payments), facilitating enrolment and education (via simplified due diligence and electronic know your customer) and fostering interoperability (both domestically and across borders). Together, these features can address a range of existing barriers to financial inclusion.
This paper draws on interviews with nine central banks with advanced work on CBDCs and financial inclusion, as well as ongoing research and policy work at the BIS and World Bank. It gives concrete examples from the central banks' work and discusses challenges, risks and regulatory and legal implications. It aims to facilitate peer learning on a key set of issues around CBDCs and financial inclusion policy faced by societies around the world.
Summary
Central banks are actively considering how retail central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) may fit with policy goals around financial inclusion.
The interviewed central banks take the view that, while CBDC is not a panacea, it can represent a further tool to promote financial inclusion if designed with this goal.
Barriers to financial inclusion differ across countries, but there were some common elements that came out in the interviews.
Some central banks consider CBDCs as key to their mandate as a catalyst for innovation and economic development.
Several central banks see CBDC more as a potential complement to existing financial inclusion initiatives.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
Craig brings over 20 years of experience as a marketing strategist, software technologist and start-up entrepreneur in technology, finance, manufacturing and real estate sectors. He founded the National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA Canada), a nationally organized non-profit that is Canada’s dynamic and inclusive advocate for the advancement of fintech, open finance, capital markets innovation, digital assets and currencies, P2P, crowdfinance and emerging technologies such Blockchain and AI that are transforming the future of financial services. Craig advocated for and is a key contributor to the birth of disruptive online financing marketplaces, and the P2P Fintech economy in Canada. Learn more about NCFA.
After a successful career in international banking, he immigrated to Canada in 2010 and chose the entrepreneurial path in finance and investing. He embarked on a mission to create the New Capital Market – Democratizing funding and investing in private companies. In 2013, Peter-Paul founded FrontFundr to address the challenge that young companies face in generating capital and to unlock investing in private companies to the wider community, the public. FrontFundr is now Canada’s leading online funding and investment platform in the private capital markets. For more info please visit the website.
Alan started his career as a software developer/scientist and identified Ethereum early as a game-changer, and envisioned a decentralized future powered by blockchain. He’s implemented enterprise technology-driven business transformations, and was a capital markets and credit risk systems executive at a global bank. Alan founded Token Funder Inc., a Canadian leader in exempt market digital securities investing and trading, and is business building this venture. He launched Canada's first regulatory-compliant security token on Ethereum public blockchain; 1st security token as an EMD (@TokenGX); 1st secondary market security token trading platform for private markets (FreedomX). For more info please visit the website.
Securities Lawyer and Advisor, Founder of Venture Law Corporation who works with privately-held and public companies, mergers and acquisitions, private placement investments, financial transactions, reverse mergers, initial public offerings and licensing matters, as well as general corporate matters. For more info please visit the website.
Sherwood Neiss, is a Principal at Crowdfund Capital Advisors and a Partner at Crowd Capital Ventures. He’s a serial entrepreneur and investor and was instrumental in helping the JOBS Act get passed. He created the first database that aggregates all online investment offerings under the JOBS Act including research and analysis of securities-based crowdfunding (used by the SEC and policy makers) and works to support local economies right across the United States. For more info please visit the website.
Crowdfund Insider is the leading news and information web site covering the emerging global industry of disruptive finance including crowdfunding and peer-to-peer / marketplace lending. Recognizing the overlapping aspects of the new forms of finance, Crowdfund Insider’s coverage includes both rewards and investment based segments of crowdfunding. The site provides extensive coverage, and industry leading perspective, from a team of staff writers and leading industry expert contributors from around the world. For more info please visit the website.
Kim Wales is a securities-based crowdfunding, P2P online lending, and digital banking pioneer. She brings a deep and broad background in corporate governance, risk management, and banking regulation. Ms. Wales is an author, adjunct professor, and business owner. Since 2017, Ms. Wales is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CrowdBureau Corporation, which provides rules-based stock indices for financial products such as ETFs and managed account platforms. The Company also provides research, data analytics, and risk management tools for the peer-to-peer lending and digital banking industry. Kim has been cited over 100 times in U.S. Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, 2012 final rules for Titles III (Regulation Crowdfunding) and IV (Regulation A+). Kim is also an author and adjuct professor and sits on several boards. For more info please visit the website.
About this episode:
10 years ago in 2012, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) was signed into law in the U.S. (and eventually a similar exemption was approved in Canada) to encourage more capital to flow to startups, support innovation, and, create jobs. It's significance cannot be understated as the rule change allowed private companies to raise capital by selling securities digitally for the first time via registered online platforms and dealer-brokers. Regulation crowdfunding also democratized previously excluded retail investors (non-accredited) by allowing them to invest directly in startup ventures empowering a new era of digital finance.
A tremendous amount of advocacy and regulatory change efforts took place to make this happen, and since then the original JOBS Act rules have been improved for investment crowdfunding in the U.S., such as increasing the fundraising cap from US$1 million to US$5 million (not in Canada though, we've asked for years ahem).
But there are still many challenges and myths to be debunked. While venture financings are at an all time high in sectors like fintech, it does not mean that startups are awash with capital. While there is growing interest among retail investors to participate directly in these offerings, and take control of their investment future, education and awareness still remains a top priority if industry is to grow in the right ways. Having said that, in the United States, RegCF recently surpassed $1billion raised. Canadian figures are more modest with at least $100 million in equity financings raised on a leading platform.
Today there's also a JOBS Act 2022 proposal on the table but will these changes be sufficient to support evolving technologies and their capabilities while also protecting investors? Regulatory change is slow and regulators should support innovation and competition. All stakeholders need to continue to support efforts to make capital markets whole, so EVERYONE can benefit from the advancements in technology or the wealth gap will continue to widen.
This is a not to be missed episode for anyone interested in the past or future of digital finance and capital markets. Join investment crowdfunding pioneers in both Canada and the U.S. who discuss the 10 year journey from a wide variety of perspectives including the evolution of first generation marketing platforms to the arrival of second generation decentralized finance models powered by blockchain technologies.
Duration: 92mins
Timestamps:
00:00:00 NCFA Fintech Fridays Intro 00:00:17 Craig Asano, NCFA Canada 00:02:06 Andrew Dix, Crowded Media Group 00:02:49 Sherwood 'Woodie' Neiss, Crowdfund Capital Advisors 00:03:32 Kim Wales, CrowdBureau Corp 00:04:23 Alixe Cormick, Venture Law Corporation 00:04:13 Peter-Paul Van Hoeken, FrontFundr 00:05:48 Alan Wunsche, Tokenfunder 00:08:21 RegCF advocacy (SEC, Congress, White House) 00:10:47 Designing the framework 00:11:58 Purpose of the JOBS Act 00:15:10 Road to Equity Crowdfunding in Canada: Change is hard (and long) 00:26:22 Blockchain finance: education and regulatory challenges 00:33:38 Crowdfunding’s Impact and opportunity: first US$1 billion 00:38:39 RegCF to digital finance 00:41:57 Evolution of digital finance Gen1 to Gen2 00:49:23 Digitalizing private capital markets 00:55:03 Ontario’s exemption 45-108 setup to fail 00:59:46 JOBS Act 2022 bill proposed to improve rules in the U.S. 01:00:10 Canada harmonizes equity crowdfunding rules Sep 2021 01:04:00 Educating regulators 01:06:00 Regulators need to support innovation and competition 01:09:00 Financial inclusion 01:11:00 Canadian ECF $100 million and beyond 01:17:00 Decentralized Finance is the future 01:19:00 Convergence and reducing wealth gaps 01:23:00 Regulatory culture change and sandbox 01:25:00 Capital markets need to work for everyone 01:30:00 Closing remarks
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
NCFA: Congrats JOBS Act and to everyone who moved the needle back then and continues to move the needle now. This was the catalyst to peer to peer platform finance, emergence of 'arm chair dragons', VC as-a-service, and to the popularity and growth of AltFi and Fintech broadly
The JOBS Act of 2012 was signed into law by President Barack Obama ten years ago today, on April 5, 2012. In a rare moment of bipartisanship, Republicans and Democrats joined together to help private firms raise much-needed growth capital via online securities offerings.
Under the new rules, Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF), and Regulation D 506c were created. Regulation A (Reg A+) received a key update for a securities exemption that effectively no one used prior to the JOBS Act. Firms using these exemptions were initially able to raise up to $1.07 million using Reg CF and up to $50 million under Reg + – from both accredited and non-accredited investors. Reg D 506c, approved online capital formation from accredited investors. A new financial intermediary was created as well. Funding Portals, a new type of intermediary, are FINRA regulated platforms that are legally able to issue securities under Reg CF (along with regulated broker-dealers).
Now, becoming law did not mean these new rules were immediately actionable. It took the Securities and Exchange Commission years to complete everything. It was only in mid-2016 that the SEC approved the final rules for Reg CF.
Last year, the SEC improved securities crowdfunding rules by raising the Reg CF funding cap from an anemic $1.07 million to $5 million – far more in line with seed rounds. Reg A+ got some attention too as issuers are now able to raise up to $75 million in a min-IPO type offering. There were other improvements too.
Today, securities crowdfunding platforms have raised over a billion dollars – creating new jobs and allowing younger firms – frequently outside established tech hubs – to raise growth capital.
Around the beginning of 2022, CI connected with Sherwood “Woodie” Neiss, Principal at Crowdfund Capital Advisors and a key proponent in the creation of the JOBS Act who was there when the bill was signed into law, said the industry is at a tipping point as investors backed startups at a record pace during 2021. Neiss said that the online capital formation sector is “accelerating as we’ve never seen” before.
We reached out to Neiss earlier today for his thoughts on the ten year anniversary of the JOBS Act, he shared:
“It is hard to believe that ten years ago today, we were sitting in the Rose Garden as President Obama signed Regulation Crowdfunding and the JOBS Act into law. Tearfully, I sat there as he called the work that we did walking the halls of Congress, lobbying, testifying, and negotiating the final framework for Investment Crowdfunding a “gamechanger.” Today, like a proud parent, I look over the industry data, and I see how thousands of innovative pre-IPO startups and small businesses all across the United States have been able to turn to a new pool of investors … the American people.”
“I’m humbled that it has already become a billion-dollar industry; how we delivered on what we promised: a balanced way for entrepreneurs to raise necessary money from willing investors while providing investors with the disclosures the regulators wanted them to see and guardrails to mitigate losses; and how it will forever change the way companies are funded going forward,” he added. “At the same time, I realize there is still much to do, and our work is not done. We will continue to be a champion for the industry, collaborate with the regulators and help scale our nation’s entrepreneurs so anyone with a great idea and a passionate group of investors can perhaps become the next unicorn!”
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
Tristram Waye | Words Unfold and NCFA ambassador | Apr 6, 2022
This is part 4 of 4. Click for Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3 of this series.
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The serial entrepreneur behind the The51
The first time I heard Shelley's name was on a NACO call in 2020. She was a special guest as part of a panel. She's also involved with CDL. Looking further, I can see she's plugged in all over the place.
Shelly Kuipers came out of SAIT to cofound Stormworks in 2000, acquired by Solium in 2002. She went on to found or cofound numerous companies, including Material Insight in 2003, Chaordix in 2009, Adventure Capital in 2008, and Iovia in 2015. This A100 member's most recent project is as co-founder of The51 in 2019. The51 is focused on providing female founders with support and capital.
Kuipers' co-founder and co-CEO at The51, and also CDL Fellow is Judy Fairburn.
Fairburn was the first Chair of Alberta Innovates. She is co-founder of the cleantech and digital fund, Evok Innovations. With a deep background in energy and technology, Fairburn is also a Board Director for several companies.
On another NACO call, I heard Alison Sunsstrum. Sunstrum is the co-founder and CEO of Agtech firm GrowSafe Systems. Growsafe was started by her co-founder Camiel Huisma in 1990. Sunstrum invested in 1999, helping to build out the company. Growsafe is at the forefront of animal agriculture across the world. Their product involves tracking and analytics to enhance animal welfare using cutting edge science.
As of 2019, Sunstrum is the founder and CEO of CNSRV-X. CNSRV-X an R&D and investment vehicle for next-gen Agtech. This includes IoT, machine learning, and blockchain applications. Alison is also an associate and founding partner of CDL Rockies.
Then there was Brad Zumwalt.
Eyewire and Veer
In 1998, Brad Zumwalt was about to make his big play.
Zumwalt’s journey began when he bought some assets from Adobe in 1998 and founded his first company Eyewire. He had arrived at Adobe via a takeover of a company called Image Club Graphics. Image Club was taken over by Aldus Corp in 1994, and then by Adobe.
Just before that, in 2000, Zumwalt founded Social Venture Partners Calgary. He then followed up his Eyewire exit by founding Veer Incorporated. Veer was at one time the fourth largest stock photo company on the planet. He sold it to Bill Gates' private company, Corbis, in 2007.
Not content to sit still, he is a founding partner of Creative Destruction Labs Rockies and on multiple boards.
My next Alberta innovation discovery got me thinking about great ice cream.
The quiet wearable enclave outside of Cowtown
If you're into ice cream and live in and around Calgary, you've probably heard of Cochrane. Heading west on Crowchild Trail takes you out along Highway 2 to the town. On a summer day, you can see all kinds of people walking around the core eating ice cream cones from MacKay's.
I've been there many times over the years, but I wasn't aware of Cochrane's other focus. Cochrane, it turns out, isn't just an ice cream place; it's also a small tech enclave.
I'm a big fan of wearable technology. I've had a heart rate monitor since about 2004. So I was interested to discover one of the technologies I'd been using, ANT+, was invented in Alberta.
Kip worked at NovAtel as director of OEM GPS and was credited with developing the ANT+ protocol. Any athlete using sports watches has heard of and probably used ANT+ at one time. Victoria worked at NovAtel as a product manager.
Dynastream invented the Nike Foot Pod in 1999. The company was sold to Garmin in 2006 for $46 Million. Garmin, a leader in wearable technology, retains a strong presence in Cochrane.
Kip and Victoria have gone on to found 4iiii Innovations, a wearable technology firm. Their presence has helped develop a strong technology hub in the area. They are also members of the A100.
A100, The spirit of Alberta
When I looked at the A100, I was reminded of an experience I had when I returned to Calgary after university. It was a recession, and I was looking for a job. I sent letters out to some contacts I received. One of which was Jim Gray of Canadian Hunter Exploration.
I wrote Jim, and he wrote back and invited me over for coffee. Now, Jim wasn't just any oil and gas guy but the founder of one of the natural gas business pioneers.
I met Jim in his office at Canadian Hunter HQ. We chatted about the economy, Calgary, and oil and gas. Here I was, a guy with a liberal arts degree, and trying to figure out if there was space in oil and gas for me. I'd worked on lots of industrial construction projects in the summers across the country. But nothing related to oil and gas.
Jim called out to his EA and told her to get Gary up to the office. Gary was the head of Land, and Jim figured someone with my background might be interested and potentially fit in there. So he introduced me to Gary as if I was an old friend.
Gary took me down to his department, and graciously introduced me to everyone down there. Then he said, you know, I'm having lunch with so and so the owner of Scott Land and Lease. Then he told me the story of how the guy got started and took over the company. Then he said, I'll let him know you're coming by.
So I set up a meeting with this guy.
At Scott Land and Lease, the owner talked to me about the land business. At the time, it had become increasingly specialised, but there were still opportunities for starting out. Then he did something I did not expect.
He handed me his professional book. It had the direct contact numbers of everyone in the industry. He said, bring it back when I'm done. I was stunned. I had literally met the guy 45 minutes ago.
I did return the book. But the opening at the exchange meant my participation in oil and gas would be in a different venue. I never forgot that interaction. It wasn't the only one. And like every other time, it was quintessential Alberta. So when I saw the A100, I recognized that Alberta spirit. I've experienced it many times before myself.
I could probably write a whole book on the members of the A100. Looking through, I see John and Ray. There are Wayne, Kip, and Victoria. Brad Zumwalt. Cory Janssen.
The A100 is a group of experienced and vetted Alberta entrepreneurs and investors dedicated to giving back. Lots of others are doing this through other venues and ventures and means. The A100 simply brings many of these names together.
Another source of Alberta's strength is its education institutions.
The other kind of University Education
The number was 301 in the Varsity Courts. It was the student housing for graduate students with families at the University of Calgary. Behind the courts was the Big Hill, a mound of dirt with a groove down the centre. That was the scene of many a toboggan fight, magic carpet, and saucer ride. A short walk from there puts you on the sprawling University of Calgary Campus.
As a kid, the campus was my playground. And what a playground it was.
The rolling foothills to the west were where I rode my bike along with other kids from the neighbourhood. In the winter, the main campus was a cross country ski course. And I was adept at sneaking into the lower level of the original MacEwan Hall. The arcade was down there, and minors were not permitted. So I would occasionally claim a student as my parent or guardian. Sometimes with hilarious results.
The Big Hill is now a vast parking lot. The new Children's Hospital stands like a castle on a small part of the land where I once rode. MacEwan Hall has expanded, and now that I'm old enough to go to the arcade unsupervised, it no longer exists.
I knew my way around many of the buildings by heart from aimless wandering. However, I did not understand the future significance of the university to the innovation ecosystem in Alberta.
The University of Calgary
The University of Calgary is not Alberta's first university. That distinction belongs to the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Calgarians were miffed that Edmonton got the first university.
Calgary's University actually began as a U of A branch. Its original site was an RCAF hut at SAITs predecessor, The Provincial Institute of Tech and Art campus, in 1950.
The University of Calgary was officially established in 1955 and the land was secured with a one buck lease. The engineering program started in 1957, with the permanent facilities opened in 1960. The research park opened in 1962. U of C became the Home of the Geological Survey of Canada in 1963.
The government of Alberta provided the University autonomy through the Universities Act in 1966.
The university campus expanded with the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory in 1972. The land for the Observatory was donated by the Cross family, one of the big 4 ranching families. And in 1989, the Institute for Space Research was established.
The 1980s also saw the beginnings of the Geospatial expertise at the university. The renowned Earth Sciences program, NEST (New Earth-Space Technologies), is at the U of C. It develops the underlying technology for global positioning, telecommunications, and environmental monitoring. This program includes deep expertise in space physics.
According to their 2016 e-pamphlet, the program has participated in over twenty space missions. The program also boasts putting more than twenty instruments into space and leading two satellite missions.
The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology began as the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art in 1916. It began by providing vocational training to soldiers returning from the war. The programs started there were metalworking and motor mechanics to serve a new growing industry.
The facility was moved to the Riley Farm location, where it also housed the Calgary Branch of the Normal School for teacher training. The original building also housed the nascent University of Calgary.
The first aeronautical engineering courses in Canada were added to the curriculum in 1934. In 1940, the facilities were taken over by the RCAF for Wireless training School of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Apprenticeship programs were added in response to the Apprenticeship ACT of 1945 for returning soldiers.
SAIT received its current name in 1960 when the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, modelled on SAIT, opened in Edmonton.
The Art program originally started in the '20s and was the foundation of SAIT, became the Alberta College of Art and Design in 1985.
Numerous leaders in Alberta's secret technology development have come out of SAIT over the last 40 years.
NAIT, The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
Modelled on its successful southern neighbour, NAIT, Edmonton's polytechnical school, was established in 1959. The campus location, the former Blatchford field, was purchased in 1961. Classes began in 1962, and the campus was officially opened in 1963.
The campus has expanded over its history to include numerous new facilities. These include the HP Centre, Petro Canada Centre and Spartan Centre for Instrumentation Technology. They also have the Applied Technology center, amongst others.
NAIT boasts strong numbers for student placement post-graduation. They provide a variety of degrees including technology and information systems technology.
Out of these four institutions have come a wide range of leading Alberta innovators. As a foundation, Alberta is well served by talent development at these institutions.
The University of Alberta
The University of Alberta was Alberta's first university. It was chartered in 1906 with the University Act and officially founded in 1908.
The institution has 400 unique research labs and several spinoffs.
The school has several achievements in medicine, including:
The first open-heart surgery in Canada in 1955,
John Callaghan's solution for blue baby malformation
Development of the Edmonton protocol 1999 for the treatment of T1 diabetes.
Research started in 1972 by Ray Rajotte
Lorne Tyrell And Morris Robbins developed Hep B antiviral Lamivudine in 1998. Used across the world and now used in HIV/Aids treatment
U of A also has a strong Agtech, IoT, and Nanotech presence.
Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (AMII), the province's AI research and development lab, came out of the U of A. AI has a strong presence across several faculties and research areas at the school.
Graduates of these institutions have made meaningful contributions to Alberta's quiet technology reputation.
These institutions continue to produce outstanding technical candidates in a variety of areas. Looking at these institutions' history tells the story of a province determined to develop citizens with economically viable skills.
But there is room for improvement. Several of the conversations I had underlined the issue of liberating ideas and startups from these institutions.
Support for Innovators
Several organisations are working with entrepreneurs and innovators across Alberta.
These teams provide a range of educational and support opportunities. The A100 and CDL Rockies are two organisations with essential roles in the ecosystem. As you can see from numerous names here, these two groups have deep benches.
Alberta Innovates is an organisation that supports innovation across the Province. Provincially funded, it engages the spectrum from post secondary researchers to multinational corporations, and everything in between.
Eight Regional Innovation Networks (RINs) are funded by Alberta Innovates, providing the foundation for collaborative innovation communities to support their entrepreneurs.
There are numerous other groups in Alberta that support entrepreneurs including,
These organisations and others provide crucial support to the next generation of innovators.
Building on Alberta’s Innovation Foundation
Numerous new companies are being developed across Alberta. Here are a few highlights across various spaces.
In 2006, Cara Wolf founded Ammolite Analytx, a software and hardware development firm powered by AI. The Calgary based firm specialises in Data Analytics, cybersecurity, and physical security integration.
There's Eric Warnke and Mark Fossen, co-founders of Mesh and Mover. Warnke was a graduate of MacEwan University and U of A. Fossen graduated NAIT and U of A. Mesh was sold in 2012, and Mover was Bought by Microsoft in 2019 for an undisclosed amount.
Alice Reimer, a U of C grad, cofounded Evoco in 1999. Evoco was a platform designed to assist in real estate site selection, roll-out, remodelling. It was bought by Accruent in 2012.
In 2014 Myrna Bittner cofounded and took the role of CEO of RUN WITHIT Synthetics. Before this, she was the cofounder of Bittco Solutions in 1992 and Neuralvr Technologies in 1999.
Colin Knox, a graduate of SAIT, founded Passportal in 2011. The company went to Solarwinds MSP. In 2020 he founded Gradient MSP.
In 2015 U of C grad Jacques LaPointe joined Rob Cowley, Scott Gravelle, and Tony Woolf to found Attabotics. Lapointe's past activity included working at QSound from 2006-2007. He was also a Sr investment manager at AVAC with exits, including Randy Marsdens Cleankeys.
Serial entrepreneur, Mike Priest, founded JumpSeat , open-source learning management company in 2015. He was also the founder of TenSpeed Technologies, Glaze, The FormFactor. Jumpseat was acquired by LeapPoint
AeroLab Technology was founded by Chris Morton and Kelly Zwarych in 2016. The Calgary company designs sensors for cycling dynamics that could be applied to unmanned aircraft.
And that's just a small taste of what's been going on. There have been numerous developments contributing to Alberta’s innovation landscape since.
The view from here
When I close my eyes, I can see myself in one of Alberta's crown jewels. I imagine myself standing on a hill next to the Prince of Wales Hotel. The approach to this place from Pincher Creek is a scenic drive. The mountains beckon with every bend in the road.
As you approach, it always looks to me like you're going to drive into an opening in a giant caldera. After a storm and if the sun is setting, you can see the light shoot out between these mountains and the clouds. It's spectacular.
The hotel was started by an American railroad company during the prohibition era. They pitched this place as having beautiful views of Montana —which is what I'm looking at in the distance when I stand here.
Down to the right is the village. The boat moving slowly below is headed to Goat Haunt, Montana, in Glacier Park at the other end. I have been on that boat cruise often and try never to miss it when I'm in the area. I met a man on the boat once who was dying of cancer. He told me that boat ride was one of his last wishes.
The border between Canada and the US is an invisible one somewhere in the middle of this lake. The natural grandeur of the place is undeniable from one end to the other. As the sun sets, the shades of purple and pink crest across the mountains' peaks on either side.
I'm seeing the beauty before me with a sense of wonder. And frankly, I can't tell where Alberta ends, and Montana begins. Where Canada begins, and America ends.
Now imagine this is the innovation economy of Alberta.
You have a great view of America, yet there is no shortage of world-class ideas in Alberta. The province has an abundance of homegrown talent. There are numerous mentors with experience across multiple exits. And world-class educational institutions.
As Randy Marsden told me, all the ingredients are there; all that's needed is the right cook. And, as Jonathan Schaeffer inferred, maybe we ought to do a bit more bragging.
Special thanks for the time and contributions from Gail Powley, John Murphy, Jonathan Schaeffer, Randy Marsden, Susan Anderson, Darcy Tuer, Mike Riou, Hussein Hallak and Wayne Karpoff.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
Fotis Georgiadis: As a part of our series about cutting edge technological breakthroughs, I had the pleasure of interviewing IDRIS MOOTEE of urbancoolab.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. 
Last week’s federal budget could be seen as a pivotal one, at least directionally for the emphasis it put on economic growth. “Now is the time to focus — with smart investments and a clarity of purpose — on growing the economy,” it boldly pronounced in the foreword. To the surprise of many, the words “productivity” and “innovation” even made their way into the budget plan several times. The first step to solve any problem is acknowledging one exists and, as such, the government deserves ample credit.
Overview
NCFA: Congrats JOBS Act and to everyone who moved the needle back then and continues to move the needle now. This was the catalyst to peer to peer platform finance, emergence of 'arm chair dragons', VC as-a-service, and to the popularity and growth of AltFi and Fintech broadly
