Evolving the Innovation Ecosystem

Edmonton Innovation Ecosystem Community MeetingJune 11, 2019

Welcome

Cheryll WatsonInnovate EdmontonEdmonton Economic Development Corporation

Edmonton Innovation Ecosystem Community (EIEC)

Collaborate to Evolve and Improve

the Edmonton Innovation Ecosystem

AB Artificial Intelligence

Steering Committee

Work Nicer

Team Alberta Innovation Coalition (TAIC)

Alberta Innovates

Amii

Health City

RainforestAB - YEG

Edmonton Advisory Council on Startups(EACOS)

Alberta Enterprise Corp

Talent Advisory Council on

Technology (TACT)

ERINNAIT, NABI, TEC Edmonton

(2016 – 2019)

Who is the Edmonton Innovation Ecosystem Community

EVERYONE… that wants to take an active role in creating

a thriving and effective Edmonton innovation

ecosystem

Post-Secondary Institutions

Concordia, McEwan, NAIT, UAlberta, Kings, Norquest

Pitchfest

Technology AlbertaAlberta

Women Entrepreneurs

Business Link

Chamber of Commerce

City of Edmonton

Futurepeneur

Government of Alberta

Valhalla Angels

VMS

Tech Entrepreneurs

& Founders

Cheerleaders & Supporters

Established Business Leaders

Sprout Fund

A100

Our Collective Work

o Platform - https://edmontoninnovationecosystem.com/

o Ethos - EIEC Manifesto, Rainforest Social Contract

o Methodology – Startup Communities, Startup Commons

o Measurement – Startup Genome

o Data Sources – Start Alberta, Startup Blink

Feedback we’ve received • Advanced notice

• Meeting timing

• Recording publication

• Creating opportunity for collisions

6

4:00 – 4:10 pm Introductions & updates – Cheryll Watson, EEDC

4:10 – 4:30 pm TEC Taskforce – Jason Pincock, Dynalife CEO

4:30 – 5:00 pm YEG Innovation Compass – Chris Henderson, ZGM Prioritization / Final Report Outline

5:00 – 5:15 pm EACOS Update – Sean Feehan, Ashlyn Bernier, Co-Chairs EACOS

5:15 – 5:30 pm Community Updates and Announcements

5:30 – 5:45 pm Rogers Suite Ticket Draw

5:45 – 6:30 pm Networking

Agenda4:00 – 6:30 pm

CollisionToronto, May 21 - 24

Startup Companies Testfire Labs: Testfire’s flagship product, Hendrix.ai, leverages natural language processing and machine learning to capture meeting summaries and optimize outcomes. Hendrix is the simplest and most efficient way to automatically transcribe, summarize, organize and recall your meeting notes, actions, and data.Founder: Dave Damer | Vertical: Enterprise Software & Artificial Intelligence

TrajectoryIQ: TrajectoryIQ helps companies welcome employees, orient existing staff and communicate internal messages in a fun and engaging way. Onboard, educate, and sell using top shelf tech, and get instant insights on how your employees are performing at a glance.Founder: Jason Suriano | Vertical: Education and Enterprise Training

UNDO: UNDO is divorce made simpler. Interactive software helps you make financial decisions and generates your court documents, which are reviewed by a lawyer. We send someone to you to sign and file your documents at court. Get divorced without leaving home -answer six quick questions to get started.Founders: Tim Mallet and Melanie d’Haene | Vertical: Lifestyle App – Dating and Relationships

Zept: Zept’s mission is to help international students get into the best schools possible. We have indexed all of the Canadian university and college programs. All you have to do is enter your high school grades and what you want to study in our iOS, Android or Amazon app - we recommend the schools that are a good match. When you favourite a school, we notify the school and give them a chance to reach out to you.. Founders: Gregg Oldring and Tony Williams | Vertical: Lifestyle App – Education

Spontivly: Spontivly helps you discover local experiences and activities within your community. Discover, coordinate, share and join in meaningful activities with communities of likeminded individuals who seek fulfilling connections. Founder: Anthony Nagendraraj | Vertical: Lifestyle App - Social and Events

Collision

Early

Outcomes

WHAT WE SET OUT TO ACHIEVE • 2,000 interactions / leads

• 8 Startups Showcased

• 5 meetings with VCs• 4 meetings with mentors

• 1 PITCH company

ACTIVITY

• 677 leads confirmed | 120 in progress • 1,100 doughnuts + 200 meeting doughnuts

• 2,400 interactions at the booth

• 858 link clicks from social media + 2,506 engagements • 11 investor meetings set-up by Collision

• 4 meetings with mentors

SOCIALHIGHLIGHTS

Jason PincockChair, TEC Taskforce

Taskforce Members

Jason Pincock, Taskforce Chair (Independent)

Derek Hudson, Edmonton Economic Development Corporation (EEDC), CEO

Matthias Ruth, University of Alberta ,VP Research

Duncan Elliott, University of Alberta

Alex Clark, University of Alberta

Rohit Gupta, EEDC Board Member

Chris Micetich, EEDC Board Member

Chris Labossiere, TEC Edmonton Board Member

Kristina Williams, TEC Edmonton Board Member

TEC RecommendationsConfidential until June 20th, 2019

YEG Innovation Compass

Chris Henderson, ZGM Modern Marketing Partners

Update:• Broad consultation component finished

• Presentations to Innovate Edmonton staff, EACOS, community Slack channel

• Final report now in progress

• Report out as early as next week

Prioritized Recommendations &

Directions

(in order of identified priority)

Encourage pools of private investors from all sectors to move off the sidelines and start investing in local tech entrepreneurs.

58.12%

Find ways to deploy government funding and support of the ecosystem in ways that better align to the needs of entrepreneurs.

51.83%

Make it extremely easy for innovators to benefit from and build on the IP they develop at post-secondary institutions.

39.79%

Facilitate more direct mentoring by entrepreneurs who have recent experience successfully founding and building tech companies.

38.74%

Invest in the establishment of a tech accelerator with a model proven in other jurisdictions.

36.13%

Reshape the mandates and governance models of service providers to be as agile as possible with the goal of meeting the evolving needs of the ecosystem.

33.51%

Foster an environment where companies can launch easily and fail fast.

32.98%

Develop a single window to communicate the entirety of services, programs and supports within the ecosystem available to entrepreneurs.

31.41%

Persistently communicate the ecosystem’s success stories –small or large – to both external and internal audiences.

28.80%

Establish funding and initiatives that encourage a predominantly relationship-based culture between entrepreneurs across the ecosystem.

25.65%

Facilitate opportunities for entrepreneurs at every stage to build applicable skills in practical areas (e.g., coding) and business skills (e.g., customer development).

24.61%

Shift the service provider focus to securing local, national and international customers for entrepreneurs.

24.61%

Formalize, fund and strengthen a mandate for an entrepreneur-led tech industry association.

21.47%

Focus the ecosystem around supporting identified pillars of strength, rather than diluting focus in dozens of areas.

19.90%

In the Final Report:

More concrete detail under each R&D:• Reflecting feedback throughout process

• Underlying assumptions

• What success looks like

• Recommended initial actions

In the Final Report:

• Description of methodology, overview of process & participation

• Reflections by consultant on the ecosystem itself

• High-level thematic feedback on service providers

In the Final Report:

• Suggested next steps beyond the final report

• Appendixes: all reports generated throughout process

HAPPY TO TAKE QUESTIONS…

Ashlyn Bernier – Sean FeehanCo-ChairsEdmonton Advisory Council on Startups (EACOS)

Community Announcements

Any updates?

Join us at Mercer Super Party Saturday June 15th

3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Startup VIP area RSVP ahryciw@Edmonton.ca

https://events.odvodpublishing.com/

3:00 — 6:00 p.m.NAIT's Productivity and

Innovation Centre

Rogers Ticket Draw

Tickets to join us in the box for the

Khalid

Thursday, July 4th, 7:30 p.m.

Next Meeting – July 18th

4:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.Location TBD

Feedback is a gift. Please be generous and leave constructive suggestions on how we can continue to make these meetings better using the cards on your table.