Platform Calgary is in for a buzzy beginning to November as the innovation hub prepares for its annual Calgary Innovation Week celebration.
Kicking off on Nov. 2 and running until Nov. 5, Calgary Innovation Week is a city-wide event celebrating Calgary’s tech, innovation, and startup ecosystem. This year’s events include seminars, workshops, networking events, and the annual Launch Party celebrating Calgary’s 10 most promising startups for 2026.
“The startups at the heart of Calgary’s tech ecosystem are driving remarkable sector growth in 2026,” said Jen Lussier, Platform Calgary’s CEO, in an emailed release. “Under our theme ‘Built Here. Backed Here,’ we are proving world-class startups can launch, scale and thrive here.”
“The startups at the heart of Calgary’s tech ecosystem are driving remarkable sector growth in 2026.”
Jen Lussier, Platform Calgary
The week is scheduled to start with a keynote speech from Jay Kiew, an alumnus of Deloitte, TELUS, and ADP, who was recognized as a Thinkers360 thought leader on agentic AI and change management. Kiew’s keynote will touch on how companies can navigate uncertainty, build resilient teams, and scale effectively.
Other notable events include sessions on roadmapping for quantum for startup founders, an introduction to vibe coding, attracting financing via crowdfunding, and a seminar celebrating and discussing the recent multimillion-dollar acquisition of Calgary’s PurposeMed by dating platform Grindr, with PurposeMed COO and co-founder Pete MacLeod.
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Innovation Week closes out with the 16th iteration of Platform Calgary’s Launch Party, showcasing this year’s 10 most promising startups. The 2026 cohort includes:
- Agrivanna: an AgTech startup using AI to optimize livestock grazing operations.
- Black Owl Systems: an accounting software provider built for CFOs and corporate finance.
- Candidly AI: an AI tool for garnering stakeholder feedback at scale.
- Fledge: a digital wellness platform.
- Leeg: a workforce intelligence platform.
- Made It Legal: a contract review tool and AI platform.
- Paradigm Inputs: a commerce and ergonomic intelligence platform for crop-input brokers in Western Canada.
- Splice N Connect: a startup manufacturing non-invasive sensors to monitor power grid cables and prevent blackouts.
- Verano.ai: an agentic AI platform automating regulatory monitoring and compliance.
- Waypoint Budget: An AI-driven personal finance app that automates budgeting.
Last year’s Innovation Week brought 70 organizations together to host events, with hundreds of attendees. Platform Calgary reported that of those attendees, more than 35 percent were entrepreneurs or corporate professionals, and more than 24 percent were tech professionals.