Alberta Innovates has committed to investing more than $14 million in projects to help Alberta tech move toward commercialization.
The news: The innovation-focused Crown corporation announced today that it is investing more than $14 million across 12 organizations to accelerate the commercialization of Alberta technology. Funding, which will be deployed over the following months and years to projects across defence, aerospace, and agri-food, will help scale access to support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across infrastructure, expertise, partnerships, and market opportunities.
From the source: “A focus on commercialization … and then increasing access to those supports that we create is the essence of our strategy,” said Terry Rock, the chief operating officer at Alberta Innovates. “We’ve chosen key sectors that we’re going to make sure that happens in, so that if you’re innovating in those areas Alberta is the simple place or decision to do it.”
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Following the thread: The investments stem from Alberta Innovates’ 2025 strategic plan, which prioritizes commercialization support for the Alberta innovation ecosystem. Funded projects will supply Alberta’s innovators with access to things like specialized testing, research, and development facilities, as well as supporting academic initiatives like the University of Alberta’s Alberta CREATE, which provides semiconductor and advanced manufacturing infrastructure, and ecosystem builders like Edmonton Unlimited and Platform Calgary’s Scale Alberta program. How funding will be spread across the 12 various projects was not disclosed, but Alberta Innovates claims the investments will spur on an additional $48 million in follow-on investment across the province.
Final thought: Commercialization continues to be a bottleneck for Canadian tech and innovation. While Canada, and Alberta, leads in research across fields like AI, medtech, biotech, quantum, and more, research shows that Canadian entrepreneurs struggle to access the capital and support needed to scale to globally viable companies.
BetaKit’s Prairies reporting is funded in part by YEGAF, a not-for-profit dedicated to amplifying business stories in Alberta.
Feature image courtesy Platform Calgary.