Page 51 - InvestinAlberta-EDA-2024-2

TECHNOLOGY & DATA
EMBRACE.ELEVATE.ENVISION. 2024 INVESTINALBERTA 51
There’s no doubt that when anyone in the world thinks about high-tech, they think about California’s Silicon Valley. But, did you know that Edmonton, Alberta’s capital city, is ranked No. 3 in
the world when it comes to the research and development of Artificial Intelligence?
That’s led by the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, which was conducting groundbreaking research into artificial intelligence more than 20 years ago, when most of us still thought of it as the stuff of science fiction.
The largest major city in the province of Alberta, Calgary, located a few hours south of Edmonton, boasts over $35 billion in investments, across multiple sectors, since 2015. And Calgary companies are anticipated to lead the $20 billion spend on digital transformation in Alberta from 2021 to 2024, states Calgary Economic Development.
A new groundbreaking partnership has developed between Plug and Play, the American-based organization that connects startups to investment, and Edmonton Unlimited, the organization that supports the innovation and technology sector, the Government of Alberta, Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund and Prairies Economic Development Canada. It was a massive signal that Alberta startups are ready to scale up to global levels — and Plug and Play Alberta is attracting top talent, investment and technology to the province to support growth and scale-up initiatives.
According to the Alberta Technology and Innovation Strategy, this sector is expected to add 20,000 new jobs and be worth $5 billion a year by 2030.
That’s not just the stuff of dreams — it’s dollars and cents.