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Hey friends , t-minus not too many days

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now . Inventures 2024 coming

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up May 29th to 31st is

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almost upon us . As

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behind the scenes work continues to

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create an excellent , outstanding

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global event for all participants

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, I thought it would be a good time to

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sit down with the person who's got their

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finger on the pulse of InVentures

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2024 . So

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sit back , settle in and welcome

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to Shift . Today's

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guest is Marleny Arana

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from Alberta Innovates and our Director

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of Adventures . Marleny , thank

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you very much for taking the time . How are

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you ?

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doing . Thanks , john , I really appreciate it .

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It's always a pleasure to chat with you . Now , you

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know , when I think about adventures

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, I think about

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a lot of stuff . There's a lot

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of excitement . There's a lot of events

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, sessions , activities

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, networking opportunities , pitch sessions

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. Tell me a little bit about

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it from your perspective . What does adventures

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mean ?

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about creating impact for Alberta , creating B2B , b2c and showcasing the resources

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and talent that Alberta has to offer on a global scale . Whether you are a

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startup , an entrepreneur from

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a post-secondary institution or

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, let's say , you're from international waters

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and you're looking at information of

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should I set up in Alberta

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, Should I work within Alberta ? What

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can Alberta do to help and collaborate

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on a global scale ?

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Wow , so so InVentures really

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is a global event , then it's

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. We're attracting a number of different people , a number

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of different attendees from across across

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the world . Can you give us

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a sense of what that might look like when

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someone's coming in from outside

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of the country ?

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Absolutely , and so we call that to medium delegations

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with startups or export

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ready companies and they're wanting to

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understand the Alberta ecosystem

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, whether it be setting up roots

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and scaling up their company from

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, let's say , australia or

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the European countries . They're

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actually looking at moving to Alberta

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or setting up roots in

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Alberta . So we need to share what's

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our tax law , what does business look like

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, what's the culture here , what's the

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lifestyle and what are their customers

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looking for , their potential new customers

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. So just really bridging the gap

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of what we have to offer

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and really providing a

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sort of concierge level of

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sharing knowledge

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with these international countries , of

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let's do business together , because

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Alberta is such a great place to live

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and to do business in .

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Right Now , when you okay . So there's the international

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delegations that are coming in . When you think

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about who's coming in locally from across

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Alberta , from Grand

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Prairie to Edmonton , to

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, you know , wood Buffalo region , what

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can they expect ?

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with

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different

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objectives coming to

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inventors . So , for example

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, with our pilot project with the Future Innovators

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, where Alberta Innovates is

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investing in the future leaders

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of tomorrow and what that

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looks like is exposing our

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youth to what is potential

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within the future . And what is

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innovation ? It

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could be entrepreneurialism , it could be in digital health or clean tech or clean energy

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. So that's one level of customer . Or

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let's say you have startups who just

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want to meet and network with other subject matter

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experts to understand how can

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I make my business successful . Or

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, let's say , post-secondary institutions

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that are looking at getting industry

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to adopting their research analysis

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or outcomes . So you have

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multiple players from the ecosystem working

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together on a new technology

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or solution . And then you have

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the innovators , or , you

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know , the curious ones who just want to see what

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this experience is about , what

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this smash up of technology

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, smes , entertainment

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, food and beverage in Calgary

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networking and just having fun

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so we can all make

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an impact together .

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Now , and I love that you

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know when I think about , when I think about adventures

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, I think about sense making and wayfinding

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as well , you know , for the startups , the scale-ups

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, the students at the PSIs , the researchers

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and those innovators . There's so much

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going on in the ecosystem and I always

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think of InVentures as kind of that lattice

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that brings it all together , that gives people

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an opportunity to meet , you know , to

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network , to meet the regional innovation networks

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, meet their post-secondary institutes , meet

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, you know , the federal organizations that are

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helping out as well . So

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it's really quite an event . Now

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, if you were to think about your

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pitch for people to come to

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InVentures , how would you put it ? You're on an elevator

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with a potential , one

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of those audiences you just mentioned and

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you've got the 30-second pitch .

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You're putting me on the spot , but here comes my

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entrepreneurial spirit . If

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you are a creator or

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you're curious and want to understand

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what is occurring today within innovation

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, no matter what industry or vertical

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, come to InVentures to

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listen to great panelists

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, keynote speakers , musicians

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, technologists and companies

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and be part of this movement

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which is drawing up more

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innovation so we can create a bigger

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impact . Which looks like creating

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more jobs in Alberta . Which looks

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like supporting Alberta businesses or

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Canadian businesses in Alberta and

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, to wrap it up in a pretty bow , you'll

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have fun . Businesses in Alberta .

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And to wrap it up in a pretty bow . You'll have fun . I love it . Talk to me just as

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before we end here but the importance

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of working together , to

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come together as kind of that rising tide

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for the province .

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I think InVentures is another opportunity in which we can break down silos , whether it be

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from a municipal , provincial , even federal level or , let's say

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, organizations who have

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their mandate and they're really important mandates

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. Let's work together and share

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our knowledge and resources so

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we don't have to duplicate the work . You

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know they say many hands make light

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work . Let's mature

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our entrepreneurial ecosystem

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together by removing

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politics If there is politics

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out there or egos or personalities . We

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need to keep our eye on the North star

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, which is we are

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becoming such a tech hub

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in Alberta . How can we propel

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that movement even further ? And

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the first step is let's work together

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.

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You heard it here first , folks . So when you're

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at inventors May 29th to May 31st

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of this year , look for Marleny

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, pick her brain . I know she's

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. You're a lovely speaker , you've got great ideas

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and you're a real community builder , so

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that's really awesome . So

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thank you very much for your time . I appreciate it .

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Thanks , john , it's been a pleasure .

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We'll talk later . Shift can be found online at shiftalbertainnovatesca

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, or you can reach us via email at shift

7:47

at albertainnovatesca

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. We can also be found on your favorite

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streaming service , so dive

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in and enjoy . Until next time , I'm

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John .