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Greetings , friends . In keeping with our theme

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of Adventures 2024

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and showcasing a small

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handful of those who will be appearing

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on site , my next guest

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and I are chatting about 35

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years of the innovation in Alberta . Of

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course , innovation in our province goes back much

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farther than that , but there's a specific

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reason we focus on 35 years . Tune

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in and find out why . Welcome to

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SHIFT Today

0:46

, on SHIFT by Alberta Innovates , we have

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Gail Powell , president of

0:50

technology Alberta . Gail , how

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are you doing ? Very good .

0:54

Thanks . How are you , John ?

0:56

Well , I'm great and I'm so happy

0:58

that we could get you on the podcast

1:00

. I bump into you at so many different

1:02

events and you are one

1:04

of those people . That's just . You're such a proponent

1:07

of Alberta , innovation

1:09

writ large and all these different sectors

1:12

, and you're so active in

1:14

the space . It's just really cool to

1:16

feature you here and

1:19

talk a little bit about that . Now . I

1:21

know at Inventures you've got a panel and

1:23

it's called the best of the Aztec Awards

1:26

35 years of outstanding

1:28

Alberta science and technology

1:30

leaders . So why don't you tell

1:32

us a little bit about what people can expect

1:34

to witness at this

1:36

session at Inventures ?

1:38

So , yes , I've attended the Aztec

1:40

Awards about

1:43

six or more times over the last

1:45

35 years that it has been

1:47

the Academy Awards

1:49

of Innovation in the province

1:52

and it's

1:54

lovely to see the

1:57

recognition of the great

1:59

contribution of Alberta , scientists

2:02

and entrepreneurs and

2:04

the ecosystem

2:06

around it . You know , the shared success best

2:08

of all worlds is the theme since we've

2:10

taken it over , because everyone recognizes

2:13

that the people at the podium

2:15

didn't get there on their own . They got there because

2:17

of community , because of this thriving ecosystem

2:20

, and so

2:22

with that it's love to share their stories

2:25

of really the strength

2:27

of Alberta from post-secondary

2:29

, from government , industry , entrepreneur , academia

2:33

perspectives . So they're

2:35

full stories for sure .

2:37

And this covers the province right Like this

2:39

is from every corner of Alberta

2:41

, so there's no focus on just the big cities

2:44

or anything . It's the movers and

2:46

shakers and the leaders in the innovation ecosystem

2:48

, absolutely .

2:49

That's right and , in fact , quite the opposite

2:51

. In fact , one of my favorite stories and we're

2:53

featuring 35 years in

2:56

35 weeks on our social media

2:59

Excellent , yeah . And one of the favorite

3:01

stories is

3:03

the fact that a

3:05

Nobel Prize winner grew up

3:07

in Medicine Hat and went to

3:10

university at University of Alberta

3:12

, went on to , you

3:14

know , obviously win the Nobel Prize

3:17

so , and the first Canadian

3:19

to win the Nobel Prize in physics . So

3:21

that's just a sample of some of the

3:23

strength we have here .

3:24

Now , I should know that physicist's name

3:27

, because I believe he's got a chair at the University

3:29

of Alberta , or did .

3:31

Richard Taylor .

3:32

Yes , no , you're right . You

3:34

know . I remember a while back , just as quick

3:36

a side I was writing

3:38

, I wanted to write stories about

3:40

Nobel laureates and

3:42

I started off with Richard Taylor and

3:44

I got the man on the phone and we started chatting and

3:47

it was fascinating . And

3:49

I'm so glad that you know that you're

3:51

touching on that as well , because

3:53

that's pretty cool . You know we've got

3:56

a couple of Nobel laureates in the province , but

3:58

that's right .

3:59

Sir Michael Haughton , currently

4:01

yes .

4:03

But Richard Bourne here , yeah , in

4:05

Medicine Hat .

4:07

Right smack dab in the middle . Yeah

4:09

well , medicine has not in the middle , but

4:12

it's in a corner .

4:13

Oh , darn Geography .

4:15

There you go .

4:18

So my geography is a little lacking . So

4:22

now the best of 35 years . So what ? Now

4:24

we've only got limited time in this session

4:26

, so how are you going to cover that what's

4:28

?

4:28

are you going to look at it and focus on different

4:30

verticals , or it's

4:33

about all of Alberta and all of our strengths

4:35

, so so we'll certainly cover some highlights

4:37

, but yes , it , it , it

4:39

. I have to admit that's a hard story to follow

4:42

, but it is a nice bookend

4:44

actually , because 35 years

4:46

ago started with Richard

4:49

Taylor and here we are with Michael Houghton

4:51

, so we have a nice Nobel Prize .

4:54

Well , that's kind of yeah , that's actually really cool . So

4:56

Richard Taylor was the first Aztec

4:58

Award winner , Canadian .

5:00

Oh , so he was the first Canadian Nobel Prize

5:02

winner .

5:03

Oh , yeah , okay .

5:05

The Aztec Award in 1992 . His

5:07

. Nobel Prize was in 1990

5:09

and the Aztec Awards was founded in 1989

5:12

.

5:13

Oh , okay , okay , Wow .

5:15

So this really goes back and

5:17

and so you've recently , well recently , last

5:20

few years , taken over the Aztec Awards and

5:22

are now managing that and curating

5:25

it into the future , because With our advisory

5:27

board , with our advisory board , which has

5:29

leaders like like

5:31

Justin Riemer of Emissions

5:34

Reduction Alberta , doug Holt of

5:36

Alberta Innovates , entrepreneurs that

5:38

have been past award winners , jeff LaFrance

5:40

of this Works , and more so

5:43

with community , we've

5:45

we've relaunched

5:48

the Aztec Awards in a way

5:50

that also is so inclusive

5:52

of rural innovation because

5:54

, to your point , innovation

5:57

is in every corner of the province . And

5:59

so last year , as an example

6:01

, three RINs were presenters

6:04

of awards . So

6:06

the Medicine Hat RIN , apex , presented

6:09

the Aerospace Award and

6:11

, as you know , they've been champions on

6:14

drones , on autopilot

6:17

, automated vehicles . And

6:21

also Red Deer Polytechnic

6:23

and the Central Alberta RIN

6:26

were on stage , as

6:28

well as the Olds College

6:30

, with Agriculture Innovation

6:32

, also on stage . So

6:34

the RINs and the RINs for

6:37

those who don't know what the regional innovation networks

6:39

are is a framework that

6:41

Alberta Innovates has put in place so

6:43

that information goes , goes

6:47

. It's a hub and spoke right , it's an entire

6:49

wheel that information goes out , information

6:51

comes in and it keeps

6:53

, keeps the innovation system in motion

6:55

and keeps everyone connected . And

6:57

in fact , yes , there's another Aztec

7:00

Award winner that I look forward

7:02

to having join us , which is

7:04

Kinetisense , and that's a Medicine

7:07

Hat company that has

7:09

you may even have interviewed them already the motion

7:11

, the markerless motion

7:14

, detection .

7:14

I'm familiar with Kinetisense . Yeah , another

7:17

one from from Medicine Hat .

7:19

By the way they NASA

7:21

uses their technology .

7:23

Yeah , we , we often think of , of

7:25

innovations in Alberta innovations . Well

7:27

, maybe it's not fair to say we often think this , but

7:29

we don't always think

7:32

of Alberta Innovations

7:35

and bread innovations as having that

7:38

global , you

7:40

know , implication and it's , it's

7:42

quite common .

7:44

That's right , and so we just need to remind

7:46

people of the stories but also create

7:48

new ones . Of course , right , but but

7:50

that gives entrepreneurs the confidence

7:52

. There's highs and lows in being an entrepreneur

7:55

, and especially when you're in the emerging technology

7:57

space , where you're creating a market , you're proving

7:59

on technology and you're forming new

8:01

relationships . So to know that it's we

8:04

have a proud history of being , of

8:06

accomplishments in that space really

8:09

can help the resilience of entrepreneurs

8:11

and you know we are stronger together

8:13

and so and that's what inventors

8:15

gives us the opportunity for is to actually

8:17

culminate that , as well as the Aztec

8:20

awards , in a different way .

8:22

I love that , gail . I think that's a really important

8:25

message . You know , when it's a great thing that Alberta

8:27

has going for it through the RINs and

8:29

through the partnerships and and

8:31

working , that we have

8:33

those , those warm handoffs to

8:35

all sorts of different organizations , whether that's

8:37

, you know , the RIN , like the Calgary Innovation Coalition

8:40

, or the GP Regional Innovation Network , you

8:43

know , at places like Edmonton , unlimited

8:45

, and you know , innovate

8:47

Calgary at the , at the post

8:49

secondary level .

8:50

It's fantastic platform Calgary

8:52

and RINSA .

8:56

Yeah , yeah , it's a . It's a massive

8:58

list and most a lot of these people

9:00

will be on-site at inventors for people to learn

9:02

more and this isn't all just

9:05

for startups . There's

9:07

lots of resources out there for scale ups

9:09

and companies that are , you know , potentially

9:11

looking to export to other countries , and

9:13

it's there's a really good framework here . Now

9:17

it's interesting , though I was having a conversation with a

9:20

gentleman on the last

9:22

episode from Canary Now

9:25

there are a federal organization that looks

9:27

to help entrepreneurs and

9:29

we're just talking about sense making and way

9:31

finding . You know , in that , in that

9:33

sense of when inventors are going to be able to do something , when an

9:35

entrepreneur comes out , he or she has to

9:37

look at their jurisdiction , you

9:40

know , whether that's a rural town

9:42

or one of the bigger cities . Then

9:44

they have to look at provincial support , then

9:46

federal support , and it can be daunting

9:48

. They can almost be too much

9:51

. He said , he put it best he

9:53

goes . It's almost like you need to have a side

9:55

hustle to figure out where

9:57

you need to go with your business . But

10:00

you know , I think and

10:03

I'll put in another plug for inventors but it's a

10:05

great opportunity for people to come and

10:07

start sense making and way finding

10:09

, talking to people like yourself , you

10:11

know , talking to people like Tonya Wolf at Redgear Polytechnic

10:14

and our regional innovation network leaders , so

10:16

it's pretty exciting . So , from your

10:18

perspective , what ? What are you most

10:20

looking forward to the inventors this year , and

10:23

what would you say to entrepreneurs

10:25

that we haven't already said about

10:27

why they should come ?

10:28

I wrote this in my newsletter recently . It's

10:30

not only who you know

10:33

but , who knows you Right , and

10:35

so the fact that people know that there's

10:37

these amazing entrepreneurs from all corners

10:39

of the province and that they

10:41

have this cool technology

10:43

and great team and and supportive

10:46

community that gives them the sustainability

10:48

that investors and customers want

10:50

to see In

10:53

any company moving forward . So

10:56

to actually and to feel that

10:58

support , that's fail . Fail when they go to inventors

11:00

is that they'll see so many

11:02

people they know and they will see other

11:04

people that are willing to introduce them . That's

11:07

just someone they should meet , and inventors

11:09

is an international , has an international

11:11

audience , so it will save entrepreneurs

11:14

a lot of time , entrepreneurial

11:16

tech companies a lot of time , but going there because they

11:18

will meet people that In a short

11:20

period of time right , it will probably

11:23

one day , if they're seeking

11:25

to meet Twenty meaningful

11:27

connections , they can . The amount

11:30

of time it would take you to fly or even

11:32

to meet someone in the same city Twenty

11:34

separate meetings one day that's not

11:37

something you're going to do and and

11:39

and . In a way , when you meet with

11:41

someone , you don't necessarily need A

11:43

whole hour or a whole half hour , whatever

11:46

these occasional meetings , to have

11:48

that nugget . So have your elevator pitch there

11:50

, but have you know how can they help

11:52

you because they want to , right , so

11:54

have that , ask their . Don't ask

11:56

people . You know good weather

11:59

, don't , don't comment on the weather

12:01

. They can comment on your shoes

12:03

, john , because you have good shoes , but

12:06

but how have ready

12:08

how people can help you because they want to ? that's

12:10

what inventors is all about .

12:12

Let me add something , and I think that's that was fantastically

12:15

well said , but let me add something to that

12:17

. So when you go to inventors

12:19

, think , have your pitch ready and

12:22

what's you know , because people are going to want to know , but also

12:25

, how can you help other people ? That's

12:28

right , so there's an opportunity

12:30

.

12:30

So how can I help you ? What do you

12:32

need and how ? Can they help you too , and

12:37

I always think entrepreneurs , scale-ups and

12:40

startups . My

12:42

instinct is to help them , but

12:44

you are right , john , it should be both

12:47

ways . And how can

12:49

you help others ? A lovely

12:51

example is technology Alberta

12:53

. Through our talent programs funded by

12:55

the government of Alberta and PrairiesCan

12:58

, We've been able to find

13:00

so many people jobs in these entrepreneurial

13:02

tech companies and the companies

13:05

take well , they'll take one

13:07

person , and then they'll want to take multiple

13:09

and then at some point you know they

13:11

can't take any more , but they want

13:13

to help people get jobs in there . So

13:16

they actually say you know what ? I'd

13:18

like to make introductions to you for

13:20

company X , company Y , company Z , so

13:23

that you are right , they're always thinking

13:25

of how they can help others too , help

13:27

people get their start with jobs , how to

13:29

grow their own company , but how to grow

13:31

their neighbor's companies . And

13:33

so , yes , tell others what you need

13:35

and ask them what they need , because

13:37

we can do this together .

13:39

I love it . Now , gail , give me a little

13:41

bit of your background . Where do you

13:44

? How did you start ? What is your ? What's

13:46

your area of interest like when

13:49

it comes to technology ?

13:50

I grew up in Alberta . I

13:52

saw the highs and lows of the economy

13:55

because , it's you know , we

13:57

ride a certain commodity that

13:59

we are very good at and

14:01

so recognized . I

14:04

want to diversify the economy , I want to be

14:06

part of the solution , and

14:08

so we have great resources . Technology

14:11

is the future . So I decided

14:13

to become an engineer in

14:16

the process automation space and

14:18

thus graduated from

14:20

the University of Alberta and then worked

14:22

for entrepreneurial tech companies ever since

14:25

. Even though I did go , I did

14:27

try . I did try Proctor

14:29

and Gamble , to learn the how to grow

14:31

a business . And then I

14:34

did live in Toronto working

14:36

for a company of five that grew to 25

14:39

in the artificial intelligence

14:41

space . at that time , that that

14:43

grew to be a world leader with

14:46

25 people . So I decided

14:48

in Toronto . They certainly aren't

14:50

as modest as many Canadians

14:53

, and so perhaps it shows

14:55

that with when you have

14:57

a good product and you have and you

14:59

care about your customer , it's not about

15:01

size , it's about focus and it's about confidence

15:03

and it's about caring . So

15:06

, with that wanting

15:08

to bring that back to Alberta , which

15:10

I have through companies

15:13

like NatureCon that has a employee number

15:15

100 . It grew to 618

15:17

offices around the world and

15:19

then , and then I

15:21

also went to I

15:23

actually Alberta Research Council

15:25

. I really enjoyed that .

15:27

That's a precursor to Alberta Innovates

15:29

.

15:30

Yes , and then also also

15:33

wisest . I was a woman

15:35

in scholarship , engineering , science , technology

15:38

and research , so

15:40

and help create groups that

15:42

brought academia together

15:45

with entrepreneurs and

15:47

industry to create technologies

15:50

that can help further our

15:53

economy , whether it's exporting

15:55

directly or helping our resource industries

15:57

and helping employ our people

15:59

. And then are helping our researchers

16:01

understand the problems are in industry so that they

16:03

can actually help solve the problems together

16:06

.

16:06

Wow See , and we started off by me

16:09

saying you've got all this , this wealth

16:11

of experience in the ecosystem

16:14

, in the innovation ecosystem , and folks

16:16

, make sure , when you're in ventures , look

16:19

up Gail Powley and come and have a chat

16:21

with her and make sure you check out her session

16:23

as well , gail , I think this was fantastic

16:25

. It was really an

16:28

honor to catch up with you like this and

16:30

finally get something kind of down on

16:32

tape , so to speak , because

16:34

we always have such good conversations and I always

16:36

learn a little bit more from you . So

16:38

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

16:41

A pleasure , and I've learned a lot from you

16:43

too , john , so thank you .

16:44

I should have asked now if people want more information

16:47

about Technology , alberta or the Aztec

16:49

Awards , where should they go ?

16:51

Our website , technologyalbertacom

16:54

or aztecca , and

16:56

we have free newsletters , so please

16:58

sign up . And , of course , linkedin's

17:00

a good spot for all of us , right ?

17:03

Absolutely yeah , okay , right

17:06

on Gail . Thank you so much .

17:08

Always a pleasure , John Bye now .

17:11

Shift can be found online at shiftalbertainnovatesca

17:15

, where you can reach us via email at shift

17:17

at albertainnovatesca

17:19

. We can also be found on your favorite

17:21

streaming service . So dive

17:24

in and enjoy Until next time . I'm

17:26

John .