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Inventors 2024 was a huge success

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this year , may 29th to 31st

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in large part to the attendees

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, but also to our sponsors

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, and today we're featuring one of those sponsors

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Google Startups . Now

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, google's got a lot of different programs that

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they offer entrepreneurs and startups

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and in this interview , we're going to dive in

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and learn about some of those . Sit

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back , relax . Welcome to Shift

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. Alright

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, ladies and gentlemen , welcome to Shift . Today , my

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guest is Iran Karimeyan from Google

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Startups . How are you , iran ?

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I'm so good . Thanks for inviting me

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, john , excited to be here .

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Well , it's so nice to have you guys involved and

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I'll tell you when we had a colleague

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that introduced me one of our technology development advisors

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, pej , in Calgary here and

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you've been such a pleasure

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to work with .

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Oh , thank you , and I agree . I echo

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that sentiment . I

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feel like you've been so easy to work with and there's been so many great conversations and

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opportunities that have come out of this , so

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this has been awesome .

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That's great . Well , I'm glad you know , and that's really you

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know . Inventures is all about kind of bringing

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the system together and bringing all

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of the supports , the innovators , entrepreneurs

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. Today , on the final day of InVentures , we have , I

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think , close to 200 high school students joining us

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.

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Amazing .

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Yeah , and the work you do with Google

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Startups . Why don't we flesh that out

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?

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Tell me a little bit about what

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that's like and what the work involves . Absolutely so , in my role , I am

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the head of our startup and accelerator efforts across Canada

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at Google Canada . I say on any given day , I'm doing

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one of three things . The main thing that I work on is our accelerator programs . These

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are called our Google for Startups Accelerator Programs . We run five of them over the course

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of the year . All five are available

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to Canadian founders of

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the year . All five are available to Canadian founders and really what we look for are

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super high potential technology focused companies that are building with artificial

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intelligence or machine learning , who

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are a little bit more further along , have an established

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business , have customer sales traction growth

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and are really ready to go to the next

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level using technology

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. We

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have been so fortunate to work with over 100

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Canadian companies since we started these programs

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in 2020 . And actually I

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have applications open right now

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for our next Canada class

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. So if there are any startups

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that are listening to this who fit that bill

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and who would like to learn more , I definitely

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encourage you to check it out . Just

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Google Google for Startups Accelerator Canada

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. It'll take you to our program page

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. All the details are there , including my

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team's email address . You can always email us with

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any questions as well .

2:55

Cool , okay , so then they'd fill up an application form

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.

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Yeah , exactly , it's a pretty lengthy

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application form , so please do give yourself some time

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to complete it . But

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if you have any questions , more than welcome to reach out to our team . And really our mission

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is quite simple . It's just to bring to really empower Canadian startups using

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the best of Google through our programs

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, our people , our products and our technology

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, the program , of course , being the Accelerator

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program itself . Our people

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you know we've mobilized over 500

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plus folks internally and

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externally who act as mentors

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, speakers , advisors that can help

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with all sorts of business

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challenges . So , of course , we're a technical

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first program . We have a ton of technical experts

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but , you know , related

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to topics such as sales , growth

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, marketing , people in leadership

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, okrs and goal settings , really

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, you know , we can support on all sides

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of the business .

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So sorry . So when a company is accepted into

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the accelerator program , you've got all of those

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services that can help them out with that .

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Absolutely yeah . So it's a 10 week program

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and so every week has a different

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sort of focus and area

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of focus of the business that

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we dive into . But

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really we're there to support

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with everything . So

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for companies that are

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looking to adopt Google

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Cloud and use those services , we

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also have a really robust credit

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package that we offer companies that are

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in the program . So it's about

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$200,000 USD over the course

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of two years and

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if you're an AI first company , it's $350,000

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USD over the course of two years . So

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the credits , paired

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with the mentorship and the guidance and just having access

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to people at Google , really

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can go quite a long way and is super powerful

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. And what's also awesome is that you know

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, after the 10 weeks is done , we

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don't say goodbye to you . You know we

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continue the relationship . All

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of our founders roll into our alumni

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community where they receive ongoing access

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to Google mentors , ongoing access

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to exclusive product offerings , you

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know special events and

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just really we use it as a way to just build out case studies . So once we graduate , it's

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like now let's work together on different partnerships

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and find ways to really showcase the

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incredible work that these startups have done while they're

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in the program with us Well , it's really forging

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a long-term relationship ?

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It is yes .

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We are committed until the very end

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. So for as long as the startup wants

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to engage , we are more than happy

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to engage with them as well . And the mentorship piece

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is pretty powerful , because just knowing that

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at any time on any day

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you have any sort of problem or challenge or something

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breaks and you can schedule time with a Google

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expert to help you resolve it

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, that's pretty powerful .

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Yeah , no kidding . Now , when

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you think about all

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of what you guys are offering and then you

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think about some of the other service providers , like Alberta

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Innovates and maybe the regional innovation

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networks we have and Calgary Innovation

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Coalition , Edmonton Regional Innovation Network

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, is there a way that all

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of these systems in a much

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larger ecosystem can work together

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? Do you see opportunity for that ?

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Oh , absolutely yeah , we have a ton

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of partners that we work with across

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the country and we

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have a lot of , you know , community contributing

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relationships as well . I think Canada

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is a small ecosystem . There's

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definitely room for every

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service and every program and every offering

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and I think it's all very complimentary

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. So I think the value that

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a different organization can bring could

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be very different than the value that we can bring through

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our programs . You know , some organizations

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provide funding and

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, you know , take equity . Our focus

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we are an equity-free program . Our focus

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is really on providing that technical support

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, that technical enablement , access to

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our network and just

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really helping unlock those technical challenges

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that you have .

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Now with the Accelerator program we have going in

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Canada with you leading that . Is there

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a similar thing in the States and in Europe

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?

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Yes , yes , so our Accelerator

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programs are global . We are

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in there's 19 programs running

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across the world , I

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believe . We are in 22 regions with

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19 programs , as I mentioned . So

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every region has slightly

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different qualifications

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. The program looks slightly different , but

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the mission is the same . So bringing the best

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of Google to startups in

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these local communities and

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really , just , you know , doing what we can to

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support the enablement , the growth and

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the technology adoption that

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they have .

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Yeah , Now do you see opportunity ? Or has there

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been examples of past opportunity

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where , say , a graduate of a Google

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accelerator program in one jurisdiction

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starts partnering with a startup

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alumni in another jurisdiction ? Have you seen that

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yet ?

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We have made a lot of introductions

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to startups across programs

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. Actually , just yesterday my

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colleagues in Korea reached out saying

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we have a startup that's in our program

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right now . They're looking to come

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to Canada , to come to Toronto specifically

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for Collision in a few weeks and looking to

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connect with some Canadian founders . So we're

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always making those connections . Has

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an actual partnership formed ? I'm not sure

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, but it's a global community

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so as much as we can help

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support founders from

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any region , we're trying to enable that .

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Well , iran , I'm going to ask you the same question next

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year at InVentures 2025 , because I'm

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hoping you guys come back , because you've been fantastic

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.

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Yeah , I want to . Alberta is great

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. Calgary has been awesome . I'm just truly

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blown away by all the innovation here

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and the access to resources

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and really just I think the biggest

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takeaway is that there's true

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long-term vision in terms

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of

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how the ecosystem can continue to thrive , and

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so I'm really excited . I think there's a ton of opportunity

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and I'm looking forward to doing more in

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Calgary .

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Well , you know what ? Let me just expand on

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that and put words in your mouth . But in Alberta

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.

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In Alberta .

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yes , so the activity , the adventures

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, takes place in Calgary but it's Alberta-wide

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, so that innovation ecosystem is quite

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comprehensive and quite powerful and I think we hit

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above our weight . I think that's the

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expression , and you know there's an

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opportunity for our ecosystem to

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continue to coalesce

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, and then you know the Googles

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and other organizations to come

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in and start expanding on that . I

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think there's some really great opportunity and I hope we

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can continue to flesh that

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out For sure . Yeah Well , thank you very

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much for joining us and give me

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your final thoughts on Adventures 22

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and 4 , because this is your first time here and

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you guys were sponsors this year and thank you very

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much for that . But what were your impressions ?

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You know it is my first year at Adventures

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. I've been to many of these conferences and

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I wasn't really sure what to expect

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. But being here and just you

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know , meeting so many wonderful

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technology startups , so many ecosystem

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players and partners that are doing really great work

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, I'm just really blown away by

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the quality and

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just the care and

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really excited for , just you know , what's continuing

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to come out of Alberta as

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a whole . So I'm excited

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. I think you know there's a lot of great stuff happening

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here and I oversee all

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of Canada , but I've just , you know , being here

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on the ground in Calgary

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, you know , interacting with so many

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Alberta-based companies and organizations

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. I'm just really blown away by

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what's happening and really excited to continue

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doing more here .

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

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Thank you so much .

10:47

Shift can be found online at shiftalbertainnovatesca

10:51

, or you can reach us via email at shift

10:53

at alberta innovates dot ca . We

10:56

can also be found on your favorite streaming

10:58

service , so dive in and

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enjoy until next time . I'm john

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.