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Edmonton Corporate Development & Attraction

IanO said:
Had a good chat with someone in the tech world last night and asked about how things are these days in Edmonton, Calgary and the province. He shared a pretty staggering stat that would be interesting to follow up on.

Of the $750,000,000.00 raised in VC the last year within the province, over $700,000,000.00+ of it is destined for Calgary's tech sector.

It's not my world, so take it for what it's worth, but the comments associated with the one above also had very specific questions around local tech leadership and very little attention of Edmonton by major players. He specifically mentioned that 'the slide' continues and that 'this market continues to make the same mistakes with the same circle of people being shuffled around to positions of leadership leading to continued mistrust and erosion'; that we are losing a lot of very talented people.

This is supported by an older figure/report.

'The report noted that Calgary ranked fourth among Canadian cities last year with 64 deals that attracted $647 million in investment. Edmonton, in seventh spot nationally, notched 18 deals and $58 million.'

calgaryherald.com

Varcoe: 'Bucking the trend': Despite Canadian tech sector downturn, Alberta sets another record for venture capital funding

Despite a global slowdown and layoffs in the sector, Alberta technology companies continue to attract the interest of investors.
calgaryherald.com calgaryherald.com
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Yeah and a 1/4 of YYC’s goes to an online sketch credit card company with a room full of telemarketers cold calling folks to see “if they’d like to sign up for a $500 Canadian Tire MC card…..no questions asked,” big deal…..wake me when something serious gets signed…yawn……let YYC be the Canadian Tire Mastercard capital of the world. I’ll take our AI and pharmatech all day every day. Btw, where’s the article showing that YEG gets 90% of the bio deals in the province? Won’t find Varcoe spewing anything YEG in the Herald….its all about where you want to look Ian….NM….just look up API and all the good stuff for YEG is right there…….

Plus your Varco article is a YEAr old when they just recently signed those 2 big East Indian “tech” deals….lol. That Inphosis? The only reason he settled on YYC was cause of cheap real estate DT and a ton of unemployed “tech” staff….snicker. I already explained Neo…same thing…cheap “tech” labor…lol and cheap rent…..
 
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So now you should have a convo with a Pharma”guy” and go spew your YEG Pharma good news on the YYC forum…..you owe us at least that much……
 
IanO said:
He specifically mentioned that 'the slide' continues and that 'this market continues to make the same mistakes with the same circle of people being shuffled around to positions of leadership leading to continued mistrust and erosion'; that we are losing a lot of very talented people.
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Would you be able to provide a little colour on what this gentleman might have been referring to. I have noticed that a lot of the Edmonton booster type orgs do have a lot of the same people shuffling around. Even extends into the AI/ML space. That said, it's probably because there are only so many who actually have the initiative and pride in Edmonton to perform such roles, whereas Calgary seems to have it much more in abundance, as noted.
 
Munanyo said:
Calgary has it good because they not only have the provincial government on their side doing everything and anything to make Calgary a centre of power and economy, but they have civic leaders who go above and beyond to promote the city. Our civic leaders don't do jack shit in comparison and it's incredibly frustrating.
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Civic leaders here can only do so much when the Province is almost actively fighting against them in favour of Calgary...
 
Avenuer said:
Civic leaders here can only do so much when the Province is almost actively fighting against them in favour of Calgary...
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Agreed.
And our successes don't get covered in the media nearly as much - and a lot of the major media is more heavily based in Calgary. Former journal columnist and now senator Paula Simons noted recently that the EJ building is virtually empty and there about 7 reporters.
Editorial decisions are being made in YYC.
 
Avenuer said:
Civic leaders here can only do so much when the Province is almost actively fighting against them in favour of Calgary...
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Honestly it doesn't help when the political base of the party in power absolutely LOATHE Edmonton. I can't emphasize enough how many rural/Calgary based conservatives freaking hate this city and everything it stands for.
 
Kosy123 said:
Honestly it doesn't help when the political base of the party in power absolutely LOATHE Edmonton. I can't emphasize enough how many rural/Calgary based conservatives freaking hate this city and everything it stands for.
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Nothing better than when some rural folks from central/northern AB complain about how Edmonton is a ****hole filled with homeless people and addicts... like my brother in christ these are mostly people from YOUR communities... an extremely small % of homeless folks in Edmonton are actually from here.
 
northlands said:
Nothing better than when some rural folks from central/northern AB complain about how Edmonton is a ****hole filled with homeless people and addicts... like my brother in christ these are mostly people from YOUR communities... an extremely small % of homeless folks in Edmonton are actually from here.
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But big city problems run by socialist liberals amiright??

Either way, there's a significant provincial roadblock for Edmonton's continued and increased success. The only thing I can think of is increased Federal funding/focus but that causes extreme friction with provincial governments (An example is Ric McIver's letter expressing concern at how the Feds sidestepped the provinces when it came to the Housing Accelerator Funding).

An extremely successful and more influential Edmonton tips the political balance of the province.
 
TAS said:
Agreed.
And our successes don't get covered in the media nearly as much - and a lot of the major media is more heavily based in Calgary. Former journal columnist and now senator Paula Simons noted recently that the EJ building is virtually empty and there about 7 reporters.
Editorial decisions are being made in YYC.
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The Old Calgary Herald building on the Deerfoot is null and void of any newspaper staff....been leased off. Not sure that the Herald is that more bulkier with staff then the Journal.....
 
MacLac said:
The Old Calgary Herald building on the Deerfoot is null and void of any newspaper staff....been leased off. Not sure that the Herald is that more bulkier with staff then the Journal.....
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True, but the Journal hasn't had a dedicated business columnist for over a decade I believe. It was a major reason I stopped subscribing. The Herald still has.

Even more oddly none of the provincial political columnists are Edmonton based either. One Herald columnist, while competent is way past normal retirement, IDK maybe they just don't want to pay him a huge severance.

In my opinion the Journal is somewhat just a masthead for stories recycled from the Herald and elsewhere. There is little local coverage any more.
 
northlands said:
Would you be able to provide a little colour on what this gentleman might have been referring to. I have noticed that a lot of the Edmonton booster type orgs do have a lot of the same people shuffling around. Even extends into the AI/ML space. That said, it's probably because there are only so many who actually have the initiative and pride in Edmonton to perform such roles, whereas Calgary seems to have it much more in abundance, as noted.
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Just that it is moving chairs versus building.
 
Capture.PNG

We all know everyone is obsessed with the phrase "tech hub," ie, YYC and his buddy Ian. Maybe you should enrol in this Webinar to take your mind off of "tech hub" and replace it with "biotech hub!"
 
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