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AI and ML in Edmonton

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Year in review: Hydrogen hiccups, arts fundraising, tech summits

In 2024, Taproot reported on several stories that continued to evolve after we published them. Here are some updates.
edmonton.taproot.news edmonton.taproot.news

Tech investor grows but faces challenges​

The original story: In 2024, OligomicsTx was the first of three Edmonton-based companies to win a StartUp TNT summit finale, which it did back in March. The maker of RNA-targeting therapies for rare neuromuscular disorders earned at least $155,000 in investment at the Life Sciences Summit, held at the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute. In June, SketchDeck.ai, which uses AI and machine learning to automate estimates in the construction industry, won at least $150,000 at Summit IX. Finally, The Fort Distillery also received at least $150,000 in investment at Summit X.

Then what? Startup TNT experienced both achievements and challenges throughout 2024. In February, the non-profit was recognized as the most active pre-seed and seed stage investor in Western Canada by the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association. In April, Startup TNT launched in British Columbia, but then paused its Manitoba operations in July. In October, Startup TNT received a SABEX Award for community impact from the Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce. Later that month, it shared a code of conduct that aims to protect its community members from harassment and discrimination. Its biggest update came in a December post, which said the organization needs to streamline its operations and layoff staff. The changes Startup TNT shared it will undertake include creating a greater emphasis on the independence of its regional chapters, restructuring some of its summits, and hiring a new executive director.

What’s next? The search for a new executive director for Startup TNT is underway. Recruitment is being led by Artemis Canada. The post calls for someone based in Western Canada (and “ideally Edmonton”) with operational expertise, financial leadership, and more. As far as summit events go, the December post said four summits will take place at some point this spring: Edmonton, Calgary, British Columbia, and Agri-Food. The Cleantech, Life Sciences, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba events “are being restructured for future Summits, some as early as Fall 2025,” the post said.
 
MacLac said:
I fail to see the positive in “another tech exit for Edmonton.”
Click to expand...
I get the impression the exit is a financial one, not the business physically leaving, but I understand the point.

On the one hand it is a sign of success to sell a business and says something about the quality of businesses started here, but in the long run it could be better if they continue to grow here rather than being taken over by a company from elsewhere.
 
archited said:
Here are some relevant quotes re the Data Centre that certainly help to lend some credence to the project which is scheduled to be located on highway 40 some 40 kilometers south of Grand Prairie. Check out the video at the bottom of this input.
“Projects like this have extremely attractive returns, and so I think Alberta is waking up to what they have just now. I mean, they could easily lead globally in data centres,” O’Leary said Monday in an interview. “We are talking about the demand right now for data centres in the next 15 years — nobody has what Alberta has. Nobody.” Data centres focused on artificial intelligence require huge amounts of electricity. A report last month by consultancy McKinsey & Co. estimated global demand for data centre capacity could triple by the end of this decade. Monday’s announcement by the Municipal District of Greenview — and its Greenview Industrial Gateway (GIG) — confirms a letter of intent has been signed that would allow O’Leary Ventures to acquire and then develop land in the area. Called Wonder Valley — playing off his moniker on TV — the proposal would see the company develop off-grid natural gas and geothermal power generation infrastructure to provide electricity to offer to hyperscalers looking for places to operate data centres. Once fully built out over a five-to-10-year period, the area in northwest Alberta could eventually offer 7.5 gigawatts of energy to its tenants. The area has available land and water, access to fibre-optic networks and proximity to ample supplies of natural gas that can create electricity, O’Leary said. “It’s almost impossible to find what Alberta has — because it’s not just power,” he said. “You need people, you need fibre. There are so many things that are required to build a data centre of this scale.” The first phase would be 1.4 gigawatts, costing about US$2 billion, while the entire development could top $70 billion if fully built out, factoring in data centres, infrastructure, power and other structures, the company said.
Premier Danielle Smith met with O’Leary earlier this month while she was in Abu Dhabi and they toured a data centre, her office confirmed Monday.
Alberta Technology Minister Nate Glubish said access to electricity — and the ability of companies to provide their own power — and speed to market are two key factors for data centre developers.
“The proposed infrastructure from the O’Leary group, being natural gas power with the option to go net-zero in the future, it can be up and running in two years and scale up to 7,500 megawatts over a five-to-10-year period,” said Glubish. “This is a game-changer.”
However, natural gas-fired power generation would create greenhouse gas emissions, and most large tech firms have aggressive net-zero targets.
Expected demand for electricity for data centres is growing faster than the timelines for building new wind and solar transmission, with developers increasingly looking for places where they can get a direct connection to gas, said Ben Levitt with S&P Global Commodity Insights.
“These data centre operators still have clean energy mandates, nearly all of them, and using gas is viewed as kind of a near-term necessity,” Levitt said from Pittsburgh.
“So where’s the clean energy going to come from over the longer term?”
The proponents note the region will have access to underground sequestration for carbon capture and storage, as well as future geothermal power. The land is along Highway 40, about 50 kilometres south of Grand Prairie.
Kyle Reiling, executive director of the Greenview Industrial Gateway, said he first met with O’Leary’s team at Bankers Hall in September to discuss the proposal.
Within three days, the group was flying over the site in a helicopter.
“It’s going to create thousands of jobs,” Reiling said.
“Right now, the O’Leary group is going through their economic analysis of the project that they just announced today, and it really is like a race. Everyone’s pushing as fast as possible.”
MD of Greenview Reeve Tyler Olsen said the project would have a huge impact on the region, and the entire province.
“This seems to be the perfect fit,” Olsen said.
“Coming from this area . . . you think big, but I’ve never thought this big before, so it’s taken a little bit to wrap my head around it.
“But it’s exciting.”
column written and researched by Chris Varcoe, a Calgary Herald columnist.
from the presentation material --
View attachment 618629
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Gotta read this on O’Leary! This man couldn’t organize a shit kicking contest with a 3-legged man. Mind blowing stuff on, “not licensed to even sell his O’Leary Funds.”

Snake Oil Salesman is what this Joker is thick and through. But he’s Buddy’s with someone with even less integrity…..’Ol Smitty
www.theglobeandmail.com

Kevin O'Leary: He's not a billionaire, he just plays one on TV

“If you walk down a street with Kevin, it’s like parting the Red Sea,” says Stuart Coxe, the television producer who cast Kevin O’Leary on Dragons’ Den in 2006. “It’s ‘Kevin!’ and high-fives.… We’ve never had someone like Kevin.”
www.theglobeandmail.com www.theglobeandmail.com
 
^ Actually I have read that one and I can't disagree with much of its content -- O'Leary is a less-than-desirable human being from my perspective (and many others) and he fits in neatly with the ostentatious, boisterous crowd that inhabits his world view. However, the idea that he has glommed onto in Western Alberta is, I believe, a very good one and if he (O'Leary) has the ability to organize it into reality then I am all for it -- a kind of hate-the-man but not the idea philosophy rules here.
 
It seems like a lot of hype here by O'Leary who is working even harder to become persona non grata in Canada, in large part because the scale of what is being proposed and his ability to finance this is very doubtful.

I suppose if he brings attention to investment opportunities here, it could be a good thing. But often people burned by the hype then also after have negative feelings after about the general vicinity the huckster was promoting.
 
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Not sure if this is necessary a "win" for YEG as it is mostly Smitty wordsmithing spending rhetoric as in $800M over 8 years." The UCP's won't even be in power that long so how can any government "guarantee" anything beyond their length in office?
www.alberta.ca

A record investment in innovative cancer care

Alberta’s government is partnering with Siemens Healthineers and the Alberta Cancer Foundation to improve health outcomes for Albertans diagnosed with cancer.
www.alberta.ca www.alberta.ca
 
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