Tech Roundup
Oct. 13, 2026

Edmonton Startup Week

• The People's Choice Award at Edmonton Startup Week was presented to 7 Summits Snacks, which makes chocolate bars formulated for athletes. "It's truly an honour, especially because this is such a tech-focused group of startups at a tech-focused event," co-founder Kristyn Carriere told Taproot during Launch Party, the signature event of the week at Edmonton Unlimited. "To have a food innovation company in Edmonton be the people's choice winner truly pleases my heart, and it shows the power of our community." Carriere posted further reflections on the win and fighting to be seen as an innovator.
• Panellists from Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network, Nanostics, the University of Alberta, and Business Wide View argued agriculture could be an early market for emerging technologies, citing producers' willingness to test tools in real-world settings. "(It's) a sector rich with opportunity," Douglas Mills of CAINN told an Edmonton Startup Week session. "When we're talking about agriculture, think broadly. We're not just talking about a farm, tractor, or cows in a field. Think of opportunities across the whole value chain: animal health, logistics, transportation, solar, processing, value-add tools, machinery, analytics, robotics, computer vision, AI research, and biotech."
• Sean Naugle, a senior contracts officer at Canadian Forces Base Edmonton, urged startups to pursue Canadian defence contracts. He outlined potential security-clearance and tender requirements during a session at Edmonton Startup Week. Connie Stacey, founder of Grengine, said rigid bid criteria and siloed government departments could exclude firms who would otherwise be able to meet military needs. "You end up with a process that's kind of like telephone tag," Stacey said. "It gets thinner and thinner as you go through the different departments."
• After two years of work, MIT REAP Edmonton called for more focus on problems that customers would pay startups to solve. "If we only have startups in an ecosystem and we don't have anyone ready to receive or pay for what they're building, then we have a mismatch," Christiana Manzocco of Alberta Enterprise Corporation told a session during Edmonton Startup Week. With the MIT partnership over, Edmonton Unlimited will administer a steering committee to continue the effort to improve Edmonton's innovation ecosystem, with a particular interest in defence and dual-use.

Headlines

• Q-Block Computing is developing shoebox-sized modules that integrate lasers, optics, detectors, and controls for quantum systems. It began selling products to the Canadian defence market in 2024 and plans to expand sales to data centres and critical infrastructure, helping Canadian projects use Canadian tech. "Manufacturing creates skills, tooling, suppliers and institutional knowledge that stay in the country and compound. Research does not do that on its own," co-founder and CEO Kyung Soo Choi told Postmedia. "Canada has invested for decades in becoming a genuine centre of quantum science, and whether that investment returns depends on where the resulting industry gets built."
• Jobber held its first in-person user conference in Austin, TX, before gathering nationwide employees in Edmonton as it celebrated its 15th anniversary. Part of the company's success came from identifying blue-collar workers who were underserved by technology, co-founder and CEO Sam Pillar told CBC's Edmonton AM. "One of the things that we're trying to do as a business, as well as build this software, is change the narrative around blue-collar and trades, and encourage young people to get into these industries as an entry point to entrepreneurship," he said.
• After being named a company to watch at Edmonton Startup Week and pitching for Startup TNT's fall investment summit, Aqtiva reported that its 2026 pilots showed an average 25% increase in yield compared with growers' untreated rows across seven trials, six crops, and three Alberta farms. It said gains ranged from 12% to 44%.
• University of Alberta researchers spun out Rosette Robotics after developing an AI-assisted system to inspect crop seeds. The company's robotic arm scans trays containing potentially thousands of seeds, and inspectors can isolate individual seeds for closer examination. It was one of 27 companies to pitch on Oct. 1 for Startup TNT's fall investment summit.
• SketchDeck.ai is taking Version 3.0 of its steel estimation product on the road, heading to FABTECH and Trimble Dimensions in Las Vegas and the CISC Canadian Steel Conference in Vancouver.
• The Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute worked with My Viva Plan to build a four-module AI system for its Yaro virtual health coach. The system turns patient conversations into structured health records. My Viva is expanding a pilot and is still testing the technology.
• COG Studios is developing Our Eyes See No Evil, a survival horror game that tracks players' eyes through a webcam. Players close their eyes to hide and use sound to navigate. Edmonton Screen helped the studio show the game at Gamescom in Germany. As a largely part-time endeavour, COG's team is focused on keeping things interesting. "Our main priority is to make weird, experimental, cool games," producer David Goel told Postmedia.
• RISE NeuroProsthetics is developing an intraspinal microstimulation implant intended to restore function after spinal cord injury. Founder and CEO Soroush Mirkiani has received an Innovation Catalyst Grant and pitched for a berth in Startup TNT's fall investment summit finale.
• MagnetaMR is showcasing its portable whole-body MRI platform as part of the Canadian delegation to the 2026 Association of the United States Army expo in Washington, D.C. The company is developing a portable, AI-informed, low-field MRI device that could cost as little as 10% of the current price of $1.5 million to $3 million for conventional, fixed-place MRI. It is one of 15 finalists in the Alberta Capital Connect program and recently pitched among 27 companies for Startup TNT's fall investment summit.
• The Business Development Bank of Canada shone a light on RUNWITHIT Synthetics, one of the bank's financing recipients. The piece traces RWI's award-winning work on synthetic twins that empower decision-makers to address myriad issues, including health. The piece details the launch of Synthetic Canada and other projects, noting RWI's human-first approach. "We felt people were really the whole point," said co-founder and CEO Myrna Bittner. "If you couldn't relate those systems to saving and helping people, then you were missing out."
• Punchcard Systems said it found that 49% of surveyed Canadian heavy-industry workers used AI at work, while 70% reported receiving no formal AI training. The company surveyed 1,100 workers across manufacturing, construction, natural resources, energy, automotive, and agriculture with Angus Reid.
• University of Alberta has selected Graphite Ventures to manage its Innovation Fund, which has backed 13 university-connected early-stage companies since 2023. Graphite will oversee the portfolio and follow-on investments, support founders, and invest in new companies emerging from the university.
• Edmonton Global has named Marlenie Arana its director of trade. Her role focuses on helping Edmonton businesses make connections and enter international markets.
• The federal government announced up to $162 million to support 10,000 paid AI-related work placements through Mitacs over five years. An earlier Mitacs-supported co-op placement with the City of Edmonton helped build SmartShift, a tool to schedule seasonal staff.
• Prime Minister Mark Carney formed the Prime Minister's National Council on Artificial Intelligence to advise Ottawa on its AI for All strategy. Its remit includes support for Canadian AI companies and AI adoption. The government has not said when the council will report or whether its recommendations will be public.

Data centres

• Edmonton communications firm reVerb Communications has launched Data Centre Anonymous to help municipalities explain data centre applications and respond to public concerns. CEO Quinn Nicholson said municipalities should communicate independently of project proponents and aim to reach residents who do not attend planning meetings. "A municipal government's interest is its people, and so they have to be telling and representing that side of the story," Nicholson told Taproot.
• A Canadian Security Intelligence Service assessment obtained by Postmedia warned that data centres face cybersecurity, supply-chain, and foreign-ownership risks as their strategic importance grows. Alberta has several large facilities in planning, including a Meta project in Sturgeon County. Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish said having the infrastructure here is a move towards data sovereignty. "The home run for Albertans and for Canadians is building to attract Alberta-based companies and Canadian-based companies who want to build truly sovereign computing infrastructure," he said.
• BGRE and CPP Investments sought input on a proposed data processing facility at TransAlta's Boreal Technology Hub in Parkland County on Oct. 7. If its development application is approved, the facility would initially have a 230-megawatt power allocation.
• More than 100 people gathered at the Alberta Legislature on Oct. 4 to rally against AI data centres, citing concerns about water and Indigenous consultation. Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation Chief Sheldon Sunshine, who is challenging a provincial water licence for the proposed Wonder Valley development, questioned whether existing rules address the cumulative effects of multiple projects.

Jobs and opportunities

• The Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute is hiring a director of business development to manage its account team and secure partnerships. Applications close Oct. 28, though the posting may come down sooner if the position is filled.
• AltaML is hiring a senior AI architect to design and deploy agentic AI systems for clients.
• The Government of Alberta is hiring six junior full-stack developers in Edmonton to build digital services with AI-enabled features. Five roles are permanent and one is temporary; applications close Oct. 13.
• The Government of Alberta is hiring a delivery manager in Edmonton to oversee onboarding and support for shared digital platforms. Applications close Oct. 19.
• Bito Lab is seeking five startups at the minimum-viable-product stage to participate in a validation test.

Happenings

Here are some events coming up soon:

• Oct. 14: Intro to Machine Learning Foundations starting at 10am at Amii (Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute)
• Oct. 14: Tech Wednesdays starting at 5:30pm at The Pint Public House
• Oct. 15: Where Health Innovation Meets Simulation starting at 4:30pm at NAIT (Feltham Centre)
• Oct. 15: Startup TNT Happy Hour starting at 6pm at Fawkes
• Oct. 19: Business Model 101 Lunch + Learn starting at 11am online
• Oct. 20: Build, Test & Learn: Product Vision starting at 6pm online
• Oct. 20-21: Government Innovation Week at Edmonton Convention Centre
• Oct. 22: AI on the Mind: Uses and Effects of AI in Psychology starting at 4:30pm at Fu's Repair Shop

And here are more to keep in mind:

• Oct. 30-31: UX Camp Edmonton 2026 at MacEwan University
• Nov. 4-7: DAMA Edmonton Conference: Powering Digital Health & AI Through Trusted Data at NAIT Productivity and Innovation Centre
• Nov. 6: 37th Annual ASTech Awards Gala and Innovation Showcase at Westin Edmonton

Visit the Taproot Edmonton Calendar for many more events in the Edmonton region.