Innovation Week YYC is back again this year. Hosted by Platform Calgary, the event showcases and celebrates the people, places and ideas powering Calgary’s burgeoning tech and innovation sectors through a variety of events including presentations, networking events, discussions, parties and more. The events are hosted across the city in a variety of locations, including the Platform Innovation Centre. Tickets and registration for individual events can be found online. Plus, you can build your own detailed schedule for all of Innovation Week YYC.
Here’s a look at four events worth checking out this year.
Startup TNT YYC Summit X Finale Pitch Night
When: November 14
Startup TNT is an organization that runs investment summits to fund startups while promoting angel investing. The goal for this finale pitch night is to raise $1 million or more for startups across Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatchewan and B.C. This event includes five finalist companies pitching live from their respective regions, while also engaging with local angel investors. You can watch the pitches live at the Platform Innovation Centre. Doors open at 5 p.m. and pitches begin at 6 p.m.
DevFestYYC
When: November 15 to 16
This two-day developer festival features keynotes, workshops, demos, labs, networking opportunities and happy hour. DevFest is one of the best attended and most active developer festivals in North America. It’s presented by Calgary’s Google Developer Group (GDGYYC), a volunteer-led, not-for-profit chapter of Google’s world-wide developer ecosystem of one million developers, known as Google Developer Groups (GDG). 100 per cent of the proceeds from tickets to DevFestYYC go back into Calgary’s developer community. This event is being hosted at the Platform Innovation Centre and the Calgary Central Library.
Indigitech Destiny Innovation Summit
When: November 18
The Indigitech Destiny Summit is focused on empowering Indigenous innovators by providing a platform to showcase their innovations and share knowledge, promoting collaboration and partnerships between Indigenous communities, businesses and tech organizations, and advancing economic reconciliation by supporting initiatives that bridge the digital divide and ensure equitable access to opportunities. This year’s summit will focus on hot topics like AI, fintech, data sovereignty, Indigenous representation in tech and more. The summit will be held at Platform Innovation Centre and NMC Studio Bell.
Launch Party
When: November 21
Ten of Calgary’s most exciting, up-and-coming startups in areas of AI, construction management, geospatial intelligence and more will be featured at this year’s Launch Party, the signature party and startup-focused showcase that concludes Innovation Week. Since 2010, more than 150 companies have been showcased at Launch Party, including SkipTheDishes, Virtual Gurus, Goodlawyer and more. Tickets to Launch Party include entry, plus light snacks and a complimentary beverage of your choice. The event will be held at the Big Four.
