Inventures 2025 Conference closes with ‘renewed sense of optimism’

NEWS RELEASE

CALGARY, AB – The Inventures 2025 Conference wraps today, drawing to a close Alberta Innovates’ flagship tech and innovation event. Over the last three days, approximately 3,000 entrepreneurs and innovators from across Alberta and beyond have networked, built partnerships, and taken in 55 exhibits and 150 sessions with 382 of the top speakers in tech and innovation.

“We’re concluding Inventures with a renewed sense of optimism,” said Mike Mahon, CEO of Alberta Innovates. “Our tech and innovation ecosystem isn’t just connected—it’s united by a shared vision to fortify local networks and further the momentum sparked over the last few days. Alberta is a go-to hub for talent, innovation, and global opportunity and that will only continue to grow.”

Conference highlights included:

• A keynote session with newly-appointed CEO Mike Mahon and Board Chair Tony Williams, charting the course for the growth of tech and innovation at a critical moment;
• A fireside chat on the future of innovation with Premier Danielle Smith and Jim Balsillie, veteran tech entrepreneur and the co-CEO of Research in Motion (now BlackBerry);
• A new Memorandum of Understanding between Alberta and Denmark to cooperate on the advancement of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology;
• Goodlawyer x Startup TNT’s The Future of Alberta exclusive networking event, which drew 600 innovators and entrepreneurs; and
• Dynamic keynote sessions from industry leaders including Gary Vaynerchuk, U.S. serial entrepreneur; Sabaa Quao, president of PlusCo Venture Studio; Jeff Adamson, founder of SkipTheDishes and Neo Financial; Rajen Ruparell, founder of Endy; along with Dr. David Rhew, Global Chief Medical Officer and VP of Healthcare at Microsoft and Ricky Mehra, General Partner at Continuum Health VC.

For a sample of Inventures 2025 Conference photos, click here.

Inventures also hosted high-stakes pitch competitions where companies shared cutting-edge solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges – striving for a record $115,000 in funds. A team of judges selected winners.

UCalgary TC Energy Ingenuity Pitch Competition

Sponsored by TC Energy, a $50,000 prize pool was split between:

• Chromasense Technologies (Evolve to Innovate category)
• NeuraSense (Launchpad category)
• Colosseum Marketing (Business playbook category)

5G Discovery Zone Network API Challenge 

Powered by Rogers, a $35,000 prize pool was shared between:

• Ahmad El Bukhari, PhD candidate in Traffic Engineering, University of Calgary
• Henrique Pereira, Cloud Application Security Analyst
• HOVR (Company)

Brain Health Challenge – Live Pitch Competition Presented by the Ontario Brain Institute, Kids Brain Health Network, Alberta Neuroscience, and Alberta Innovates, $20,000 and $10,000 were awarded to the following companies, respectively:

• AiimSense (Most Innovative Solution Award)
• Memory Lane Games (People’s Choice Award)

This year’s event marks Alberta Innovates’ eighth Inventures Conference. To stay in the loop regarding news and upcoming events in the tech and innovation ecosystem, visit albertainnovates.ca/about/news/

About Inventures

Inventures is the annual flagship event of Alberta Innovates, one of Canada’s leading innovation agencies. Inventures is a gateway for entrepreneurs, investors, policy-makers and industry decision-makers from across North America and beyond to showcase bold ideas, cultivate relationships and capitalize on Alberta’s innovation advantage. Learn more at inventurescanada.com.