Calgary Innovation Spaces

Lynn’s list of active Co-Work/Accelerators/Incubators/Mentors in Calgary.

AcceleratorMapFeb2022

Co-work = shared space
Incubator = closed offices
Accelerator = programming, usually cohort-based
Mentoring = experienced entrepreneurs custom mentoring and support

The Spaces (in alphabetical order):

The51

https://the51.com/

  • Mentoring
  • Women-led businesses
  • Beltline

The Accelerator

http://www.theaccelerator.tech/

  • Accelerator
  • Software, hardware
  • Inglewood
  • 2 cohorts per year

NEW Alberta Innovates Accelerators

Announced Fall 2021. Most programs start January 2022. I’ll update when I get more information:

Alberta Catalyzer – pre-seed  cohorts – Sector Agnostic – delivered by Platform Calgary and Innovate Edmonton
500 Global – early stage cohorts – Sector Agnostic
CSW Powered by Alchemist – early stage cohorts – Social Impact, Safety, Wellness, Artificial Intelligence
Plug and Play – partner with Enterprises – Digital Health, Sustainability, Agnostic
SVG Thrive Canada – partner with Enterprises – AgTech, FoodTech

General announcement:
https://albertainnovates.ca/programs/alberta-scaleup-and-growth-accelerators-program/

Alberta IoT

https://albertaiot.com/home/fastrack

  • Accelerator
  • Internet of Things
  • Online for now
  • 3 cohorts per year

ATB X Accelerator

https://www.atb.com/business/accounts-and-services/entrepreneur-services/atb-x-accelerator/

  • Accelerator
  • Software, social
  • Beltline
  • 3 cohorts per year

Assembly

http://www.assemblycs.com

  • Co-work, Incubator
  • Software, communications
  • Kensington

CETAC West

https://cetacwest.com/

  • Accelerator
  • Environment, green energy tech
  • University area
  • Not cohort-based, continuous intake

The Collective 1212

http://www.thecollective1212.space

  • Co-work
  • Software, hardware
  • Inglewood

The Commons

http://www.thecommonscalgary.com

  • Co-work, Incubator
  • Software, communications
  • Inglewood

Commun-o

http://commun-o.com/

  • Co-work, Partnerships, Collaborations
  • Freelance ICT workers, teams, companies
  • Inglewood

cSPACE

http://cspacekingedward.com/

  • Co-work
  • Creative technologies
  • Marda Loop/South Calgary

Creative Destruction Lab – Rockies & National

https://www.creativedestructionlab.com/

  • Accelerator
  • Various advanced technologies, various locations across Canada, including Calgary
  • University and Downtown
  • Apply for 2022 streams now

VenturePark Labs (was District Ventures until Summer 2021) 

https://www.ventureparklabs.ca/

  • Accelerator
  • Consumer products, commercial/scale-up kitchen
  • Kensington
  • 2 cohorts per year

The Edison

http://edisoncalgary.com/

  • Incubator, Co-work
  • All technology
  • Downtown

EdWorks

https://edworks.co/

  • Co-work & Mentoring
  • Education Technology/ELearning
  • North West Calgary, also in Edmonton

EFFECTIVE

http://effectiv.ca/

  • Co-work, Mentoring
  • Software
  • Beltline

Emerge

http://www.emergehub.ca/

  • Co-work
  • General, Administration
  • South-East Calgary – 17th/International Avenue

Entrepreneurs’ Organization

https://www.eonetwork.org/calgary

https://www.eonetwork.org/eo-accelerator/

  • Peer-to-peer international Mentoring & networking for business growth
  • All industries
  • Virtual, meets monthly

Foresight Canada Accelerator

https://foresightcac.com/

  • Accelerator
  • Cleantech
  • Western Canada

Founder Institute

https://fi.co/program

  • Accelerator
  • Pre-seed Startups
  • Virtual

Harvest Venture Builder

https://harvest.builders/

  • Mentoring
  • FinTech
  • East Village

InterGen

https://intergenconnect.com/

  • Mentoring
  • Scale-Up
  • Downtown

Life Science Innovation Hub

https://research.ucalgary.ca/innovation/life-sciences-innovation-hub

  • Wet and dry lab spaces.
  • Life Sciences
  • University Research Park

M-Tech Innovations

https://mt-i.ca/

  • Incubator, Mentoring
  • Technology Companies
  • Beltline

Platform (was Calgary Technologies Inc.)

https://platformcalgary.com/

  • The original Incubator, owned by University of Calgary and City of Calgary, also have Co-work space, also has Accelerator programs
  • Large variety of tech companies and service providers
  • University and East Village areas

Regus

https://www.regus.com/en-us/canada/calgary

  • Co-work, Incubator
  • Anything
  • Calgary and 3000 locations worldwide

ResourceYYC

https://www.resourceyyc.org/

  • Co-work
  • Energy tech
  • Beltline area

Tecterra

http://www.tecterra.com/

  • Mentoring
  • Geospatial
  • South-East, near Calgary Farmers’ Market

Thin Air Labs

https://www.thinairlabs.ca/

  • Mentoring
  • Health, Education, Gaming, Cities, and Planet
  • Beltline

TradeSpace

http://gotradespace.com/

  • Co-work & Incubator space.
  • First one in Canada for Trades and Small Contractors
  • Highfield Area (Blackfoot & 42nd SE)

Tundra ACE

https://www.tundrasolutions.ca/tundra-ace-program/

  • Accelerator
  • Energy
  • South-East
  • Not cohort-based, continuous intake

Valhalla Angels

https://vahallaangels.com

  • Mentoring
  • General
  • Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna, Vancouver, Regina, Saskatoon

WaterNext

https://waternext.ca/

  • Mentoring
  • Water
  • University Area

WorkHaus

https://workhaus.ca/core/

  • Co-work
  • General Tech
  • Downtown

Work Nicer

http://worknicer.ca/

  • Co-work
  • Software, creative
  • Beltline, Downtown, Red Mile

Links to The World-wide Spaces

Global CoWorking http://coworkingmap.org/ lists 2000 co-work spaces in the world but misses many (e.g. only lists 1 in Calgary)

CoPass http://copass.org is an international co-work space membership pass for digital nomadic workers.

WeWork 800 locations in 160 cities worldwide https://www.wework.com/locations

My Favorite Space

http://kohub.org/ – Ko Lanta, Thailand

Update Notes, March 2022:

Added Alberta IoT accelerator program. Added Valhalla Angels under Mentors. Updated new Alberta Accelerator information a bit.

Update Notes, February 2022:

Completely redid the map of Sector vs Maturity. There are 5 new Alberta-supported accelerators announced in Fall 2021.

Update Notes, Summer 2021:

Everyone is currently Working From Home or Physical Distancing.

One of the benefits to WFH is that  people are learning about the effectiveness of remote work and distributed teams, the need to have company culture and tools that support this, and the importance of communications and trust.

The biggest impact to the international innovation accelerator ecosystem is that it is now a blend of on-premise and on-line and it is in some cases open to participants regardless of geographic location.  If you are an accelerator, you need to figure out how you will operate in the current conditions and going forward. If you are a company, you can consider accelerators anywhere in the world that fit your needs if they have a distance program that you can access remotely.

Nothing completely replaces face-to-face purposeful and serendipitous communications. Programs should look to ways to combine the best of on-premise and on-line.

If you have any others you think should be on the list, send me an email to: lynn.sutherland@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca

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