Action Plan

Alberta-born Initiatives

This webpage is a celebration of a few of the Alberta-born innovations that have achieved international success.

From simple to complex, from food to aerospace the innovations have usually been created to remedy a problem and have often led to significant social advancements or economic prosperity

Although the development of an idea into a successful global innovation sometimes requires years of effort by innovators located around the world, the innovations featured below all have a connection to Alberta.

Innovator: Dr. Robert Burrell
Company: Nucryst Pharmaceuticals
Relevant Location: Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta
Building Blocks: University of Alberta, National Institute for Nanotechnology
Sector: Nanotechnology, Life Sciences
Significant Date: 1998
Innovator: David Martin, Nancy Knowlton
Company: SMART Technologies
Relevant Location: Calgary, Alberta (company headquarters)
Building Blocks: University of Calgary, iCORE
Sector: ICT
Significant Date: 1987 (company founded)
Innovator: Dr. Ray Muzyka, Dr. Greg Zeschuk
Company: BioWare
Relevant Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Building Blocks: University of Alberta
Sector: ICT
Significant Date: 1995
Innovator: James Gosling
Company: Sun Microsystems
Relevant Location: Calgary, Alberta
Building Blocks: University of Calgary
Sector: ICT
Significant Date: 1990
Innovator: Bern Kotelko
Company: Highmark Renewables
Relevant Location: Vegreville, Alberta
Building Blocks: Alberta Research Council, AVAC
Sector: Life Sciences
Significant Date: 2007
Innovator: Saul Katz
Company: New Era Nutrition
Relevant Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Building Blocks: University of Alberta, Leduc Food Processing Centre
Sector: Life Sciences
Significant Date: 2005
Innovator: Dr. Jacqueline Shan
Company: CVTechnologies
Relevant Location: Edmonton, Alberta (home to University of Alberta)
Building Blocks: University of Alberta, Capital Health, Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, AVAC
Sector: Life Sciences
Significant Date: 1992 (CV Technologies founded)

Current as of: Friday, October 24, 2008
Maintained by: Communications branch, AET