Techstars Edmonton Startup Week 2021
Monday, October 18, 2021
Got ethics? Applied ethics for AI with Ethically Aligned AI
As a technology start-up, you play a key role in designing our digital future.
But what happens when our design choices go sideways? When we thought we were making the world a better place, but we made it worse for some people? How do we make sure that our technologies don’t cause harm and ideally, promote well-being?
Investors, employees, customers, and society at large expect technology that works for everyone. Making good choices from the start is not only easier, but it sets your business up for long term success.
In this workshop, we’ll explore some of the core ethical issues encountered in developing AI/ML enabled systems. We’ll unpack the reasons why building ethics into your technology design choices is a smart business decision and touch on practical steps you can take in your business to apply ethical principles.
Thank you to the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) for sponsoring the AI/ML track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
TikTok was a clock's sound. Unlocking social media for your startup/brand/or passion without followers with Startup Edmonton
The conversations around your brand/product/passion are happening right now, live, around the world. In this session, we’re diving into social media and how you (or your team/brand) can cut through the noise and create real value without a massive following.
📲No prior social media experience is required.
👉We’ll discuss strategies, tactics and tools you can use right now to harness the powerful conversations and insights on social.
💫 If you’re wondering "would anyone want to buy my idea/solution/product…" here’s how to find those conversations.
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
Market Research and Competitive Analysis with the Mawji Centre at NAIT
Register in advance at https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/market-research-and-competitive-analysis-tickets-159034411205
Market Research is the way to gather information about customer needs and market drivers. If you want to gather information from actual customers or potential customers to make a decision, then you need to understand and use market research. Competitive analysis is a subset of market research. When you investigate your competition or potential competition, you use market research techniques and concepts to understand what your competition is doing today and gain insights into their plans for tomorrow.
Garrett Fleck is one of the Mawji Centre’s valued Entrepreneurs-in-Residence. He is the founder of Reputed Digital Marketing Inc. At Reputed, their vision is to help businesses realize the full potential of the internet, to drive a new evolution of development, growth, and productivity.
Thank you to DrugBank for sponsoring the Entrepreneurship track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
✨ FEATURED✨ ML in the Wild with Amii
You’ve seen artificial intelligence and machine learning portrayed in the movies, TV shows, and books for generations but what is machine learning really? What can machine learning do, what can it not do, what happens when it fails, and what is it being used for right here in Edmonton? Join experts from one of Canada's AI centres of excellence to learn what machine learning looks like in the wild!
Thank you to the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) for sponsoring the AI/ML track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Why Inclusion Matters and How You Can be an Active Participant in Change - a practical guide to owning your own equity, diversity, and inclusion journey in a time of heightened social consciousness with Erin Davis Co.
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) have become part of our mainstream dialogue, whether you are hearing the topic come up at the boardroom table, or over coffee with a fellow entrepreneur -- we’ve moved into a time when understanding how you can help build a more inclusive world matters.
Erin can help you on your journey to understand why EDI matters in your business, how you can be an active participant in forming more inclusive solutions and showcase why inclusive workplaces matter.
Lessons Learned as First-Time Founders with FLIK
Michelle & Ravina, Co-Founders of FLIK, sit down to reminisce over their journey together as co-founders and first-time founders. We'll talk about all the lessons we've learned in building this community of 10,000+ women from 70+ countries worldwide, the ups and downs, and how we got through it all together.
Thank you to DrugBank for sponsoring the Entrepreneurship track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
✨ FEATURED✨ AI Meetup with Amii
Learn about the latest tools and techniques in machine learning, and explore topics that researchers and industry professionals are thinking about or working on. Each meetup features two presenters; at the end of each presentation, participants will have the opportunity to participate in a Q&A session.
Thank you to the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) for sponsoring the AI/ML track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
Thursday, October 21, 2021
An Equitable Economic Recovery - A Small Business Perspective with MacEwan University
Register in advance at https://enlightenedeconomy.net/register
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an immense and disproportionate impact on historically underrepresented groups like communities of colour, women and people with disabilities. It has also amplified the systemic challenges these communities face, such as racism, poverty and gender inequality.
In this session, a panel of entrepreneurs and business advocates will share the impact the pandemic has had on their community as well as their perspective on what an inclusive economic recovery looks like. Their stories will shed light on how we can each respond as an ally to the businesses, organizations and people around us.
Thank you to DrugBank for sponsoring the Entrepreneurship track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
Fireside Chats: Startup F**k-ups and How to Avoid Them with Goodlawyer
It's Small Business Week throughout Canada, and we can't think of a better way of celebrating than getting cozy with Brett & Josh as they share some fun anecdotes about their times as lawyers and entrepreneurs.
Join the conversation as they share the startup lessons we've learned along the way that can help you prevent legal decisions from coming back to haunt you.
Thank you to DrugBank for sponsoring the Entrepreneurship track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
Launch Party 12 🚀🚀🚀 Sponsored by Parlee McLaws
Join us online for the twelfth annual edition of Launch Party! 🚀🚀🚀
Launch Party is Startup Week’s flagship event that celebrates and showcases the hottest startups in town on Thursday, October 21, 2021.
Launch Party showcases our city's brightest entrepreneurs, their tech-enabled products and celebrates everything that our startup community has to offer. Since 2010, more than 100 technology, Edmonton-based, companies have launched products at the event, including rapidly growing teams like Jobber, Drivewyze, Vertical City, Medo.ai, and Showbie.
Thank You To Our Selection Committee 👏
- NATHAN IP – STARTUP EDMONTON
- ALLIE KNULL – RESUMEFREE
- TIM KWOK – PANACHE VENTURES
If Remo is full at any point in the night, you can head to our Youtube broadcast of the formal program. Once the program is done, try again to get into Remo (through the "Join Stream" button at the top of this event) as we expect there will be additional room following the event.
Launch Party 12 is made possible thanks to the generous support of Parlee McLaws.
Friday, October 22, 2021
Social Impact powered by AI/ML with the Edmonton Police Foundation
There’s over $7.5B spent on community / social programs in Edmonton alone and the outcomes aren’t quite what we would have expected for that level of investment. In addition, there’s a great opportunity to lead on social justice and create a model that’s replicable globally.
We believe that we can leverage entrepreneurship, technology, data, AI/ML, mentorship, funding, domain partners to finally help devise and deploy workable solutions that can not only deliver better outcomes but more importantly, make a real difference in the lives of our citizens and help our entrepreneurs scale the solutions globally. Technology can help deliver better outcomes!
This is our chance to do Good, Deliver Better Outcomes and Create Scalable Companies and for Alberta to lead the world in Community Safety and Wellness Solutions.
Thank you to the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) for sponsoring the AI/ML track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
Parade, Meet Rain: A Fun Chat With Lawyers About Everything That Can Go Wrong with Reynolds Mirth Richards & Farmer LLP
Yes, lawyers can be killjoys. But when consulted early, your lawyer can help you overcome obstacles. Or better yet, avoid the obstacles altogether. This session will introduce early to middle-stage startups to some important issues they should be thinking about, and why they should be thinking about them, including:
- Choosing to incorporate … or not
- Naming your organization (and understanding the difference between a corporate name, a tradename, and a trade-mark)
- Properly structuring relationships between founders (and what happens when things go sideways)
- Equity arrangements
- Non-disclosure agreements
- Intellectual property
- Service agreements
- Employment/contractor contracts
While these may not be the flashiest topics, they are essential to ensuring your business avoids pitfalls down the road. Thinking about and understanding these issues now can save you many headaches later.
Thank you to DrugBank for sponsoring the Entrepreneurship track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
How to start a VC fund/Angel Network to invest in startups with StartupFuel Inc.
Attendees who are aspiring VC fund managers will learn how to set up a fund/network to invest in startups. Startup founders will learn what investors look for when making early stage investments.
✨ FEATURED✨ AI Seminar with Amii & UAlberta
The AI Seminar is a weekly meeting at the University of Alberta where researchers interested in artificial intelligence (AI) can share their research. Presenters include both local speakers from the University of Alberta and visitors from other institutions. Topics can be related in any way to artificial intelligence, from foundational theoretical work to innovative applications of AI techniques to new fields and problems.
Thank you to the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) for sponsoring the AI/ML track as part of Edmonton Startup Week.
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