About the Calgary Innovation Coalition
What is the CIC?
Since it’s inception, the Calgary Innovation Coalition (CIC) has grown to represent over one hundred member organizations working directly or indirectly with innovation-based entrepreneurs in the region.
Founded in 2016, and funded in partnership with Alberta Innovates, the Calgary Innovation Coalition works in coordination with seven other Regional Innovation Networks across the province. Regional Innovation Networks are entrepreneur-centric, community-based networks with the goal of providing programs, entrepreneurial support and development, and services to accelerate the growth of technology and knowledge-based businesses.
Each Regional Innovation Network is made up of like-minded public organizations. They’re passionate about helping small technology and knowledge-based businesses innovate and grow, diversifying the economy and helping build a strong entrepreneurial culture in Alberta.
Our North Star
The CIC is a network of agencies in the Calgary region that support innovation driven ventures.
Our Purpose is to accelerate a venture’s journey, providing a path to success. We do this by leveraging the connectivity, experience, and knowledge of our network of members to identify and address ecosystem needs, enhance connections, and enable ventures triaging.
CIC is guided by our north star goal:
The support the creation and acceleration of 1,027 technology based startups in Calgary by 2031.
Members refer to this as the 10X challenge. The CIC is proud to support the work of TECH IN CALGARY, a grassroots organization that tracks the growth and distribution of local tech companies by number of employees. Why? To have an overview of the community and to help set goals for Calgary to compete globally in the tech sector.
The presence of this many active startups in our ecosystem would mean the creation of 50,000 jobs and $50B in direct GDP contribution to the Canadian economy.