MANNING AWARDS PROVE ALBERTA BREEDS INNOVATION
Three of four winners this year come from province, and none are in energy sector
If anyone needs proof that innovation and entrepreneurship are thriving in Alberta, they should look no further than the Manning Innovation Awards.
The brainchild of former Alberta Energy Company chief executive David Mitchell, the awards were presented for a 36th year Wednesday night in Toronto. Three of the four laureates call Alberta home: two from Calgary and one from Edmonton. None are in the energy space. They instead inhabit the environmental, agricultural and tech spheres. The fourth laureate, receiving the Principal Award, was two individuals — doctors Gary Kobinger and Xiangguo Qiu, who developed the ZM App antivirus for treatment of Ebola.
The David E. Mitchell Award of Distinction was presented to Kevin Davies, the founder of Hop Compost, which acquired the equipment and machinery of a clean-tech compost company in New Zealand and brought it to Calgary.
Its compost, which contains seven times more nutrients than conventionally produced varieties, is derived from food waste gathered from restaurants and grocery outlets in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. One of its first clients was Fiasco Gelato, founded by another Calgarian, James Boettcher.
Davies, a 2014 Haskayne business school grad, said his exposure to recycling started after high school, in 2009, the same year his sister and brother-in-law moved into an inner-city condominium and the City of Calgary launched its blue cart recycling program.
“But they left out service for condos and apartments. It was their lack of recycling options that led me to start Greenstart, which still services about 1,000 condos and apartments in Calgary,” Davies said Wednesday from Toronto.
“But we really found that the larger opportunity was in commercial recycling and in doing that commercial recycling we discovered food waste was the least addressed of any conventional waste stream.”
The tipping point for Hop was when the family dog, Willy, was poisoned by fertilizer in the garden. The dog survived, but it was an eye-opener for Davies, who kicked off a research-driven quest to produce a high-quality compost substitute for fertilizer.
Agriculture in Alberta is ripe for disruption through the application of technology and innovation. Hop is vertically integrated, from its ownership of the technology and intellectual property to the collection of the waste, production of the compost and its application in farmers’ fields.
“I think technology in particular can really enable a new wave of efficiency in re-imagining the food system for better accessibility and economics as well as better sustainability. I do think there is a lot of opportunities not just in what we are doing but throughout the agriculture sector,” said Davies, who wants to expand the company to 26 cities in Canada and the U.S. by the end of 2022.
A Calgary-based company that developed the first life-size cow and calf to help teach veterinary students also received a Manning award.
While the name is cumbersome — Bovine Dystocia Simulator — its development is a classic illustration of what’s possible when individuals apply skills outside their chosen fields.
Neither of the company’s founders, Russell Gray or Bryan Pfahl, have veterinary backgrounds. They were involved in the film, television and display industries before embarking on this veterinary education track. And with 130 institutions in at least 35 countries now using the simulators, it’s clear they have found — and filled — a niche.
The third Alberta-based winner, Go Conex, is on the path to disrupting lighting installation and use in the residential and commercial sectors.
Founded by an admitted serial entrepreneur, James Keirstead, Go Conex is the world’s first wirefree adaptable light switch.
“We are the first guys to remove the wire between the light and the switch. That’s where our innovation has taken a turn,” Keirstead said. “We have figured out how to eliminate the problems with wiring walls. Even though our product costs more money, it eliminates the costs associated with the wiring — labour, wire, and steel boxes.”
Not having to wire the walls means electrical contractors are 30 per cent faster on residential jobs and 70 per cent more efficient on commercial installations.
The next challenge is to get changes made to electrical codes across the country — which were written for wired devices and never contemplated a wireless product — so the product can be installed. Wireless switching was approved in Alberta just last week and Keirstead hopes similar approvals will soon occur in other provinces.
And, like the other laureates, Keirstead is looking beyond Canada. The company is working with home builders in Arizona and California.
These are great Alberta stories that show the rest of the country — and those who live here — that there’s more to this province than the energy sector.
“These awards are important because they sing to the whole country that innovation can be done here; that we can compete globally,” Keirstead said. “Our ideas can change things. It doesn’t have to be Silicon Valley.”
Scotiabank’s partnership with the Manning Foundation brings more focus to its mandate of supporting Canadian innovation. Manning board member Kathy Sendall said the awards might one day become the innovation equivalent of the Giller Prize for Canadian literature.
Many remain dubious that Alberta can diversify its economic base away from the energy sector.
The undertakings of Alberta Innovates, TEC Edmonton, Innovate Calgary, Calgary Economic Development, the Creative Destruction Labs, Zone Startups Calgary and the Rainforest initiatives, among others, suggest that shift is well underway.
It might not be happening as quickly as some would like, but it is gaining momentum. This year’s Manning awards recipients are an important signpost on the very important — and exciting — journey.
These awards are important because they sing to the whole country that innovation can be done here; that we can compete globally