INCUBATOR MATCHES ENTREPRENEURS WITH BIG ENTERPRISE

“Entrepreneurialism isn’t reserved for startups. It should be embraced by companies large and small, by innovators in the smallest of garages to the most sophisticated of laboratories and boardrooms.” So says ex-Dragon Arlene Dickinson, in announcing that her firm, District Ventures, has joined with IBM Canada to launch an innovation accelerator in Calgary. It is designed to bring entrepreneurs at any stage together with larger firms, to move their product or service to commercialization. The District Ventures and IBM Innovation Space Calgary will support about 20 collaborations a year, assisting with mentorship, networking and tech help through the IBM Bluemix hybrid cloud development platform and IBM Watson services. Growth-stage companies will meet with senior executives, investors, mentors and each other to incubate ideas and collaborate. “This is demand-based innovation at its strongest, leveraging the success of Canadian business and some of the most powerful technologies in the world,” said IBM Canada president Dino Trevisani.