UCalgary shines at Innovation Week 2025

From leading discussions on emerging technologies to seeing supported startups take the spotlight, the University of Calgary was front and centre as presenting sponsor of Calgary Innovation Week 2025, a citywide celebration of entrepreneurship and innovation held Nov. 3 to 6.

Organized by Platform Calgary, the annual event brings together entrepreneurs, investors, researchers and community leaders to explore the advancements shaping the city’s future.

This year, UCalgary contributed to several panels and discussions throughout the week, including:

• Guy Levesque, executive director of the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking, who spoke on “Future-Proofing Your Startup: How Emerging Tech Will Redefine Growth and Scale for New Founders,” and “Unlocking Innovation: A Joint Vision from Calgary’s Post-Secondary Institutions for the City’s Entrepreneurial Future.”
• Dr. Mohammad Keyhani, PhD, UCalgary lecturer, author and entrepreneur, and Danielle Gifford, MBA ‘20, managing director at PWC and adjunct professor with UCalgary, spoke on "Building an AI-Literate Workforce."
• Sarah McCullough, national hub director of the XPRIZE Canada Hub at UCalgary, hosted a discussion on how big ideas scale with CarbonCure, winner of the NRG COSIA XPRIZE.
• UCalgary experts and partners involved with ElevateIP Alberta spoke at "Defensible by Design: IP Strategy and Investment Readiness for AI Startups."

“The best innovation ecosystems around the world are anchored by strong research-intensive universities,” Levesque said in his opening-day remarks.

“From our amazing researchers, to the Hunter Hub, to UCeed, to Creative Destruction Lab – Rockies to the XPRIZE Canada Hub, they each played a critical role in making UCalgary Canada’s top university startup creator over the past six years.”

A highlight of the event was the Top 10 Startups showcase, recognizing emerging ventures demonstrating creativity, growth potential and global ambition. 

Several of this year’s honourees have strong ties to UCalgary:

Possibility Neurotechnologies (Alex Raczenko Pitch Award recipient)

Founded by Dr. Dion Kelly, MBT'18, PhD’23, and Erica Floreani, BSc (Eng)’17, Possibility Neurotechnologies received support from Innovate Calgary, SPARK Alberta, the Hunter Hub and Creative Destruction Lab – Rockies (CDL-Rockies), where it advanced from early stage research to market-ready development within a growing neurotechnology sector. 

Its flagship product, Think2Switch, is transforming how people with physical disabilities interact with the world through accessible brain-computer interface technology, allowing users to control smart devices and communicate without movement or speech. 

“Our goal is to become the go-to brain-powered choice in the children’s toy and tech market, turning assistive technology into everyday technology that’s accessible to all,” says Kelly. 

“We’re not just trying to build the technology, we’re trying to build a community.” 

Tutred (Community Choice Award recipient)

Co‑founded by CEO and former UCalgary economics student Mo Fellah, Tutred is a platform designed to instantly connect students with the right tutor while minimizing the time spent on administrative teaching tasks. The system leverages AI to automate up to 95 per cent of lesson planning, homework and quiz creation, grading, and student profiling. 

Tutred’s AI “Co‑Tutor” allows tutors to tailor lessons to each student’s needs, making sessions faster, more personalized and highly engaging. By combining instant tutor matching with AI-assisted teaching, Tutred aims to demonstrate how technology can streamline education and enhance learning outcomes. 

VL Energy

Founded by Ling Bai, BSc'11, MEng'18, VL Energy delivers emissions-monitoring software that helps industrial companies meet compliance requirements and progress toward net-zero goals. 

“Regulations are becoming increasingly stringent, forcing large emitters to monitor their output,” says Bai. 

“However, emissions monitoring is not standardized and mostly relies on hardware that is extremely costly and does not support facility optimization.” 

To address these challenges, VL Energy developed the Efficient and Secure – Predictive Emissions Monitoring System (ES-PEMS), a fully digital solution that applies artificial intelligence and machine learning to predict and reduce equipment emissions while transforming raw data into actionable business insights. 

VL Energy has advanced its technology with support from several innovation programs through UCalgary, Bai says, including mentorship on go-to market strategies from the CDL-Rockies Energy stream, which contributed to closing a $1.5-million funding round.

Taste the City

Co-founded by Joanna Pariseau, BA’24, Taste the City is redefining how Canadians experience local food culture through a platform that turns restaurant discovery into a digitally guided adventure. 

Users can select curated “tasting routes” and receive automated text prompts that take them from one restaurant to the next.   

Pariseau first developed the idea for Taste the City while studying urban revitalization as an urban studies major in the Faculty of Arts. 

She built the website and crafted the marketing plan as part of her coursework, then refined the concept with guidance from mentors who helped prepare her for pitch competitions. Learn more about Pariseau’s journey here.

Symbiotic AI

Born out of research at UCalgary’s Data Intelligence for Health Lab, Symbiotic AI transforms cardiovascular-care research into practical tools for clinicians and patients. Co-founded by Dr. Joon Lee, PhD, a professor, and Arjun Puri, senior digital health strategist, both with Cumming School of Medicine, the company develops AI-driven systems that analyze long-term heart-health data to support clinical decision making and improve patient outcomes. 

With support from Innovate Calgary’s Life Sciences Innovation Hub and collaboration across the university’s research and commercialization network, the venture advanced rapidly from a lab concept to a scalable health-tech solution. Learn more about Symbiotic AI’s journey here. 

HazTrack

A CDL-Rockies Energy stream alum, HazTrack develops advanced sensor technology to improve operational efficiency in industrial sectors. 

Its flagship product, HazTracker, provides real-time data on tanks and pumps, helping companies reduce manual monitoring, streamline inventory management and respond quickly to equipment issues.

A growing entrepreneurial hub

Calgary Innovation Week highlights the city’s role as a thriving centre for entrepreneurship and emerging ventures, where talent, ideas and collaboration intersect to drive economic and creative growth. 

“Calgary has earned its place as a global centre of entrepreneurial excellence, and the University of Calgary plays a critical role in this ever-growing momentum,” said Levesque.  

“We have the talent, creativity and resilience to lead the world. If we invest in this generation’s builders, from classrooms to companies, we will not just imagine a better future, but build it.”