Research & Thought Leadership

Alberta Innovates look for gaps and opportunities for Alberta. We design strategies and programs to fulfil our corporate goals and meet provincial innovation priorities. 

We also generate new knowledge. Browse through white papers written by scientists and other experts at our organization, and studies we have commissioned.  

This white paper by Alberta Innovates focuses on technology innovation required for broad, commercial-scale deployment of Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) in Alberta.

This white paper sets out the Alberta Innovates vision for the oil sands in a net-zero economy. It outlines our strategy to divert a greater portion of bitumen production away from fuel production  to manufacture high-value products and materials. 

This report explores how programs targeting leaders of small– and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operate, and the ways these programs positively influence the behaviour of these leaders. 

This report presents a meta-analysis of business accelerators and draws out relevant insights to inform the Alberta entrepreneurial ecosystem. A summary of key insights is presented in the document. 

This report examines recent trends related to incubators and accelerators that are relevant for the Alberta entrepreneurial ecosystem. The report does not assess the performance of current or previous incubators and accelerators in Alberta. Instead, it focuses on defining, describing, and critically assessing these two modes of enterprise support for further consideration and discussion.

This report synthesizes network effects on entrepreneurial ecosystems, and on economic and societal impacts. It examines how different network analysis techniques are used to assess and measure networks and discusses network effects associated with high performance and impact. Key findings and actionable insights are presented. 

This report presents the findings from the Regional Innovation Network of Southern Alberta using a retrospective realist impact case study approach. It was conducted to deepen our understanding of network effects and RINSA’s contribution to economic and societal impact in the local region. This report is one of several studies being conducted to collectively learn more about the effect of networks on research and innovation ecosystems and provide actionable insights for moving forward.

The Find Your Future project report focuses on entrepreneurial ecosystem navigation or “wayfinding” for entrepreneurs, to find the “right services at the right time” to scale and grow their businesses. The report explores how wayfinding currently works and identifies solutions to enhance the experience for entrepreneurs. This is the first report in a three-part series. Phase 2 will engage the community to co-develop processes and tools to enhance the connections between entrepreneurs and ecosystem resources in an entrepreneur-centric way, to promote collaboration on solving scaleup and growth challenges and creating future Alberta ecosystem opportunities. 

The Phase 2 Report focuses on wayfinding supports required for technology-based startups and scaleup and the prioritization of the actionable insights that emerged from the Nascence – Find Your Future Phase 1 exploratory stakeholder analysis report. The prioritization process was supported by the Alberta Innovation Network (AIN), with a set of consultative focus groups being held with RINs and their member organizations.