New innovation centre launched in downtown Calgary

Calgary Technologies Inc. (CTI) has broken ground on a new Platform Innovation Centre in East Village in the heart of downtown Calgary. In partnership with the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, Calgary Parking Authority and Zinc Ventures, CTI has secured the 5,300 sq ft Hillier Block as its interim downtown facility.  From there, CTI and Platform – dubbed “the innovation centre for everyone” – will move in fall 2020 into one-and-a-half floors of a new, $80-million, five-storey parkade and commercial/recreational space. This new facility is part of the city’s revitalization of East Village. CTI will operate Platform as a collaborative environment with programming for entrepreneurs through to startups and scale-ups, said Dr. (PhD) Terry Rock, CTI’s president and CEO. CTI also will continue to provide services out of the Alastair Ross Technology Centre in University Research Park near the University of Calgary main campus. Platform founder and tech entrepreneur Brad Zumwalt, president of Calgary-based Zinc Ventures, also co-founded Rainforest Alberta, a grassroots movement to improve Alberta’s innovation ecosystem.