Patrons
Patrons are the backbone of the ASTech Foundation.
These organizations are seen as leaders in industry, education and government for their commitment to the advancement of science and technology in Alberta.
Through the generous contributions of these Patron organizations, the Foundation is able to carry out its mission of celebrating the accomplishments of the Alberta science and technology community. Each organization provides an annual financial contribution that helps sustain ASTech initiatives and fund supports the financial component of the ASTech Awards. In addition, each organization designates a senior representative to act on the ASTech Board of Directors.
ASTech Patrons:
- Agrium
- Alberta Innovates
- Alberta Advanced Education and Technology/Alberta Science and Research Authority
- Bennett Jones LLP
- BioAlberta
- Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation
- Conroy Ross Partners
- Dow AgroSciences Canada Inc.
- Foundation CMG
- KPMG
- Lloyd Sadd Insurance Brokers Ltd.
- NAIT
- SAIT Polytechnic
- Syncrude Canada Ltd.
- TELUS
- TRLabs
- University of Alberta
- University of Calgary
- University of Lethbridge
- Western Economic Diversification Canada
- Hitachi Data Systems
Research and Innovation
IT HAPPENS HERE
Are you looking for that place in the world where energetic and visionary people believe in new frontiers, where a science and research culture is thriving and celebrated, where entrepreneurialism is a natural and nurtured part of a diverse economy and society? A place where you can grow, achieve your goals and benefit from a supportive community of experts? Where you can work among the best and the brightest? Where you have the freedom to create?
Alberta Advanced Education and Technology/Alberta Science and Research Authority
Alberta Advanced Education and Technology is responsible for enhancing value added activity, increasing innovation and building a skilled workforce to improve the long-run sustainability of Alberta’s economy. The ministry ensures the province’s high quality learning environment, including an effective apprenticeship and industry training system, is affordable and accessible, and the source of a highly skilled workforce.
Through leadership and strategic investments, the ministry also nurtures an innovation system consisting of world-class research capacity and technology commercialization support designed to accelerate growth and productivity in value added sectors within four priority areas: energy, information and communications technology, life sciences and nanotechnology.
Bennett Jones LLP
Bennett Jones is recognized by the LEXPERT®/American Lawyer's Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada as the leading law firm in Alberta in the field of intellectual property law and has the leading lawyers in Alberta in the fields of intellectual property law, biotechnology law, IT law and technology transactions. Our lawyers continue to be recognized as market leaders by distinguished international legal directories, such as LEXPERT®/American Lawyer's Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, Chambers and Partners and the LEXPERT-Thomson US Guide to Canada’s 100 Most Creative Lawyers and Woodward White’s The Best Lawyers in Canada.
BioAlberta
BioAlberta is the central voice and the organizing hub for life sciences in Alberta. We are a private, not-for-profit industry association with activities focused in the following areas:
• Government advocacy
• Industry promotion
• Increasing industry access to financing
• Facilitating access to human resources
• Business development and networking opportunities
Alberta's life science industry is a broad field of endeavour encompassing biotechnology, environmental science, medical technology, industrial bioproducts, agriculture biotechnology, bio-informatics and natural health products.
BioAlberta is a member of the Biotech Accord, which includes other bioindustry development organizations, as well as the national bioindustry organization, BIOTECanada.
The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation is the leading national volunteer-based organization in Canada dedicated toCREATING A FUTURE WITHOUT
BREAST CANCER.
Dow AgroSciences Canada Inc.
Dow AgroSciences Canada Inc. is a research-based, agricultural sciences company with a diverse product portfolio including weed, insect and disease management for agricultural/horticultural crops and products for forestry and industrial vegetation management. The company has significant investments in plant genetics and biotechnology platforms in canola and corn which focus on a range of input production traits and value-added quality traits. Established field research capabilities are across western and eastern Canada including a plant breeding and cell biology group based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Significant research and commercial development alliances in Canada including SemBioSys Genetics Inc. of Calgary, the National Research Council's Plant Biotechnology Institute in Saskatoon Saskatchewan and with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada across Canada.
Dow AgroSciences Canada Inc. is an affiliate of Dow AgroSciences LLC, a $3.4-billion global company based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Dow AgroSciences LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company. For more information visit www.dowagro.ca.
Foundation CMG
CMG Reservoir Simulation Foundation (Foundation CMG) supports professors’ and students’ leading edge research in computer simulation and modelling flow of liquids and gases and bio-chemical reactions in the earth. Improving technology and reducing negative impacts: CO2 sequestration, oil and gas production, in-situ recovery and other processes with advanced 4D dynamic visualization. Exciting opportunities for engineers and scientists exploring CO2, oil and gas recovery, coalbed methane, in-situ oilsands, environment remediation and other technologies. Foundation CMG is an industry endowed not-for-profit organization and sponsors researchers and students in universities in Alberta and around the world.
KPMG
KPMG is well qualified to serve the needs of technology companies. We have the necessary resources and in-depth experience to help producers of tec
hnology products and services succeed in today’s dynamic business environment. As an industry thought leader, we provide long-range vision, astute insights, and innovative professional service strategies to help leading companies stay at the top of their markets. Our role is to help businesses sustain their success by minimizing risk and transforming opportunities into clear and powerful results.
KPMG LLP is the Canadian member firm of KPMG International, the coordinating entity for a global network of professional services firms, providing audit, tax, and advisory services, with an industry focus. The aim of KPMG International member firms is to turn knowledge into value for the benefit of their clients, people, and the capital markets. With nearly 94,000 people worldwide, member firms provide audit, tax, and advisory services from 717 cities in 148 countries.
Lloyd Sadd Insurance Brokers Ltd.
In today’s high-tech world, products and services change as rapidly as technology evolves. Keeping up with these changes can be overwhelming and time-consuming.
As your insurance advisor, we ensure our market information is current and remains on top of technological trends which affect our clients’ business. Whether you are an emerging company or a multinational firm with revenue in the billions, Lloyd Sadd Insurance makes it a priority to understand your business and the way it operates in context with technology. Lloyd Sadd Insurance’s Technology Industry Practice is a group of insurance professionals working exclusively with technology clients to think up unique and dynamic solutions for their insurance needs so clients can stay focused on running their business.
NAIT
NAIT is one of the preeminent institutes of technology in Canada, known for student success, with 134,000 alumni worldwide. With more accredited programs than any other similar institute in Canada, it provides real-world education in business, advanced technologies and skilled trades to more than 86,500 customers annually at 15 locations in Alberta and in 23 countries around the world.
NAIT also engages with business and industry in applied research and innovation and provides corporate training. The institution offers 1,650 programs and courses, with 6,000 graduates receiving degrees, applied degrees, diplomas, certificates or journeyman certification every year. A Top 35 employer in Alberta, the institute also has the largest diploma-granting business school in western Canada and offers a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration as well as Alberta's only Technology Management degree. It trains more apprentices than anyone in Canada, including 50 per cent of trades people in Alberta and 17 per cent nationally. NAIT is home to Canada's first commercial fuel cell, has a business incubator for inventors and entrepreneurs and accesses research grants through NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada). In addition, six new world-class centres for various technologies have been opened in the past five years and two more are in the works.
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SAIT’s record-setting graduate employment rate of 97 per cent this year is a result of the polytechnic’s relationships with employers.
Faculty work with more than 150 external organizations and benefit from the guidance of 1,000 industry professionals on advisory committees.
The polytechnic’s seven Centres of Technology, many unique in Canada, were designed and built in association with employers.
SAIT’s Applied Research and Innovation Services is industry's point of contact for institutional expertise and resources for innovative projects—projects that enable the advancement and adoption of technology in industry.
SAIT Polytechnic excels in delivering relevant, skill-oriented education to more than 76,000 registrants annually. SAIT offers four applied degrees, 62 diploma and certificate programs, 33 apprenticeship trades and 2,000 continuing education and customized business and industry courses.
Syncrude Canada Ltd.
Syncrude is the world’s largest producer of light, sweet crude oil from oil sand. In 2007, the company will produce about 110 million barrels of Syncrude Sweet Blend from the Athabasca oil sands deposit. Syncrude’s operation north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, includes oil sand mines, utilities plants and extraction and upgrading facilities. The company’s rise to prominence in Canada’s energy industry is due largely to its long-term commitment to research and development. Its investments in this area have allowed Syncrude to increase production, trim costs, improve environmental performance and product quality, and increase global competitiveness. With the recent completion of its Stage 3 expansion project, Syncrude now meets 15 percent of Canada’s crude oil requirements.
TELUS
TELUS Corporation is the largest telecommunications company in Western Canada and the second largest in the country. We provide a wide range of wireline and wireless telecommunications products and services including data, Internet Protocol (IP), voice, video and entertainment services.
Our strategy is to unleash the power of the Internet to deliver the best solutions to Canadians at home, in the workplace and on the move.
We’ve recently undergone a remarkable transformation. In just seven short years, we’ve nearly tripled our enterprise value to $27 billion (Cdn) making TELUS one of the world’s best performing telecoms.
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is the largest research institution in the province serving nearly 37,000 students in more than 200 undergraduate programs and 170 graduate programs. As one of Canada’s top universities for external funding, it received approximately $490 million in sponsored research in 2007-08. The University’s international reputation continues to grow with its leading-edge achievements such as “Edmonton Protocol” treatment for Type 1 diabetes; the pioneering work of the National Institute for Nanotechnology; and the world’s first antiviral treatment for hepatitis B. Since 1994, University researchers have reported more than 1,260 inventions, received 393 patents, generated more than $33 million in licensing and royalties revenue. The University (through TEC Edmonton) currently has 71 active spin-off companies. Our students learn from some of the brightest scholars in the country and the best teachers; the University of Alberta leads the country in the number of 3M Teaching Fellowships – Canada’s top award for undergraduate university teaching excellence. In 2007, twelve University of Alberta professors were named as Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada, which is the highest national academic honour for scholars, artists and scientists.
University of Calgary
The University of Calgary reflects the community that created and supports it—dynamic, innovative and energetic. As one of Canada’s leading research universities, these qualities are at the heart of all we do. The U of C has significantly increased its research funding to $252.5 million, which ranks seventh in Canada, and is continuing to move ahead.
University of Lethbridge
A leader in research, the University of Lethbridge is a place where world-renowned researchers collaborate amongst the disciplines to address issues of global concern and to provide applicable solutions. For example, in 2005, the United Nations (UN) named the University of Lethbridge the Canadian centre for its Water for Life decade (2005 to 2015) in recognition of the leadership role the institution has taken in water research. The University is also home to the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience – a world-class facility where Canada’s leading behavioural neuroscience group sheds new light on the brain and behaviour.
Western Economic Diversification Canada
Canada’s New Government is building a more productive, prosperous and globally competitive economy. For the West, this means building on economic strengths and creating a knowledge-based economy.
Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) works in partnership with the provinces, industry, educational institutions and communities to stimulate and diversify western Canada’s economy, as well as to represent the interests of the West in national economic policy. Our investments enable companies to convert bright ideas into marketable products, which in turn, generate new sources of economic activity, increased productivity and well-paying jobs.
A stronger West. A stronger Canada.
Hitachi Data Systems
A global manufacturer of storage infrastructure solutions, storage management software and storage consulting.