What another fantastic year for tech in Edmonton! I think 2009 had an excellent mix of events, product launches, company successes, and much more. Below I have tried to recap as much of it as possible. I did my first recap post like this last year – you can read it here.
Events
Again we had a great year for DemoCamp, with five events (five, six, seven, eight, nine). The year started off with STIRR, a networking event for tech founders, funders, and others. In early March, the Alberta Entrepreneurs Bootcamp took place at the University of Alberta. Our second BarCamp event was held in June. In July, Edmonton’s first UXCamp took place. The annual Edmonton Code Camp took place in September. Though it wasn’t exactly a tech event, open data played a large role at ChangeCamp which took place in October. That same weekend, Flash in the Can (FITC) brought Flash developers together. November started with the annual ICE Conference, featuring a new startup focused event called Start Me Up. A couple of weeks later, the Leveraging Technical Expertise Locally open house took place – the pilot will get underway in Q1 2010. Also in November the City hosted an Open Data Workshop, another big step on the path toward open data in Edmonton. The month finished off with the iPhone Dev Camp. The year finished off with the first Startup Drinks, put on by Digital Alberta and Startup Edmonton. Watch for much more from them in 2010.
There were many active tech groups in Edmonton this year. The Social Web Meetup continued going strong. The Edmonton Flash User Group held a number of monthly events, in addition to FITC. Agile Edmonton had a great second year, with regularly monthly events. Other active groups included the Edmonton .NET User Group, the Edmonton Microsoft User Group, the Edmonton Web Design Meetup, and TechWing Wednesday.
With 2009 being the breakout year for Twitter, it’s no surprise that the service featured prominently in Edmonton’s tech scene this year. The first Photography Tweetup took place in April, and the group met a few more times later in the year. Also in April was EdmontonTweetup4, and in June we held EdmontonTweetup5. We held two Twestival events this year, in February and September. In November, the community once again got together to wrap gifts for Santas Anonymous. The last major tweetup of the year, the Holiday Tweetup, took place in December. There were many other smaller tweetups throughout the year. I’ll have more on Twitter in Edmonton in 2009 next week.
News
It’s hard to keep track of all of the news that happens in a year, but here are some of 2009’s most interesting Edmonton tech stories:
- 12/08: Chris Lumb named TEC Edmonton’s new CEO
- 12/05: Google Maps Street View comes to Edmonton
- 12/02: Edmonton’s improved online City Council meeting agendas & minutes
- 12/01: The Story Behind the Transforming Edmonton Blog (the City’s first blog)
- 11/25: Exciton Technologies named Best Pre-Revenue Company in Investor Choice Awards
- 11/21: Foursquare launches in Edmonton
- 11/09: The City of Edmonton’s Social Media Advisory Committee
- 10/30: Serenic ranks 29th in Canadian Technology Fast 50
- 10/26: MyStops launches in 20 cities across North America
- 10/20: Introducing ShareEdmonton
- 10/19: Nexopia.com appoints former MySpace Canada GM to Board
- 10/15: Spin Technologies launches iPhone App for Runners
- 10/10: Google Maps Traffic Layer comes to Edmonton
- 09/30: MyStops Launches in the Apple App Store
- 09/17: ENTS Grand Opening
- 09/10: The Alberta Innovation Voucher program – Pass or Fail
- 09/08: Yardstick Software Ranks 30th in PROFIT HOT 50
- 08/28: Developing a Tech Community: The Debate in Edmonton Continues
- 08/27: Taking Edmonton’s Technology Community to the Next Level
- 08/18: Introducting Doug van Spronsen – Techvibes Edmonton Community Manager
- 08/10: Golf Course Tee Times Now Online
- 08/04: iPhone Developers in Alberta
- 07/16: Edmonton Police Service (EPS) Crime Mapping tool now online
- 07/10: Collaboration & Community: Edmonton New Technology Society (ENTS)
- 07/07: Smibs releases web-based sales tool Doorbell
- 07/06: City Archives puts 25,000 photos online
- 07/04: Edmonton Developer Impresses with Crime-Fighting Software (Stephane Contre)
- 07/02: Nexopia graduates with Facebook App
- 07/02: Transforming the City of Edmonton IT Branch
- 06/26: City of Edmonton hosts IT Vendor Open House
- 06/16: Shaw Conference Centre Goes Wireless
- 06/03: Foundations for an Open Edmonton
- 05/30: TransitCamp Edmonton: Data for Developers
- 05/14: Edmonton Stories launched
- 04/30: 2009 TEC VenturePrize Grand Prize Winners (CIE: Seek Your Own Proof)
- 04/23: NAIT launches HATCH
- 04/15: Digital Alberta names Rene Smid Executive Director
- 03/25: Intuit, “The World’s Most Admired Software Company” makes mistakes too
- 03/18: Woman Technopreneurs Showcase Their Ingenuity
- 03/18: Edmonton Business Incubators Form The Regional Alliance
- 03/02: Edmonton’s BioWare launches new team in Montreal
- 02/18: ETS and Google Collaborate on Transit Trip Planning
- 02/11: Talking Tech with Edmonton Transit (ETS)
- 02/09: Edmonton’s SafeFreight Technologies selected by Dairy Famers of America
- 01/16: Exciton Technologies receives $500,000 grant from Alberta Heritage Foundation
- 01/13: Alberta Venture Fast 50 named
And here’s the collection of Edmonton Startup Index posts at Techvibes:
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
2010
I’m really excited for 2010. I think we’ll see accelerating growth and change in the tech community, based upon the strong foundation laid during the last two years. Here are a few things to watch for:
- Startup Edmonton and many of its events, such as Startup Weekend
- BarCampEdmonton3
- GameCamp Edmonton
- TEDxEdmonton – March 13, 2010
- Open Data from the City of Edmonton
- Stay up-to-date on local tech events at ShareEdmonton
All the best in the new year!
Have another event, story, or link that should be included above? Let me know in the comments or via email. Thanks!
MasterMaq's Blog 
Best post of the year so far!
Great recap Mack, I think this past year has been really good with regards to publicly moving the Edmonton tech scene forward. We have the talent here and with more years like this we will be able to put our city on the map with its technology expertise.