Tag: events

Edmonton Notes for 2/9/2014

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

Waiting for Green
Beautiful shot of the historic McLeod Building by Jeff Wallace

Upcoming Events

Portal
Looks like the Flying Canoe Adventure was fun! Photo by Chris Gusen.

Edmonton Notes for 2/2/2014

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

No more bike lanes for you!

When it comes to bike lanes, enough Edmontonians have screamed “not in my backyard” that the City is now looking to delay further bike lane construction. This just after Council asked for more proof that shifting our city’s transportation modes is actually happening. Don’t hold your breath Councillors!

You know what other cities are doing? Building bike infrastructure. Chicago, Phoenix, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles were among the large American cities that pushed ahead with bicycle-related initiatives in 2013.

Headlines

Child Intervention Roundtable. Jan. 29, 2014
“A child intervention roundtable held at the University of Alberta in Edmonton January 28 and 29 brought experts, policy makers and stakeholders together to discuss the best practices in reviewing all child deaths in Alberta, and striking a balance between transparency and privacy.”

Upcoming Events

Waiting for Night
Waiting for Night by Jeff Wallace

Edmonton Notes for 1/26/2014

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

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Here’s the 2013 Year in Review video that EEDC showed at the 2014 Impact Luncheon:

Upcoming Events

UPDATE: I incorrectly stated that DemoCamp was taking place on Thursday, but it has been rescheduled for February 20.

Edmonton Chinese New Year
Lunar New Year Extravaganza at West Edmonton Mall, photo by iqremix

Edmonton Notes for 1/19/2014

Be green for more than an hour…

Edmonton is one of three Canadian cities chosen as finalists in WWF’s Earth Hour City Challenge 2014.

The Earth Hour City Challenge initiative was created by WWF in 2011 to celebrate cities that are taking innovative actions towards creating greener, cleaner and more sustainable cities to live in, while inspiring other cities to do the same.

Edmonton was selected as a finalist based on The Way We Green, “which uses community-centric commitments and publicly engaging actions to achieve a carbon neutral future.”

vote for Edmonton!

The winner of Canada’s Earth Hour Capital will be announced on March 27. You can also vote for Edmonton until March 20 in the “We Love Cities” campaign (check out more details here). Earth Hour 2014 takes place on Saturday, March 29 at 8:30 PM.

Headlines

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Glass and Brick Edmonton
Glass and Brick Edmonton by Jeff Wallace

Upcoming Events

Sunset over Whyte Avenue
Friday sunset over Whyte Avenue

Recap: Edmonton’s Economic Impact Luncheon 2014

“This is a new Edmonton, with a new mayor, a new confidence, and a new energy,” EEDC President & CEO Brad Ferguson told attendees of the sold-out 2014 EEDC Impact Luncheon today. Hundreds of Edmontonians, including a large number of political dignitaries, filled the Shaw Conference Centre for EEDC’s annual state of the economy. Brad wasted no time in reiterating a message he has been consistently delivering since taking over a little over a year ago. “Our ability to compete and to be different has never been more important,” he said.

Impact 2014

Deputy Premier Dave Hancock brought greetings from the Province of Alberta, and made note of the number of his colleagues that were in attendance. “There are so many of us here, because we believe that the partnership that we have with EEDC, with the City of Edmonton, and with the Capital Region, is so important.”

Mayor Don Iveson also brought opening remarks. “Right now our city is one of the best places in the world to take a risk, launch an idea, or start a business,” the mayor said. “There is a renewed sense of optimism here in Edmonton.”

After lunch, it was on the main event. You can listen to Brad’s entire speech here:

“Last year was a great year,” Brad said. “Our objective was to outperform every other regional economy in North America, and we did.” He highlighted our city’s economic performance and rosy outlook through a series of measures:

2013 2012 Change
GDP $81.675 billion $78.286 billion +4.3%
Population 1.2 million 1.15 million +3.9%
Net Jobs 19,700 26,500 -34.5%
Unemployment 4.8% 4.4% -0.4%
Inflation 1.1% 1.3% -0.2%
Building Permits $3.0 billion $2.5 billion +22.6%
Major Projects $220.0 billion $193.5 billion +13.6%

Obviously the increased GDP, population, and jumps in the number of building permits issued and major projects identified are positive. Brad noted that although the number of jobs created in 2013 was actually down, context is needed. “One out of every ten jobs created across the country was created here,” he told us.

Brad opened his speech with another measure, of course. Last year he rated Edmonton’s efforts on image and branding at 1.5 out of 10. “I didn’t want to understate the work that needed to be done,” he confessed. It was one of the catalysts for the major changes that EEDC has undergone over the last year. His ranking today? With some input from Councillor Sohi, 2.5 out of 10. “We have a long way to go, but it’s a 66.6% improvement over last year!”

Though Edmonton had a strong year in 2013, the future is even brighter. “We’re anticipating us contributing $2.1 trillion of economic contribution to the country” over the next two decades, Brad told the audience. A large reason for this, is development related to the oil sands. But for all the good work going on, Brad said we need to do more.

That led to his core takeaway for the day:

“The only way forward is to embrace the mantra of: cleaner, greener, safer, faster, cheaper. We need to build our industries and build our entrepreneurs, and activate the country in doing so.”

Embracing that mantra is what will lead to the next wave of innovation, key to diversifying our economy, Brad told us. “The oil sands and the industrial supply chain are the platform of which we get to diversification.” And now is the right time, because our capabilities have caught up with our ambitions. “There’s nothing holding us back.”

Brad went on to connect this opportunity with Edmonton’s place in the country. “We can’t do it alone,” he said. “We need to open up the access point and invite the rest of the country to participate.”

With that, Brad described five big priorities for the year ahead:

  1. Alert the world to the energy in Edmonton
  2. Attract & active those seeking opportunity
  3. Enhance & expand our influence as an economic powerhouse
  4. Diversify by using our strengths as a platform for innovation
  5. Operate as one interconnected, interdependent region

On that last point, he noted “that doesn’t mean amalgamation all the time.” Instead, Brad called for relationships and partnerships with other communities.

“Gone are the days where things happen to us,” Brad declared. “Our strategy is sound, our success lies in our ability to move forward with intention.” It was a confident conclusion to an excellent speech.

Impact 2014

Once again the Edmonton Journal livestreamed the event. You can watch part one here, and part two here.

The luncheon was also an opportunity for EEDC to launch its 2014-2016 Statement of Intent:

The decade ahead will be one where competitiveness will take on a whole new meaning in everything we do. Alberta is expected to continue as a high-growth jurisdiction in a low- growth world, making Edmonton a prime location for the attraction of business, investment and people. Global demand for resources will drive opportunities for capital expansion, while also attracting an aggressive assortment of new competitors in search of a share of the local market. These realities will have significant impact on our local economy, and the role of an effective economic development agency has never been more important.

You can learn more about EEDC and what they have planned for 2014 at their new website. You can read my recap of last year’s event here.

Edmonton Notes for 1/12/2014

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

A Theme Song for Edmonton

Via Omar, I came across this intriguing “theme song” for Edmonton.

Does anyone know anything about it?

Headlines

The New Jasper Ave
I love this photo of Jasper Avenue by David Sutherland

Upcoming Events

Deep Freeze Festival 2014
There’s still a lot of snow out there!

Embrace winter in Edmonton at Deep Freeze 2014

This year marks the 7th annual Deep Freeze: Byzantine Winter Festival on Alberta Avenue. It’s one of my favorite festivals of the year, and each iteration seems to get better and better.

The Deep Freeze Winter Festival is a free family event that brings together the Ukrainian, Franco-Albertan, Franco-African, First Nations, and Acadian/East Coast communities to revel in the magic and beauty of winter.

Sharon and I went down to check it out this afternoon and had a great time. It was relatively warm today, which meant that melting snow had made the roads quite mucky. By mid-afternoon it had started cooling down however, enough that a light snow could start to fall.

Deep Freeze Festival 2014

Here’s a short video to give you a taste of what to expect at Deep Freeze:

Nearly every event says it has “something for everyone” but at Deep Freeze, that’s really true!

Want to take a horse-drawn wagon ride? You can do that!

Deep Freeze Festival 2014

Want to roast hot dogs or taste some cabane a sucre? You can do that!

Deep Freeze Festival 2014

Want to play a little street hockey? You can do that!

Deep Freeze Festival 2014

Hockey isn’t your sport? No problem. How about curling? You can do that!

Deep Freeze Festival 2014

Want to check out the ice and snow sculptures? You can do that!

Deep Freeze Festival 2014

How about sledding? Or sliding? Or snowshoeing? Or skating? You can do all of that too!

Deep Freeze Festival 2014

Want to try your luck in a Deep Freezer Race? You can do that!

Deep Freeze Festival 2014

Are you a kid who needs to warm up? By the fire or indoors, you can do that!

Deep Freeze Festival 2014

Are you an adult who needs to warm up? By the fire, indoors, or with a shot of Baileys from the ice bar, you can do that!

Deep Freeze Festival 2014

Want to just walk around and enjoy the sights and sounds? You can do that!

Deep Freeze Festival 2014

There’s so much to see and do at Deep Freeze, you basically have no excuse for staying indoors. If you missed it today, you still have all of Sunday afternoon to head down to Alberta Avenue. For the love of winter, get out and enjoy the Deep Freeze Festival!

You can see more photos here. Be sure to follow @DeepFreezeYeg on Twitter too. If you like what you see, consider volunteering or donating for next year!

Edmonton Notes for 1/5/2014

Best in the world? No.

As you’ve undoubtedly heard by now, National Geographic blogger Andrew Evans highlighted the City Market on his Best of 2013 list. Based on the response here in Edmonton, you’d think this was the first time we’ve ever received praise for something! People are losing their minds! Our market is fantastic (in the summer), but it’s not the best in the world, and anyway, that’s not what Andrew said. He said it was the best of all that he visited in 2013. There’s a difference.

Headlines

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Alberta Legislature

Upcoming Events

snowy path
Photo by profernity

Edmonton Notes for 12/1/2013

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes!

Heavy Users of Service Project

A two-year initiative called the Heavy Users of Service project will “monitor some of the city’s most frequent users of social, medical, criminal and justice services with the goal of identifying and bridging gaps in service provision and treatment.” It was launched on Friday by EPS and is a collaboration between fourteen organizations. Here are a few quick thoughts on the project:

Headlines

The City Centre Airport is now officially closed. The lights on runway 12-30 went off just before 5pm on Saturday, November 30, with crews installing giant white Xs shortly after. I’ll have more on the closure in an upcoming post. In the meantime, you can check out a few more photos here.

City Centre Airport Closure

Upcoming Events

Rainbow

Recap: Hacking Health in Edmonton

Last weekend was Edmonton’s first Hacking Health, a unique event that aims to enable collaboration between technology geeks and healthcare workers to solve health-focused problems. The hackathon took place at the Edmonton Clinic Health Academy at the University of Alberta from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon and attracted dozens of participants and many more observers.

Hacking Health Edmonton 2013

Here’s what Hacking Health is all about:

Hacking Health is an experiment in collaboration. Our hypothesis is that the interface of front-line clinicians and technology experts will yield innovative approaches to some (not all) of healthcare’s most entrenched problems. By rapidly building and testing prototypes, we can identify the fraction of ideas that have the potential to scale and at the same time, allow others to take their learnings and apply them to new ideas. Our goal is to make this experimentation as low risk as possible for everyone involved – the individual participants, organizers, and supporters.

Hacking Health was founded a little over a year ago in Montreal by Jeeshan Chowdhury, Matthew Huebert, and Dominic Savoie. They found the startup scene and hackathons in particular quite intriguing, and felt that such events could have a positive impact on the world of health too.

What if they could get doctors, nurses, and other health professionals in the same room as technology experts? Could they reduce the risk of healthcare innovation by giving designers and developers exposure to the healthcare knowledge and connections they lack?

Since that first event in Montreal, more than 1000 clinicians, patients, designers, and developers have participated in subsequent events in Toronto and Vancouver. The Hacking Health team have ambitions to spread across the world, starting with Canada. For some additional background, check out this ExpressNews article.

It was only a matter of time until Hacking Health made its way to Edmonton, as this is Jeeshan’s hometown (we actually went to high school together). Our growing startup and technology scene combined with an established and widely recognized health sector make Edmonton a great fit for events like Hacking Health. I didn’t have the opportunity to participate in the event, but I did attend the demo session on Sunday.

Hacking Health Edmonton 2013

Hacking Health followed the same format as many other hackathons. Friday night is when the ideas are pitched and the teams are formed. If an idea or proposal catches your attention, you’re welcome to join the team. Once that’s done, the teams get down to work, spending all of Saturday trying to make progress on their solution or idea. Sunday is when the teams demo what they managed to accomplish over the weekend.

There were 33 projects pitched, 13 of which had teams formed around them. There was quite a bit of variation in the projects and team sizes, which made for an interesting set of demos! Each team had 2 minutes to show off their work, followed by an opportunity for the judges to ask some questions.

Hacking Health Edmonton 2013

Here’s a quick overview of the 13 teams that demoed:

  • Health Facility Wayfinding: This team didn’t actually take a technology approach to their solution. Instead they proposed the use of human guides along with signage to help people navigate the hospital.
  • Education for Extracorporeal Therapies: An extracorporeal procedure is one which is performed outside the body. In this case, the team focused on the need to do something with a patient’s blood, and they devised a clamp system using Arduino. It was described as an add-on to existing products, and while I can’t personally appreciate the impact it might have, others in the room seemed excited.
  • Kala: An Emergency Room Wait Time Genie: The idea with Kala was to use machine learning to predict wait times. They demoed a dashboard that would present that intelligence, and said the biggest challenge would be getting access to data from the hospitals. AHS does share estimated wait times, of course.
  • Referral Appointment Dashboard: Called ezReferral, this team’s project would allow doctors to negotiate with one another to simplify the complicated referral process. They are apparently about 80% of the way to completion!
  • LinkRX: This project aimed to build a link between doctors and pharmacists for prescriptions. Using a QR code on a prescription, the team hoped to ensure that prescriptions could not be forged and to make it easier for pharmacists to scan on their end (no more deciphering doctor’s notes). They said pieces of the system already exist, but their project was a unified system.
  • Tracking/Improving Emotional Well Being via Smart Phone: This team built an Android app to enable emotional tracking. The vision is to combine self-reported moods (the piece they worked on over the weekend) with everything else that your smart phone knows about you.
  • StandUp!: This team said “sitting is the new smoking” and their plan to get you up and out of your seat is an app that reminds you when you’ve been sitting for too long. It would assign you an activity, like doing ten squats, that you could invite a friend to join along in. You earn points for completing each activity, and your workplace could pay for data to monitor the health of its workforce.
  • Mis TakeAway: This project envisioned a safe space for health professionals to reflect on their mistakes, a sort of post secret for the healthcare industry. The webpage featured messages in a bottle, each of which contained a confession.
  • CoughDoc: Another simple but powerful idea formed the basis of this app – allow patients to record their cough (or their child’s) using a smartphone and send it to their doctor. The doctor could then diagnose remotely and determine whether an appointment is necessary.
  • Rehabilitation with games using KINECT: Rehabilitation using Kinect is not a new idea, but this team forged ahead with a fun, Super Mario Bros-inspired game nonetheless. They focused on rehab for an elbow injury in their game called Super Reventure World.
  • What’s for lunch?: This app is a tracker for nutritional information. Again, there are dozens of these services already out there, but what made it unique was the interface – users could enter plain English and the app would parse it and convert it to the appropriate nutritional information.
  • Walk-ins Welcome: It sounds like last minute cancellations are a big problem, and that’s what this project aimed to solve. The service would connect patients with last minute appointment times, and would allow doctors to keep track of which patients were no-shows.
  • TrialConnect: The final project was focused on connecting willing participants to clinical trial research. It’s like a matchmaking service for researchers and patients.

Hacking Health Edmonton 2013
The judges deliberate

In the end, CoughDoc, ezReferral, StandUp!, and Walk-ins Welcome were all recognized by the judges as well as sponsors BDC and Bird Communications. I think my favorite was StandUp!, perhaps because it seemed the most realistic and immediately impactful to me. It’s pretty amazing what each of the teams was able to accomplish in such a short amount of time!

Everyone seemed to have a great time over the weekend, and it was great to see all of the demos at the end. Congratulations to everyone that helped to make Hacking Health Edmonton happen! For more on the event, check out Tamara’s Storify.

Hacking Health Edmonton 2013
The StandUp! team

Hacking Health will be making its next stop in Calgary in February 2014, followed by events in Montreal and Hamilton before going international to New York City, Stockholm, and Strasbourg.

Here in Edmonton, stay tuned for a second Hacking Health event next fall. You can follow Hacking Health Edmonton on Twitter (they may get a meetup group going too). Check out more photos from the first event here.