The Pulse: April 4, 2023

An Edmonton startup that builds autonomous robots and a Spruce Grove spinoff that makes cleaning equipment for high-voltage infrastructure are among the companies graduating from Batch 3 of the Alberta Accelerator by 500 this month.

Aro Robotic Systems and SPI Utilities Solutions are the two local representatives among the 13 startups that will be pitching to investors at the accelerator's Demo Day at the Edmonton Convention Centre on April 18.

Other participants in the program are from all over the world, including Poland, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, India, and Dubai, as well as Toronto, Delaware, and Florida. All got into the program by demonstrating an interest in doing business in the tech innovation ecosystem of the Edmonton-Calgary corridor.

The demo day is the conclusion of a 12-week program run by Alberta Accelerator by 500, one of several accelerators that Alberta Innovates introduced in 2021 with the Scaleup and Growth Accelerator Program.

Christine Tsai, the CEO of the San Francisco-based 500 Global, will deliver opening remarks. Hanif Joshaghani, co-founder and CEO of Symend, will give the keynote. His Calgary-based software-as-a-service business is one of North America's fastest-growing companies.

Previous Edmonton-area graduates of the accelerator include Air Trail, Cash 2 Crypto, The Public Food Hub, Umay, Deeleeo, Swift Charge, and Fly and Fetch. Applications for Batch 3 open on April 17.

Photo: Participants in Batch 3 of the Alberta Accelerator by 500 have gathered in person and virtually with mentors and staff in Edmonton since January. (Fatima Mohamed/LinkedIn)

• Edmonton's greenest neighbourhoods, as determined by the number of city-owned trees, are mostly recent southwest developments but also include communities near the river, ring road communities like The Hamptons, and older areas like Westmount. The Summerside neighbourhood has the highest number of trees, with 6,527 within its boundaries, which is almost 1,200 more than the next-highest neighbourhood of Chappelle. The most common types of city-owned trees are green ash (21% of all trees) and American elm (20%). The city's open data portal contains details on the roughly 423,000 city-owned trees across Edmonton's 378 neighbourhoods. Taproot reported on the city's plans to plant two million new trees by 2030 in support of its goal to reach total canopy coverage of 20% by 2071.
• The city is seeking public feedback on a draft of its new digital sign policy, which will help guide future digital sign regulations. The city says the policy will aim to achieve a balance between the positive and negative impacts of digital signs and explore opportunities that may come from digital media. An online survey is available beginning April 4. The city is also seeking feedback until April 23 on the possibility of expanding the Vision Zero Street Lab in Silver Berry.
• The city made changes to the Economic Action Plan Grant (EAPG) that will increase eligibility for more private-sector projects. The EAPG is designed to support projects from local businesses and business associations that contribute to 13 actions in the city's Economic Action Plan. The changes to the EAPG include increasing available matching funding per project from a maximum of $25,000 to $50,000, allowing applications for expanding existing business lines or buying new buildings, and supporting events that contribute to Action 24 of the plan.
• The Edmonton Oilers, which secured their spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the fourth season in a row over the weekend, are expected to make an announcement about playoff tickets later this week. The playoffs run April 17 to June 18. The Oilers plan to continue watch parties in Rogers Place during away games and expand outdoor festivities in the ICE District.
• The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) concluded that there is no evidence Edmonton police acted improperly while responding to a Feb. 28 incident at West Edmonton Village where a man fell from a high-rise tower and suffered "life-altering injuries." ASIRT reviews all cases where a police investigation leads to serious injury or death.
• TELUS World of Science - Edmonton announced that Constance Scarlett will take on the roles of president and CEO effective July 1. Scarlett is currently the director of government and community relations. According to a release, she was key in securing more than $41 million in capital funding for the centre's recent expansion and is an advocate for policies that improve accessibility for Indigenous people and other groups. Retiring president and CEO Alan Nursall served for the past decade.
• The province announced a series of investments in Alberta's health care system, which it says will "build a stronger, more flexible and innovative system for emergency medical services (EMS) with better access to care and shorter wait times." The investments include staffing more ambulances during peak hours this year, including 10 in Edmonton; funding the priorities of the Health Care Action Plan, which aims to reduce EMS response times and surgery wait times; implementing recommendations from the Alberta EMS Provincial Advisory Committee to improve scheduling practices; and boosting mental health supports for EMS staff. NDP health critic David Shepherd called it a "hasty pre-election announcement" and suggested Albertans continue to wait "longer than ever for ambulances to arrive" after four years under a UCP government. The NDP says it will connect one million Albertans with a family doctor using a primary care model called Family Health Teams.
• CBC data journalist Robson Fletcher examined the province's "stunning turnaround" in parks policy since three years ago, when the UCP government was defending its plan to close 184 parks and recreation areas. The province recently promoted its plan to upgrade and expand parks infrastructure for a cost of $211.3 million over three years.
• Premier Danielle Smith has responded to CBC reporting from March 29 about a phone call she had with controversial Calgary street preacher Artur Pawlowski a few weeks before his Feb. 2 trial for pandemic-related charges. Smith denied allegations that she or her staff have contacted any Alberta Crown prosecutors, stated that the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service has "confirmed this to be true," and declined to comment further because the matter is "likely to be subject of legal defamation proceedings." CTV News acquired a letter from Smith's law firm notifying the CBC of the premier's intention to take legal action unless the broadcaster retracts its reporting and publishes an apology.

Edmonton Transit says On Demand Transit has been a success, with increasing ridership and recent funding support from city council, but Episode 214 of Speaking Municipally questioned that conclusion.

"That we are still lauding this as a success indicates some of the failures of our public transit system, which has been chronically underinvested in the past decade and a half," said Troy Pavlek, co-host of Taproot Edmonton's civic affairs podcast.

According to CBC Edmonton, ridership has "mostly been on an upswing" since the On Demand Service launched in April 2021 in 37 neighbourhoods and 16 seniors residences alongside the Bus Network Redesign. Last year, the service expanded to 50 neighbourhoods and 18 seniors residences.

Pavlek suggested the existence of the service is a symptom of a larger problem that the Bus Network Redesign brought into relief. "That came at the expense of service to the fringes of our city, because we were unwilling to invest additional transit dollars," he said.

The service was originally funded for two years. In December 2022, as part of the 2023-2026 operating budget, city council approved $7.84 million per year to make the On Demand Transit service permanent. That amount will increase by $3.657 million in 2024, $193,000 in 2025, and $194,000 in 2026. Council also approved a service package to expand off-peak and on-demand service, with $1.765 million in 2023, $3.042 million in 2024, $56,000 in 2025, and $54,000 in 2026.

Daniel Vriend, director of planning and scheduling with Edmonton Transit, told CBC the funding will help address long wait times. A survey presented to city council's community and public services committee in October 2022 by VIA, the city's On Demand Transit app provider, found that 84% of users would like to see the service expand to avoid long wait times.

Pavlek said that is further evidence of the lack of investment in transit.

"Let's just flip this on its head and say that 84% of residents who we have cut all bus service to and gave a scrap from a private provider would support additional scraps being distributed to them," Pavlek said.

He further described On Demand Transit as a subsidy to cars. "It allows us to continue to sprawl," Pavlek said. "And to continue to say that we serve all these areas via transit without actually doing that."

Hear more about this, as well as reaction to the federal budget, the latest on Boyle Street's new developments, and the increasing number of incidents between drivers and the LRT, on the March 31 episode of Taproot's civic affairs podcast.

Photo: Edmonton Transit plans to expand the On Demand Transit service in the current four-year budget cycle. (City of Edmonton/YouTube)