Nearly 140 people gathered at the Cochrane RancheHouse last night to attend Alberta IoT & Cochrane Economic Development’s Building Smart Cities with IoT Technology event. Brenda Beckedorf, Executive Director of Alberta IoT, gave a brief presentation on the Association’s goals, membership growth, and shared some of our upcoming events. Matt Ludwig and Patrick Giroux, Solution Architects in PCL’s Business Technology team, shared how PCL is using IoT to drive increased sustainability, productivity, and quality while reducing insurance costs and warranty claims. Mayor of Cochrane Jeff Genung spoke about the Town’s role in Alberta’s growing tech sector and shared some of the many reasons that more and more tech companies are putting down roots in the beautiful mountain town.
Read Cochrane Now’s article on our event.
A handful of Alberta IoT’s member companies set up tables throughout the room displaying their products and services as well, offering a great opportunity to learn how other local businesses are applying IoT technology to solve problems and improve efficiencies in a variety of industries and applications.
Check out our gallery below for photos from the event! If you took any great pictures yourself, please share and tag @albertaiot or #abiot on social media, or send them to Brenda so we can add them to the gallery.
Special thanks to our event sponsor, Cochrane Economic Development. This event is also supported by Alberta IoT’s generous annual sponsors – MNP, Alberta Blockchain Consortium, Titan Logix Corp., Socium Law, Microsoft, and Rogers.
Our next event is a Technical Luncheon in Calgary on December 10th. Details on all upcoming meetings and events can be found on our Showpass profile.
Thank you to ArcInfo for providing some of the photos from the event.
Presentation Slideshow
Content Prior to Event:
The fourth industrial revolution has begun, and it is powered by the Internet of Things (IoT). The combination of infinitely scalable cloud computing and inexpensive, energy efficient connected sensors has created the possibility for virtually any device to be connected to the internet. With advancements in complimentary technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and 5G wireless, the Alberta IoT Association believes the possibilities are endless.
Albertans have developed a growing culture of innovation, with universities and colleges spinning off biomedical, machine learning, and artificial intelligence startups. Increasing government support to diversify the economy using technology, a strong industrial sector, and a plethora of experienced technical professionals from our once-thriving telecommunications industry leaves our province incredibly well positioned to not only benefit from the rise of IoT technology, but to become the worldwide leader.
Alberta IoT Core Member PCL Construction, whose North American headquarters is in Edmonton, is the largest construction company in Canada. PCL has implemented a company-changing digital construction strategy, integrating IoT and advanced analytics into their operations and client offerings to improve productivity, safety, efficiency, and create smart solutions across PCL’s operations.
PCL is building smarter via their IoT smart construction platform, Job Site Insights TM , which uses IoT sensors throughout a building to monitor temperature, humidity, pressure and flood issues in real-time, leading to increased sustainability, productivity, and quality while reducing insurance costs and warranty claims. PCL is using IoT in construction and leveraging partnerships to not only build smarter but create smarter buildings for their clients.
Cochrane is a prime example of an Alberta community moving forward on technology, innovation and leadership. Cochrane is already home to a number of successful international technology companies, including Garmin Canada, 4iiii Innovations, Hunterwood Technologies and mcThings. The town is poised to continue to support and grow the local tech industry by expanding their municipally owned fiber network and investing in an innovation centre in their downtown core to provide a space for the incubation of new businesses.
Cochrane Economic Development is proud sponsor Alberta IoT’s Smart Cities event because they know the right partners will help us bring new technologies to the market and position our province as a leader in research and innovation.