Calgary will be prominently featured at Canada’s largest tech conference this week in Toronto as the city targets sustained exponential development in the industry. Over the past six years, venture capital investment in Calgary’s IT sector has grown at a record rate.

On Wednesday, Mayor Jyoti Gondek will be in the public eye spreading the word about Calgary’s ecosphere and participating in a panel discussion with representatives from Mphasis, Vivid Theory, and Mercator AI on how a city can become a centre for technology and innovation.

The relationships created at the event, according to her, led to businesses considering Calgary and coming here last year.

At the Alberta @ Collision boat party on Tuesday night, Gondek also spoke to businesspeople. “Our startup system is valued at about $2.7 billion, and we are feeling that it’s probably going to grow by about 1,000 new tech companies by 2030,” Gondek stated. She said, “We must be present where businesses and talent are converging if we are to achieve those goals, and today is an opportunity to do so.”

In the past six years, venture capital investment in Calgary has increased at a record rate, and foreign businesses have continued to favour the city, which is best known for its oil and gas development.

The city’s energy industry is still crucial, and it is driving Calgary’s technical diversification as it looks for greener and more sustainable routes.

Calgary was ranked among the top 100 global tech centres and top emerging markets earlier this month by Startup Genome.

The growth of artificial intelligence, fueled by the appearance of generative AI and the changing role it is playing in the economic world, is one of the major themes at this year’s conference.