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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261013
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DTSTAMP:20261014T184527
CREATED:20260825T213359Z
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UID:33317-1791849600-1792108799@venturelabs.ca
SUMMARY:SFU Innovation Week 2026
DESCRIPTION:SFU Innovation Week brings together researchers\, entrepreneurs\, industry leaders\, policymakers\, and ecosystem partners to connect\, collaborate\, and celebrate innovation across Canada. \nAcross three days\, attendees can explore new ideas and perspectives through innovation showcases\, industry panels\, lab tours\, networking opportunities\, and the i2I Innovation Pitch Competition. \nDay One: VentureLabs Innovation Spotlight\nTuesday\, October 13 | SFU Harbour Centre \nConnect with researchers\, industry leaders\, and innovators while exploring new ideas and perspectives. The day concludes with an evening networking reception. \n\nHackathon\nFireside Chat Company Showcase\n\nDay Two: Innovation Pitch and Venture Exhibits\nWednesday\, October 14 | Segal Graduate School of Business  \n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis day is where research becomes reality\, centred on the Innovation Pitch\, where participants from i2I’s programs showcase innovation ideas built to solve real-world problems. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\ni2I Innovation pitch competition\nStudent venture & industry exhibits\nEvening networking reception\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDay Three: Industry Panels and Lab Tours\nThursday\, October 15 | SFU Burnaby Campus   \n\n\n\n\nThis day features three exciting panels on how research\, partnership\, and policy come together within Canadian innovation\, a fireside chat with Dr. Stephanie Simmons\, and industry exhibits. \n\nPanel: Partners in Innovation\, Building Canada’s Future\nPanel: AgriTech Sustainability\nPanel: The Next Era of Healthcare\n\n\n\n\n\nAs part of Day Three\, go behind the science with guided tours of SFU’s Core Facilities and research labs\, where specialized research infrastructure\, expertise\, and services support innovation across disciplines. \n\n4D Labs\nSFU WearTech Labs\nSFU Cedar Supercomputing Centre\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegistration is available on a day-by-day basis\, with in-person and virtual options.
URL:https://venturelabs.ca/event/sfu-innovation-week-2026/
LOCATION:SFU Campus
CATEGORIES:Featured,SFU VentureLabs Events
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20261015T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20261015T120000
DTSTAMP:20261014T184527
CREATED:20261002T214734Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261002T214734Z
UID:33517-1792062000-1792065600@venturelabs.ca
SUMMARY:Your Team Is Already Using AI. Here’s How to Keep It Safe\, Not Slower.
DESCRIPTION:About the Webinar\n\nAI adoption is moving fast\, often faster than organizations can put the right security and governance around it. Employees may already be using multiple AI tools for everyday work\, potentially exposing sensitive business information without IT teams having full visibility. \nJoin Tecnet and Field Effect to explore the growing challenge of Shadow AI\, what happens when employees use AI tools with company data\, and how organizations can gain greater visibility and control without slowing down AI adoption.\nWe’ll look at the risks organizations should be paying attention to\, practical ways to create safer AI guardrails\, and a live demonstration to show how organizations can identify AI usage\, monitor potential information exposure\, and respond to risky activity. \nThis session is for IT Managers & Directors\, Operation leaders\, and technology decision-makers.\nPlus: Join us live for giveaways\, Q&A\, and a few surprises throughout the session.
URL:https://venturelabs.ca/event/your-team-is-already-using-ai-heres-how-to-keep-it-safe-not-slower/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Partner and Community Events
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20261015T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20261015T143000
DTSTAMP:20261014T184527
CREATED:20260923T192616Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260923T192616Z
UID:33478-1792069200-1792074600@venturelabs.ca
SUMMARY:BD Series: How to Close Deals Faster With Market Intelligence
DESCRIPTION:Overview\nBruce Clarke on understanding your market\, validating your assumptions\, and knowing your competitive advantage with market intelligence. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nDiscovery Foundation Business Development Series: How to Close Deals Faster With Market Intelligence\nBuilding a great product is only part of the equation. To grow successfully\, you need to understand your market\, validate your assumptions\, and identify the competitive and commercial factors that could shape your path forward. \nJoin commercial executive and entrepreneur Bruce Clarke\, Partner at Progression Capital and Monashee Ridge\, for an interactive webinar on market intelligence for early-stage and growing companies. \nDrawing on more than 25 years of experience in marketing\, sales and finance\, across diverse industries including biotech and healthtech\, Bruce will share practical frameworks and insights to help you: \n\nValidate Market Opportunities: Move beyond assumptions and assess market potential\, simply and effectively.\nKnow Your Market Better Than Everyone Else in the Room: when closing a BD deal or a new sale\, you must be the category expert. Market expertise is a pillar to confident selling.\nMap Key Stakeholders: Identify the players\, decision-makers\, influencers\, and market forces that can shape your opportunity.\nIdentify Commercialization Roadblocks: Anticipate competitive\, market\, and stakeholder challenges before they become barriers to growth.\nMake More Informed Strategic Decisions: Use market intelligence to strengthen your approach to partnerships\, investment\, market entry\, and growth.\n\nWhether you’re validating a new opportunity\, preparing to enter a market\, pursuing partnerships\, or positioning your company for investment\, this session will provide practical tools to help you make more informed strategic decisions. \nAbout the speaker\nBruce Clarke is an expert at go-to-market strategies\, scaling up\, funding\, business resources\, and market intelligence. Across 20+ years as an executive and entrepreneur\, he worked in biotech\, healthtech\, packaged goods\, financial services\, and consulting. His experience spans business development\, finance\, marketing\, and sales. Sharing his successes and failures\, he helps prepare start-ups and SMCs for the challenges ahead\, starting by convincing them to expect the unexpected. He is currently a Partner at Progression Capital and Monashee Ridge.
URL:https://venturelabs.ca/event/how-to-close-deals-faster-with-market-intelligence/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Featured,SFU VentureLabs Events
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20261020T050000
DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20261020T200000
DTSTAMP:20261014T184527
CREATED:20260929T210009Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261001T223246Z
UID:33493-1792472400-1792526400@venturelabs.ca
SUMMARY:Mission Critical: The Rise of Dual-Use Innovation
DESCRIPTION:Description\n\nJoin VEF in collaboration with Venture Labs for a timely discussion exploring how founders are building technologies that serve both commercial markets and critical public needs. \nFrom cleantech\, climate technology\, and life sciences to crisis communications\, emergency management\, and critical infrastructure\, this conversation will examine the rise of dual-use innovation and how technologies developed for one market can create value across multiple commercial and public-sector applications. \nAttendees will gain practical insights into commercialization strategies\, government and industry partnerships\, investment opportunities\, and what it takes to scale technologies with both economic and societal impact. \nYour ticket to this event includes admission\, light snacks\, and a beverage. \nSpeakers \nSpeakers will be announced soon. \nModerator \nModerator will be announced soon. \nEmcee \nEmcee will be announced soon. \nAgenda \n5:00-6:00pm OPEN NETWORKING \n6:00-6:15pm INTROS & WELCOME REMARKS \n6:15-6:30pm STARTUP LIGHTNING PITCHES & COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS \n6:30-7:30pm PANEL \n7:30-8:00pm CLOSING REMARKS & EVENT CONCLUSION \nInterested in presenting your business idea\, sharing a product launch\, or making an ask of the community? Apply to be a lightning pitch presenter. Selected presenters will get 100 seconds to share their product\, service\, or ask with the community in a supportive environment. \nApply today at https://www.vef.org/pitch \nWho Should Attend\n\nFounders and startup teams\nInvestors and venture capital firms\nCorporate innovation leaders\nGovernment and public-sector organizations\nEmergency management and critical infrastructure professionals\nAccelerators and incubators\nResearchers\, faculty\, and post-secondary innovation teams\nProfessional services firms supporting startups\nStudents and emerging entrepreneurs\n\nRegister early and save. Ticket prices increase October 12\, 2026\, so secure your spot before prices go up. \nDID YOU KNOW… Members get access to 8 VEF events annually\, plus our summer social and annual general meeting included? With options for corporate or individual memberships\, there’s never been a better time to join the community. Learn more and sign up: https://www.vef.org/member
URL:https://venturelabs.ca/event/mission-critical-the-rise-of-dual-use-innovation/
LOCATION:SFU VentureLabs (11th floor concourse)\, #1100\, 555 W Hastings Street\, Vancouver\, BC V6B 4N6\, Vancouver\, V6B 4N6\, CA
CATEGORIES:Featured,SFU VentureLabs Events
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20261021T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20261021T190000
DTSTAMP:20261014T184527
CREATED:20261002T214820Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261002T214820Z
UID:33503-1792598400-1792609200@venturelabs.ca
SUMMARY:Revenue Month: Beyond Founder-Led Growth — Building a Sales Engine That Scales
DESCRIPTION:​For many technology companies\, the founder is the original sales engine. You know the product\, understand the customer\, open doors\, build trust and close the deals. \n​But what gets you here won’t necessarily get you to the next stage of growth. \n​Join Acetech and sales growth expert Alice Heiman for a practical conversation about moving beyond founder-led sales and building a sales engine that can scale with your company. \n​Alice will explore how the CEO’s role in sales needs to evolve as the business grows\, how to build the strategy\, structure and leadership needed to support a growing sales organization\, and where founders commonly struggle when trying to transfer what works for them to a broader team. \n​This session will help CEOs and founders think through questions such as: \n\n​When is it time to move beyond founder-led sales?\nWhat should the CEO continue to own\, and what should be handed off?\nHow do you turn the founder’s knowledge\, relationships and instincts into a repeatable sales approach?\nWhat needs to be in place before adding salespeople or sales leadership?\nHow do sales\, marketing and customer success work together to drive revenue?\nHow does the CEO stay engaged in important customers and opportunities without becoming the bottleneck?\n\n​Whether you’re still leading most of your company’s sales or already building out a sales team\, this session will provide a framework for thinking about the next stage of your revenue engine. \n​Keynote Speaker: Alice Heiman\n​Alice is a nationally recognized sales growth expert who works with CEOs\, founders and leadership teams to build strategies that generate new business\, grow existing accounts and create sustainable revenue growth. \n​Alice began her career working with the renowned Miller Heiman sales organization before founding Alice Heiman\, LLC in 1997. Today\, she works with CEOs and senior leaders of companies with significant growth potential\, helping them rethink how they lead sales and build the strategy and organization required to scale. \n​Her approach is based on a central principle: the CEO will always have a role in sales\, but that role must evolve as the company grows. Rather than simply adding more salespeople\, Alice helps leaders look across sales\, marketing and customer success to create a more effective approach to revenue growth. \n​Alice is also the host of Sales Talk for CEOs and has taught at the University of Nevada for more than 20 years\, including within its entrepreneurship program.
URL:https://venturelabs.ca/event/revenue-month-beyond-founder-led-growth-building-a-sales-engine-that-scales/
LOCATION:​To be confirmed. Details will be shared closer to the event.
CATEGORIES:Partner and Community Events
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20261023T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20261023T120000
DTSTAMP:20261014T184527
CREATED:20261002T214727Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261002T214727Z
UID:33520-1792753200-1792756800@venturelabs.ca
SUMMARY:One Click Away: What BC Businesses Need to Know About Phishing Risk
DESCRIPTION:Phishing isn’t what it used to be. Today’s attacks are becoming more convincing\, more personalized\, and harder for employees to recognize\, and it only takes one click\, one shared password\, or one convincing request to put an organization at risk. \nJoin Tecnet and KnowBe4 for an interactive Cybersecurity Awareness Month session exploring the human side of cybersecurity and why your employees can be either one of your biggest vulnerabilities — or one of your strongest lines of defense. \nWe’ll look beyond traditional annual cybersecurity training to explore how phishing and social engineering tactics are evolving\, why people continue to fall for them\, and what organizations can do to build security awareness into their everyday culture. \nBonus: Attend live for the opportunity to participate in giveaways\, interactive moments and a few surprises throughout the webinar. \nYou won’t just hear about cybersecurity awareness\, you’ll leave with practical ideas you can bring back to your organization. \nWhat you’ll learn:\n\nHow Phishing Has Changed in 2026\nWhy People Still Fall for Phishing\nWhat Effective Security Awareness Actually Looks Like\nPractical Ways to Build a Security-Aware Culture
URL:https://venturelabs.ca/event/one-click-away-what-bc-businesses-need-to-know-about-phishing-risk/
LOCATION:Virtual
CATEGORIES:Partner and Community Events
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20261029T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20261029T233000
DTSTAMP:20261014T184527
CREATED:20260122T170608Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260122T203044Z
UID:32293-1793295000-1793316600@venturelabs.ca
SUMMARY:2026 Technology Impact Awards Gala
DESCRIPTION:The Technology Impact Awards (TIAs) celebrate outstanding companies and individuals who have made a significant impact on the BC tech industry\nBC Tech is proud to have played a part in the journey of so many BC tech icons and success stories. Past finalists and winners say that the TIAs provides an unparalleled opportunity to build profile and accelerate growth\, so we would encourage every BC Tech company to think about how applying for a TIA could accelerate your success! \n\n\n2026 Company of the Year Awards\nThese awards recognize the outstanding tech company of the year in each of 5 categories: \n\nStartup | Presented by Electronic Arts\nFor companies with revenue of up to $1M and up to 10 employees. Apply here\nGrowth | Presented by Osler\nFor companies with revenue of up to $10M and up to 50 employees. Apply here\nScale | Presented by Clio\nFor companies with revenue of up to $50M and up to 200 employees. Apply Here\nAnchor | Presented by Blakes\nFor companies with annual revenue in excess of $50M and more than 200 employees. Apply Here\nAmbition | Presented by EDC\nFor companies of any size who epitomize the ambition of BC’s tech sector. Apply Here\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2026 Gamechanger Awards\nThese awards celebrate outstanding performance by a company in a particular area: \n\nArtificial Intelligence | Presented by KPMG\nA company that excels in the deployment of AI to drive BC’s leadership in this key technology. Apply here\nDeal of the Year | Presented by Vancity\nThis award recognizes the importance of transactions that drive growth and strengthen BC’s tech ecosystem. Apply Here\nCompany Culture | Presented by SAP\nA company that has embedded culture at the heart of its business operations\, resulting in accelerated growth and profitability. Apply Here\nIndustry Innovation | Presented by InnovateBC\nA company that excels in the deployment of technology to drive innovation in a traditional industry. Apply here\nClimate Leadership | Presented by MDA Space\nA company that excels in the deployment of technology to advance climate solutions. Apply here\nHealthTech | Presented by Aspect Biosystems\nA company that is making significant advancements in health-related technology\, innovation and delivery. Apply Here.
URL:https://venturelabs.ca/event/2026-technology-impact-awards-gala/
LOCATION:JW Marriott Parq Vancouver\, 39 Smithe Street\, Vancouver\, BC\, V6B 0R3
CATEGORIES:Partner and Community Events
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