{"id":2185,"date":"2017-03-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.innovationanthology.com\/import\/2018\/02\/01\/innovation-anthology-851\/"},"modified":"2018-05-10T03:23:39","modified_gmt":"2018-05-10T03:23:39","slug":"innovation-anthology-851","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.innovationanthology.com\/import\/2017\/03\/07\/innovation-anthology-851\/","title":{"rendered":"#851: !Spark Incubator Gets $400,000 For GP Entrepreneurs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/innovationanthology.com\/uploads\/Innovation Anthology 851.mp3\">Download MP3 Link<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\"><br style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\" \/><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\">One of the latest recipients of funding from the Alberta Entrepreneur Incubator Initiative of Alberta Innovates is the<\/span><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\">&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\">Grande Prairie Community Futures program called !Spark.<\/span><br style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\" \/><br style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\" \/><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\">Holly Sorgen is Executive Director of the Community Futures program.<\/span><br style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\" \/><br style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\" \/><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\">As she explains, the $400,000 grant over two years will significantly boost start-up support for entrepreneurs in the Grande Prairie region.<\/span><br style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\" \/><br style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\" \/><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">HOLLY SORGEN: <\/span>&nbsp;<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">What we&#8217;ve been seeing for the last little bit is an increase in the number of clients coming through the door who are looking at how they can take skill sets and their careers and put them into an entrepreneurial setting. &nbsp;So it&#8217;s a perfect timing.<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\">&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><br style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\" \/><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\">These dollars, &nbsp;provide the opportunity for the !SPARK business incubator to be more than physical space. &nbsp;It allows us to do concierge services for the clients and identify what their needs are, to help them put together action plans, to provide all of the support they need to create business plans, and to do some training and stuff like that.<\/span><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><br style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\" \/><br style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\" \/><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\">Holly Sorgen says !SPARK will serve a population base of over 100,000 people and it will help diversify the local economy beyond the core industries of agriculture, forestry and energy.<\/span><br style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\" \/><br style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\" \/><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\">Thanks today to <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">ALBERTA INNOVATES<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"><br style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\" \/><br style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\" \/><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\">Learn more at InnovationAnthology.com<\/span><br style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\" \/><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"><br style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\" \/><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 51, 51);\">I&#8217;M CHERYL CROUCHER<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Guest<\/h2>\n<h3> , <\/h3>\n<h4>, , , , <\/h4>\n<h2>Sponsor<\/h2>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/www.albertainnovates.ca\">Alberta Innovates<\/a><\/h3>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_4  et_pb_column_1\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_text et_pb_module et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_text_align_left  et_pb_text_0\">\n<div class=\"page\" title=\"Page 2\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\">\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Alberta Innovates<\/span> is a provincially funded Corporation with a mandate to deliver 21st century solutions for the most compelling challenges facing Albertans. We do this by building on our province&rsquo;s research and technology development strengths in the core sectors of health, environment, energy, food and fibre and platforms such as artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and omics. We are working with our partners to diversify Alberta&rsquo;s economy, improve our environmental performance and enhance our well-being through research and innovation.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"et_pb_text et_pb_module et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_text_align_left  et_pb_text_0\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"et_pb_text et_pb_module et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_text_align_left  et_pb_text_0\">The Alberta Innovates system has roots stretching back almost 90 years  \t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"et_pb_text et_pb_module et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_text_align_left  et_pb_text_1\">\n<p>In March, 2016 the consolidation of Alberta Innovates was announced  and on November 1, a single, integrated innovation powerhouse, Alberta  Innovates, was formed. Two applied research subsidiaries &#8211; Innotech Alberta and C-Fer Technologies &#8211;&nbsp; serve public and private sector interests.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"et_pb_text et_pb_module et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_text_align_left  et_pb_text_2\">\n<p>The Alberta Innovates system was first created in January 2010, as  part of an overall innovation framework developed within the Alberta  Research and Innovation Act. At that time, four corporations were  established:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bio Solutions<\/li>\n<li>Energy and Environment Solutions<\/li>\n<li>Health Solutions<\/li>\n<li>Technology Futures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Alberta Innovates system has a 90-year legacy. Our expertise is built on the successes of:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Alberta Institute for Agriculture<\/li>\n<li>Forestry and the Environment<\/li>\n<li>Alberta Agricultural Research Institute<\/li>\n<li>Alberta Forestry Research Institute<\/li>\n<li>Alberta Life Sciences Institute<\/li>\n<li>Alberta Ingenuity<\/li>\n<li>Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research<\/li>\n<li>Alberta Research Council<\/li>\n<li>iCORE<\/li>\n<li>nanoAlberta<\/li>\n<li>Alberta Water Research Institute (AWRI)<\/li>\n<li>Alberta Energy Research Institute (AERI)<\/li>\n<li>Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority (AOSTRA).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/innovationanthology.com\/uploads\/ian logo AI LOGO_COLOUR.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Program Date:<\/strong>\u00a02017-03-07<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Holly Sorgen outlines how a $400,000 grant from Alberta Innovates&#8217; <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Alberta Entrepreneur Incubator Initiative <\/span>will support start-ups in the Grande Prairie region of Alberta <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">(Alberta Innovates)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,45,39,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alberta-innovates","category-entrepreneurship-commercialization","category-funding","category-women-in-science","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.innovationanthology.com\/import\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.innovationanthology.com\/import\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.innovationanthology.com\/import\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.innovationanthology.com\/import\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.innovationanthology.com\/import\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2185"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.innovationanthology.com\/import\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5385,"href":"http:\/\/www.innovationanthology.com\/import\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2185\/revisions\/5385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.innovationanthology.com\/import\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.innovationanthology.com\/import\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.innovationanthology.com\/import\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}