INNOVATE - Alberta Treasury Branches Support Entrepreneurs

ATB Encourages Diversity and Development with E-Centers and a 14 Week Business Accelerator Program

The digital economy is demanding new approaches to banking and financial relationships. Alberta Treasury Branches has taken an innovative approach which could be a model for other financial institutions and provinces.

Entrepreneurial Centers in both Edmonton and Calgary are providing new business developers and innovators with a collaborative space and services that are designed to solve the issues they face. The 14 week ATB-X Business Accelerator Program helps new business owners at the market validation stage to sharpen their skills with an intensive program of curriculum, connections and community.

ATB X Cohort 4 is completing the program and Cohort 5 is gathering for a launch later this year. Bravo ATB!

Perhaps this investment will give rise to the kind of diversification needed in Alberta. Perhaps ATB will be able to integrate these programs with entrepreneurial activities already under way at the University of Calgary to encourage new business development in the province.

HEALTH - Government Pet Policies and the One Health Movement

The One Health movement focuses on the connections between human, animal and environmental health.

It is about collaborations between physicians, osteopathic physicians, veterinarians, dentists, nurses and other scientific-health and environmentally related disciplines.

University of Calgary researchers are drawing on the One Health model to help build a framework to guide the development and assessment of government policies on pets.

Applications of One Health range from infectious disease control to dog-walking for physical activity and social engagement, to the social justice implications of cultural ideas about human-animal relationships.

It looks at pets from a pet-owner’s perspective as well as the point of view of someone who doesn’t care for animals.

“We are interested in how the wording and implementation of local governments’ policies on pets could minimize the potential for harm while maximizing the benefits of pets in cities,” says Melanie Rock, Joint Associate Professor at the Cumming School of Medicine’s Department of Community Health Sciences and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Ecosystem and Public Health.

The researchers believe “A reconceptualization of healthy cities as entailing multispecies collectivities is needed because—increasingly and worldwide—people, domesticated animals and wildlife live in urbanized societies.”

Five intersecting spheres of activity, each associated with local governments' jurisdiction over pets, are presented in the research: (i) preventing threats and nuisances from pets, (ii) meeting pets' emotional and physical needs, (iii) procuring pets ethically, (iv) providing pets with veterinary services and (v) licensing and identifying pets.

Join the webinar - Pets, People and Urban Places - on January 26th to learn more about Rock’s research and how it can inform policies that could lead to better lives for people, pets and wildlife in cities.

Summit 2013 Keynote - 'The Courage to Lead'

Canada’s highest ranking basketball coach, Shawnee Harle, delivers Summit 2013 Leader’s Keynote on Saturday morning. 

A powerful woman in her own right, Harle is currently the assistant coach of the Canadian Women’s Olympic Basketball Team. She owns a wealth of international experience as player, scout, developer, leader and coach. 

Harle will draw from this experience and 18 years as Head Coach of Women’s Basketball at the University of Calgary to help leaders of the Urban Animal Industry see how they can become courageous leaders. 

A shift in communication and business paradigms has introduced volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity to the enterprise experience. More now than ever, leaders must recognize and recruit talent, engage the team to deliver a great experience and lead courageously to convert the opportunities of the Urban Animal environment.

Summit 2013 delegates can expect to be challenged, inspired, encouraged and energized!