Provincial Digital Strategy Should be a Priority for Alberta’s Government in 2024

By Jess Sinclair, Alberta Director of Government Affairs

Albertans have been in turns battered and buoyed by the prospects of the oil and gas sector over the past decade.

Right now the price of oil is strong, and the energy sector is holding steady, but in recent years, a number of other industries have quietly made their mark on the province. 

Away from the energy cycle roller coaster, Alberta has become home to promising start-ups, attracted tech company head offices from other jurisdictions, and produced some truly remarkable scale-up firms that are taking on global markets. 

The province’s innovation economy has all the makings of an incredible success story, but it has thrived thus far without much in the way of policy or financial support from government. 

If the government intends to achieve its stated goals of creating the fastest and freest economy in Canada, innovators need more support. 

Government would do well to finalize and deliver on the long-anticipated Alberta Digital Strategy. 

The Alberta Digital Strategy was first announced in January of this year, and we applauded the government for taking this important step. This is exactly the kind of thoughtful, intentional approach to innovation policy that we want to see. 

CCI participated in the call for submissions, but innovation stakeholders have heard little on the province’s process since. Consultations on the strategy closed in February 2023.

Now, we’re looking ahead to the 2024 provincial budget, and CCI has prepared a comprehensive pre-budget submission. Many of our proposals are the same common-sense policy items that would achieve the greatest success if they were bolstered by a co-ordinated policy document like the Alberta Digital Strategy.

At a high level, in Budget 2024 we’re hoping to see things like: 

●  Thoughtful and nimble provincial procurement policy.

●  Modernization of Alberta’s intellectual property regime.

●  Addressing Alberta’s skilled labour shortage to improve access to talent for domestic innovators.

You can read CCI’s full 2024 pre-budget proposal below, but the overarching message is that Alberta has already started the work of developing a meaningful innovation strategy. Now is the time to finalize that strategy, and put some real money behind implementation in the year ahead.