Building for Tomorrow
Alberta has long recognized innovation, research and technology development as the building blocks for a prosperous tomorrow. Through strategic investments and partnerships, the province is creating is strong, vibrant innovation and research system.

By creating an environment that promotes collaboration and innovation, supports world-class facilities, and has the ability to attract and retain excellent people, Alberta is building a solid foundation for the future.

• Alberta has the highest number of engineers per capita, almost 1 for every 70 Albertans in the labour force.

• Alberta has approximately 7,000 information and technology (ICT) companies generating an estimated $10 billion in annual revenues and $2.6 billion in exports.

• In 2002, ICT employment totaled 54,000 in Alberta.

• Alberta leads the country in online use with 65 per cent of Alberta households accessing the Internet.

• Alberta is home to the National Institute of Nanotechnology - a $120 million state-of-the-art institute that will attract a core of the world's best minds in a field expected to revolutionize everything from computing and communications to medicine, energy and manufacturing.

• Alberta is building the world's largest broadband network. When complete. Alberta SuperNet will link 4,700 government offices, schools, health-care facilities and libraries in 422 Alberta communities.

• The Alberta Science and Research Authority estimates that by 2010, Alberta's information technology industry will employ more than 140,000 people and generate more than $30 billion in annual revenues.

Investing in the Future

By strategically investing in research infrastructure, Alberta has helped foster research excellence and a knowledge-based economy in Alberta. Those investments have helped Alberta attract and retain some of the best and brightest researchers in the world.

The Alberta Government has identified four areas of focus for its research efforts:

• Energy Research
• Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
• Life Sciences
• Nanotechnology

In Alberta's future, innovation is a key area of opportunity for the province. Investing in research and innovation today is critical to ensuring tomorrow's prosperity and quality of life. That fact is true in Alberta, and around the globe. Innovation will help Alberta to adopt new technologies and processes, which are critical in providing a competitive advantage in the global marketplace.