City of Calgary opens new $8.2 million tech innovation centre

The City of Calgary opened a new centre for technological innovation on Monday that came with a price tag of $8.2 million.

Located in a renovated ground floor space in the city-owned Andrew Davison building downtown, the city says the Wave Tech Centre will allow various city departments and local businesses to incorporate technology into their ideas on how to deliver public services better or more cheaply.

To date, $4 million has been invested in the project, with the remainder of the costs expected to be wrapped up by 2026, according to city officials.

The federal government has contributed a total of $3.1 million to the project through the Prairies Economic Development Canada department, while the city funded 100 per cent of the tech centre's $3 million construction.

The space includes things such as 3D printers that can create objects like wheelchair ramps, and a virtual reality immersion room where models of existing city spaces can be used to develop new ideas.

Users will also have access to other emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum infrastructure, the Internet of things, cloud computing and other software, said a City of Calgary statement.

The city's chief IT officer, Jan Bradley, said she hopes the centre will help facilitate new ways to save time or money.

"It's really about 'come and try it out.' Very often our colleagues go to conferences and they hear about some great things and they want to hear more about it or they think it's a great solution," said Bradley.

"This gives them the opportunity to come and try it before you buy it."

Mayor Jyoti Gondek said the space will provide new opportunities for businesses looking to do business with the city.

"I think it's important for our city that is now recognized as the best tech workforce in North America that we provide them with more opportunities to engage with our corporation, so that we can get even better with our public service."