Government cutting Alberta Innovates budget, setting new direction

A government agency that funds research and innovation — and helps inventors get their products to market — is set to lose a third of its provincial funding in the next two years.

Alberta Innovates has existed for more than a century under several configurations and names, such as Alberta Research Council.

The provincial government is the organization's primary source of funding. The 2025-26 budget says that a $53-million operating funding cut is coming next year. The overall budget is about $250 million.

"My job is to make sure that Albertans are getting the best bang for their buck with their tax dollars," Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish said last month in an interview with CBC News.

Glubish said his ministry and Alberta Innovates are reviewing all of the agency's programming to decide what's working and what isn't. Some agency programs are also coming to a planned end, he said.

Innovators say the uncertainty at the agency comes at a time when when global economic instability and trade chaos has made it harder to find investors to back new products that could help people.

Women's Health Coalition of Canada chair Carmen Wyton says her organization is waiting on word from Alberta Innovates about how the agency will support a global conference on women's health planned for Edmonton this September.

"If there's anything taken away from the systems that are empowering and motivating the entrepreneurs and the investors and the developers and the leaders in doing things in new ways, then that will have long-term impacts that will not only affect our well-being ... but also, our economy," Wyton said.

Alberta Innovates has been in transition for several years.

Since becoming minister in October 2022, Glubish has completely replaced the board of directors, and appointed a new chair. The board fired former CEO Laura Kilcrease in June 2024 and replaced her with an interim CEO, former University of Lethbridge president Mike Mahon. On Wednesday, Mahon was named as permanent CEO.

Glubish also appointed board chair Tony Williams, who said they were taking the agency in a new strategic direction.

Glubish's press secretary, Jonathan Gauthier, said in an email Alberta Innovates plans to approve a new strategic plan this month that focuses on "empowering Alberta's innovators, maintaining provincial leadership, and driving economic growth in key, high-impact areas."

Zack Storms, the co-founder of Edmonton-based Startup TNT, says his organization relies on Alberta Innovates funding to host networking events where inventors and investors can meet, get mentorship, and strike deals for financial backing.

The organization has raised nearly $20 million for 110 startup companies, the majority of which are based in Alberta, he said in an interview last month.

Scientists' and entrepreneurs' circumstances can change rapidly, and they need clarity soon on any changes coming to Alberta Innovates, he said.

"Speed is your friend," Storms said. "As a large innovation-serving entity, I think I can speak for everyone when I say we'd love to see the new strategy ready to go — rock 'n' roll — and as soon as we can."

Staff and board departures

Alberta Innovates is also parting ways with employees. Neither the government nor Alberta Innovates would say how many employees have left since Jan. 1, 2025, except to say eight people have departed who were at the executive director level or above.

Alberta Innovates spokesperson Nicole Shokoples said she did not yet know how many full-time jobs would be affected by the planned provincial funding cuts.

The agency referred all other questions to the government.

Glubish has appointed 15 people to the board since he became minister. Twelve of those people remain on the board.

The minister said the previous directors, who were appointed through a public recruitment process, "did not respect my requests."

Glubish said after becoming minister, he asked the board to provide a line-by-line review of every Alberta Innovates program.

"I gave them two years to do it, and they never gave me anything," Glubish said. "That's why they're the former board."

CBC News has seen an email dated April 19, 2024, sent from the organization's former CEO to David James, then Glubish's deputy minister.

"Please find attached the Alberta Innovates Program Review for 2024," the email reads.

Glubish's press secretary, Gauthier, said in a May 2 email that after a year-and-a-half of asking to see an analysis, what Alberta Innovates submitted was "unacceptably vague and full of deficiencies."

Gauthier also says disagreement over the review was one factor, but not the only reason for replacing the board.

"We need the right people in the right places to ensure Alberta is the most innovative jurisdiction in all of Canada," he wrote.

Another evolution of Alberta Innovates

Subsequent provincial governments have split apart, then re-amalgamated Alberta Innovates, along with cutting and boosting its funding.

In 2016, medical scientists at universities fretted that a 25 per cent cut to health research funding at Alberta Innovates would reduce opportunities for students and risk the province losing out on matching federal and private funding.

In 2019, the Jason Kenney UCP government said it would eliminate 125 of 670 jobs at Alberta Innovates.

The most recent provincial budget says the organization had 603 employees.

Wyton, of the women's health coalition, said the partnership has been unwavering, but staff turnover and unexpected changes at Alberta Innovates has left the coalition uncertain about what kind of help they might receive.

"It is very hard right now with any partnerships to lock them down because of the current state of economic conditions, political situations," she said.

Entrepreneurs said if Alberta Innovates is going to limit the number of programs, or streams of available funding, it should focus on making grant applications smoother.

In 2024, Alberta Innovates reported administration made up 13 per cent of its expenses.

Storms, of Startup TNT, said a program review at Alberta Innovates is justifiable if the organization is still delivering as many grants, and dispensing them with more efficiency and agility.

He also emphasized the economic value of consistent investment in innovation over time.

"A lot of it doesn't lead anywhere, but maybe five, 10, 15 years later, it actually leads to a whole new innovation ecosystem that you didn't anticipate," he said.

"You have to think in these long-term horizons. We have to make great use of these resource dollars that we have."