Five years ago, when Jane Hunter-Uhryn started working with the Regional Innovation Network (RIN) out of Grand Prairie, the region’s innovation leaders operated in silos.
“Nobody talked to each other,” she says.
Today, that has changed.
In a region spanning 200,000 square kilometres across Alberta’s northwest, collaboration has become essential. Formerly called the Grand Prairie RIN, it has recently completed a name change to better reflect the region they serve. The RIN in northwest Alberta is now Innovate Northwest: Regional Innovation Network. As manager of Innovate Northwest, Hunter-Uhryn is helping lead a shift that reflects a broader evolution in how rural innovation is being organized and supported across Canada.
The conversation around innovation often centres on cities, venture capital, and high-growth startups. But in much of rural Alberta, innovation takes a different form. It depends on infrastructure, partnerships, and building networks that can support entrepreneurs outside of major urban centres.
And this process, which could easily be tedious, is now accelerating, as Hunter-Uhryn tells Digital Journal at Inventures 2025.
[Watch the interview in full in the video below]
Building infrastructure for entrepreneurship
Still, there are structural gaps. Many entrepreneurs in the northwest work in or around oil and gas and heavy manufacturing. But the kinds of support needed, such as engineers who can do prototyping or SolidWorks drawings, are not always available locally.
“It’s really difficult sometimes for us as a RIN to find engineering support,” says Hunter-Uhryn. “So actually, we collaborate with places… some of the organizations in Edmonton to get some of the work done for them.”
This cross-regional coordination requires a shift from isolated program delivery to ecosystem building. In Hunter-Uhryn’s view, that is where regional innovation networks have matured.
Strength in collaboration
When Hunter-Uhryn first joined Innovate Northwest, there was little communication between Alberta’s various regional innovation networks. That has shifted toward a more integrated approach, where knowledge is shared and regional gaps are addressed collectively.
“I think it’s probably one of the most important things that we do,” she says. “We have become a very cohesive force in the ecosystem for really moving forward rural and early-stage innovation and entrepreneurship. We work really closely together.”
That cohesion also strengthens the case for broader investment in underserved regions. With innovation support still concentrated in Alberta’s urban centres, efforts like these point to a different model, where regional priorities shape the direction of infrastructure and funding.
[Watch the interview in full in the video below]
Expanding reach across the northwest
The next phase of growth, according to Hunter-Uhryn, will require deeper outreach. With large sections of the region still underserved, the network is looking to expand its presence and make new connections.
“We’re going to be, hopefully in the next couple of months, bringing on a contractor for a year to help us with our outreach and really make those connections that we’re currently missing,” she says.
There are also larger projects underway. One is a potential new data centre in the Municipal District of Greenview. While still in early stages, Hunter-Uhryn sees it as a possible anchor for future innovation.
“I think that’ll be a really big driver for innovation moving forward up there,” she says.
For now, the focus is on building the conditions that allow innovation to take hold across the entire region.
In a province where much of the attention remains fixed on urban technology hubs, the team in Grand Prairie is offering a different perspective. Their approach is grounded in local needs, cross-regional partnerships, and a long-term view of what it will take to ensure that innovation is not limited by geography.
Watch the interview:
This series is produced in partnership with the Alberta Regional Innovation Networks
