When asked about the biggest asset in Alberta’s innovation ecosystem, Tonya Wolfe doesn’t hesitate.
“That true synergy happens when we all come together and share expertise to be able to support that regional entrepreneur with all of the resources that we have in the entire province,” says Wolfe, who leads the Central Alberta Regional Innovation Network (CARIN) and serves as Associate Vice-President, Applied Research at Red Deer Polytechnic.
Her point reflects a broader shift in how innovation is unfolding outside major urban centres. Instead of competing for limited resources, Alberta’s Regional Innovation Networks (RINs) are increasingly pooling their strengths. This cooperative model is beginning to reshape how applied research, entrepreneurship, and economic development connect across the province.
Wolfe spoke with Digital Journal at Inventures 2025, sharing how Central Alberta is building an innovation strategy that’s local in its focus but outward in its ambition.
Connecting communities through applied research
A defining feature of CARIN is its link to post-secondary institutions, which Wolfe sees as a cornerstone for applied innovation in the region. Red Deer Polytechnic and Olds College are not just educational anchors, she explains. They act as technical partners for entrepreneurs in sectors like advanced manufacturing, energy, agriculture, and health.
This approach allows startups and early-stage companies to access domain-specific expertise, equipment, and validation processes that would otherwise be out of reach.
“Certainly our expertise in advanced manufacturing, energy, the [agriculture] sector, and healthcare sector [is] coming together to support those businesses,” Wolfe says.
Through events like the recent “Resource Roundup,” CARIN is fostering grassroots connections between entrepreneurs and local stakeholders. The event brings together startups, funders, and service providers in an informal setting to build relationships and surface new opportunities. The goal is to embed innovation within the community itself, not just attract external attention or funding.
The challenge? Moving from readiness to scale
Wolfe points out that innovation isn’t just about ideas, it’s about readiness. CARIN intentionally works at the intersection of two kinds of readiness: technology and business. Helping founders get both sides of the equation in place is a core part of the network’s value.
“We’re really blending the technology readiness levels and the business readiness levels to support not only the innovation in the entrepreneurs and startup businesses in our region, but also connecting with all the other RINs,” she says.
But once companies are ready, scaling beyond the region becomes the challenge. While CARIN’s Catalyst Incubator helps startups get off the ground, Wolfe says the bigger hurdle is growing those companies into global players without uprooting them from the community.
“The challenge with that is the scale-up part,” she says. “So how do we grow our business outside of the regionality to be able to support a global market?”
This question of scale echoes across the Canadian innovation landscape. It’s not enough to develop talent and ideas locally. Ecosystems now face pressure to build sustainable pathways for growth that extend nationally and internationally.
Strength through collaboration
Wolfe is quick to highlight that no single RIN has all the answers. The real strength lies in how they complement each other. Each region brings a unique set of strengths, from sector expertise to research capacity, and alignment across these networks is what allows entrepreneurs to access province-wide support.
“Each individual RIN has its own expertise and specialty, but that true synergy happens when we all come together,” she says.
That ethos is front and centre in CARIN’s upcoming programming. A new cohort of the Catalyst Incubator is set to bring together applied researchers from across Alberta to showcase their collaborations with startups. Rather than operating in silos, the program is designed to show how technical and business expertise can align through real-world partnerships.
“It’s in the concept of applied research,” Wolfe explains. “Bringing together that technical expertise with the business, and then sharing that as a whole community.”
By embedding research into business ecosystems, fostering grassroots connections, and linking regional strengths across networks, CARIN is making the case for a more collaborative path forward.
Wolfe’s focus is clear: build the systems that help people work together. “It’s really important to us to be able to share our successes together,” she says.
Watch the interview:
This series is produced in partnership with the Alberta Regional Innovation Networks
