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Tech Advantage Tours at Web Summit Vancouver

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​On May 11, experience how Metro Vancouver’s leading academic institutions support industry partners in translating breakthrough innovation into real opportunity. The Metro Vancouver region is a launchpad for R&D and commercialization, powered by internationally recognized talent, facilities, and capabilities that give new ideas room to grow. These curated, small group tours give investors a firsthand look at the region’s highest potential sectors to kick off your Web Summit Vancouver experience.


Date: Monday, May 11, 2026

Time: Tours depart from Downtown Vancouver at 9:00 am

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Chose the right experience for y​ou.

Tech Advantage Tours: Centre for Digital Media x DigiBC Track

  • About the tour

  • About the Centre for Digital Media

    • Guests will experience CDM’s studio-based learning environment, where multidisciplinary teams of designers, developers, artists and project managers work on live industry challenges. The tour includes the Innovation Gallery, active project studios and collaborative campus spaces designed to support applied creation.

    Visitors will meet leadership and program representatives and learn how CDM partners with organizations to deliver more than 1,500 hours of applied R&D per project. The experience demonstrates how CDM functions as a talent bridge and innovation platform within Vancouver’s creative-technology ecosystem.

    The Centre for Digital Media is a Vancouver-based graduate institution and creative-technology hub where multidisciplinary teams learn by designing and building digital products that shape the future. Founded through a partnership between UBC, SFU, BCIT and Emily Carr, CDM bridges industry and education through its flagship Master of Digital Media program, Microcredentials, applied R&D collaborations and integrated commercial innovation space.

    CDM connects global organizations with emerging talent to prototype, test and launch solutions in real-world environments. As an evolving ecosystem and innovation catalyst, CDM strengthens workforce capacity and contributes to the long-term growth of BC’s digital and creative economy.

    ​​Tech Advantage Tours: Simon Fraser University Track​​

  • About the tour

  • About Simon Fraser University

    • Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a national leader in research commercialization, industry partnerships, and talent development. Guests on the SFU Surrey Campus tour will be welcomed by the Vice-President of Research and Innovation, then introduced to SFU’s strengths in Artificial Intelligence, collaborative R&D, and industry training. The tour features visits to the Smart Manufacturing Hub, IoT Lab, and Rapid Prototyping Lab, showcasing facilities that support technology development and scaleup. Attendees will meet expert faculty, view demonstrations of SFU spinoff technologies, and gain insight into SFU’s applied research and commercialization ecosystem.

    Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a comprehensive, research intensive university with campuses in Burnaby, Surrey, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Ranked as Canada’s leading innovation university for five consecutive years (WURI, 2025), SFU collaborates extensively with industry partners to turn research breakthroughs into real-world commercial and operational solutions. With strengths in artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, clean tech, agritech, and advanced materials, SFU offers investors access to world class research expertise, applied R&D infrastructure, and industry ready talent. For global investors, SFU is a trusted gateway to scalable innovation, world class research expertise, and market ready solutions.

    Tech Advantage Tours: University of British Columbia Track

  • About the tour

  • About the University of British Columbia

    • Join us for an invite-only, half-day event on May 11, 2026, at UBC’s Point Grey Campus, designed to showcase how the University of British Columbia translates world-class research into real-world impact. Targeted at industry leaders, investors, and innovation partners, the event features curated lab tours and networking with emerging UBC ventures. Throughout the tours, guests engage directly with researchers and UBC spinout companies, demonstrating UBC’s strength in building innovation ecosystems, accelerating commercialization, and generating measurable health, environmental, and economic impact locally and globally.

    Guests will be able to chose between three different themes:

    Life Sciences Tour: How UBC is Transforming Healthcare for Global Impact

    This Life Sciences themed lab tour will feature some of the prolific research being translated into life-saving medicines; the achievements of bio-medical engineering and robotics; and the infrastructure being built to help scale a thriving bio-manufacturing ecosystem. This will be an exciting look at the future of healthcare innovation. This tour will highlight breakthroughs in biomedical engineering, immuno-engineering, biomanufacturing, robotics, and advanced therapeutics, including pioneering work in lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology that enabled mRNA vaccines.

    Mining & Critical Minerals Tour: Meet the Next Generation of Innovators Transforming the Mining Sector

    This Mining and Critical Minerals themed lab tour highlights the innovations poised to drive change to our global Energy sector. From research transforming mining, solutions that are helping us better understand the genomic impact on mine-sites; the technologies built to accelerate decarbonization; to the commercial opportunities being created through UBC spinout companies. This tour will focus on sustainable mining innovations such as biomining and quantum sensing technologies that support decarbonization and responsible resource development.

    Cleantech & Renewable Resources Tour: How UBC is Scaling Cutting-Edge Renewable Resource Solutions

    This climate themed lab tour will feature researchers and Ventures tackling challenges in carbon removal and renewable resources, along with a demonstration of how the convergence of robots and chemistry is paving the way for new and innovative cleantech solutions (Vocus, the super-nose and a Self-Driving Lab 7). This tour will showcase scalable solutions in carbon removal, renewable materials, and bio-based alternatives to petrochemicals, supported by commercialization-ready research and startup incubation.

    The University of British Columbia is a global centre for research and teaching, consistently ranked among the top public universities in the world. Since 1915, UBC’s entrepreneurial spirit has embraced innovation and challenged the status quo. UBC encourages its students, staff and faculty to challenge convention, lead discovery and explore new ways of learning. At UBC, bold thinking is given a place to develop into ideas that can change the world.

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    Invest Vancouver acknowledges that the region’s residents live, work, and learn on the shared territories of many Indigenous Peoples, including 10 local First Nations: q̓ic̓əy̓(Katzie), q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen), kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), máthxwi (Matsqui), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), qiqéyt (Qayqayt), Semiahmoo, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), scəw̓aθən məsteyəxʷ (Tsawwassen) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh).

    Invest Vancouver respects the diverse and distinct histories, languages, and cultures of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit.

    View Metro Vancouver's translated territorial acknowledgment

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