Dear CEOs,

Welcome to Field Notes, CCI’s new summer newsletter.

This series is built from the kind of on-the-ground work CCI takes seriously. We spend a lot of time in the cities where Canada’s most ambitious companies are being built. We meet the founders, CEOs, investors, operators, public servants, and community leaders who shape those places. And we try to understand not just what companies are building, but the conditions they are building in.

Over the summer, we’ll send dispatches from across the country. Each one will highlight the companies and entrepreneurs CCI is proud to work with, along with the parts of these cities that make them great places to build: the coffee shops where you can meet an investor, the restaurants that work for a private board dinner, and the places where you can catch up on work between calls.

First stop: Calgary.

I always love visiting Calgary. It rises out of the prairie like a phoenix of skyscrapers, with the mountains holding the horizon behind it. It is a city that has had to rise more than once. Its economy has been shaped by global oil shocks, commodity cycles, and constant change. But what I appreciate most about Calgary is the resilience and determination of its business leaders. The people I’ve met there are in it for the long run.

The builders I’ve spent time with in Calgary are entrepreneurial, but not in a performative way. They are practical, commercially minded, and clear-eyed about what it takes to build when capital is tighter, customers are more cautious, and governments are still figuring out what it means to be serious buyers of Canadian technology.

And yes, it is Stampede season. But don’t think for a second that between the pancake breakfasts and chuckwagon races, business leaders are not talking about productivity, energy, AI adoption, capital, procurement, and economic sovereignty. This year, more than ever, those issues are on the minds of Calgary’s business community.

That’s why the country should be paying closer attention to what is being built here.

In this week’s edition, we spotlight NanoTess and its dual-use wound-care technology, and meet Tate Hackert, the CEO of ZayZoon and co-founder of House 831. Plus: a recap of CCI’s recent Innovator Exchange on IP, and a curated directory of our favourite spaces in the city we think you'll enjoy. First up is Jess Sinclair, with a view from the ground in Alberta.

Happy reading,

Patrick

Patrick Searle is the Chief Executive Officer of the Council of Canadian Innovators, a national member-based organization reshaping how governments across Canada think about innovation policy, and supporting homegrown scale-ups to drive prosperity. If you are interested in learning more about the Council or joining our cause, get in touch.

ON THE GROUND

Across Alberta, there is a growing recognition that the next chapter of the province’s economy will depend not only on the assets it develops, but on the value its companies are able to own, protect, and keep here. That is why the new Alberta IP Office matters. It puts a sharper focus on intellectual property, commercialization, and the supports that help domestic companies scale without giving away the pieces that make them valuable.

For CCI, this is one of the files we are watching closely. Alberta has deep strengths in energy, agriculture, health, industrial technology, and applied AI, but it also has the kind of customers that can help younger firms become serious companies. That part matters more than people sometimes admit. Companies do not scale on encouragement alone. They need buyers, reference customers, capital, talent, and a policy environment that understands the difference between supporting innovation and helping companies actually grow.

That means better pathways into public procurement. It means helping founders think about IP earlier. It means making sure traditional sectors have the tools and incentives to adopt Canadian-built technology. And it means treating Calgary not just as an energy capital, but as a place where commercially disciplined technology companies are already being built.

The encouraging thing is that many of the right pieces are already here. The question is whether Alberta can move quickly enough to help more of these companies become large, durable businesses while the value is still anchored in the province.

Jess Sinclair is the Director of Prairie Affairs for the Council of Canadian Innovators. She can be reached at jsinclair@canadianinnovators.org and on LinkedIn.

BUILT HERE

NanoTess

Headquartered in the city, NanoTess is building advanced materials technology for wound care. Its work sits at the intersection of health, nanotechnology, and commercialization, with products designed around real clinical problems rather than a vague promise of disruption.

Its lead product, NanoSALV Catalytic, is a Health Canada-authorized medical device used by physicians, surgeons, and healthcare systems across Canada. The product is powered by the company’s proprietary catalytic technology, CTM, which uses micron-scale catalysts on injured tissue to help restore the biochemical signals involved in healing.

In April, NanoTess announced new Government of Canada funding to adapt its commercialized civilian technology for defence applications. The announcement is a useful example of what dual-use innovation can look like when it starts from a real clinical product, not a theoretical defence concept. NanoTess has already taken CTM from early-stage R&D into a hospital-grade product, and the new funding will support work to prepare that technology for more difficult environments, including military operations, disaster zones, and situations where evacuation or access to care may be delayed.

That is what makes the company interesting in a Calgary issue. NanoTess is not only a health technology story. It is also an IP story, a commercialization story, and a reminder that some of the most important dual-use technologies may come from companies already solving hard civilian problems.

Read more about NanoTess and their recent announcement here.

Explore more Calgary companies on the CCI website.

ONE TO WATCH

Tate Hackert, CEO of ZayZoon

Tate Hackert is worth watching because his work says something about both the companies being built in Calgary and the rooms where those companies are forming.

The first part is ZayZoon. As CEO, he is helping lead a Calgary-founded fintech company serving employers and workers well beyond the city. It is a reminder that Calgary companies can scale in categories that do not fit the old assumptions about the local economy.

The second part is House 831.

Co-founded by Hackert, House 831 is a clubhouse for founders, builders, and creators in Calgary. That may sound like a small thing, but it is not. Strong business communities are not built only through formal programs, panels, and pitch competitions. They are built in places where ambitious people run into each other often enough to compare notes honestly, share what is working, and build enough trust that the next conversation can go a little deeper.

That is what makes House 831 interesting. It feels like Calgary founders creating the kind of room they wanted to exist, rather than waiting for the ecosystem to organize itself around them.

SEEN & HEARD

Earlier this spring at the Deloitte offices in downtown Calgary, CCI hosted an Innovator Exchange focused on Alberta’s intangible economy.

The conversation was timely because Alberta has always understood the importance of owning strategic assets, but in today’s economy more of that value is found in intellectual property, data, patents, and the other intangible assets companies build as they scale.

The session brought together innovators, investors, and ecosystem leaders to discuss Alberta’s IP strategy and the establishment of a new Alberta IP Office through Alberta Innovates. Patrick joined Dr. Terry Rock from Alberta Innovates, Alison Sunstrum of CNSRV-X, and Kevin Dahl of ElevateIP and Innovate Calgary for a discussion that was less about IP as a legal concept and more about IP as a business issue.

That distinction matters. Too often, founders think about intellectual property only once a lawyer forces the conversation, or once a funder asks a question they are not ready to answer. But for companies building in advanced industries, ownership has to be part of the company-building strategy from the beginning.

The Calgary conversation kept coming back to that point. Alberta has the talent, industrial customers, research capacity, and founder discipline to build globally competitive companies, but more of those companies need to understand what they own, how to protect it, and how to make sure the value created here does not quietly move somewhere else.

Read the full event recap here.

THE CCI DIRECTORY

A short guide for the next time you are in Calgary for a board meeting, investor conversation, policy roundtable, or a few days of Stampede-season business.

Where to Take an Investor Coffee

Lukes Drug Mart

Not your standard coffee meeting, which is the point. Lukes is part pharmacy, part café, part record store, and very much its own thing. It is a good Calgary pick when you want to show your investor that you think differently and you want the meeting to feel casual, local, and a little more interesting than another hotel lobby.

Where to Host a Board Dinner

The Wednesday Room on Stephen Ave, and Deane House along the Bow River offer great private dining options and delicious fare. If you’re looking for a place for lunch amongst friends, Ten Foot Henry and Bonterra Trattoria are standouts.

Where to Work Between Meetings

Calgary Central Library

Worth visiting even if you do not need a place to work. The Central Library’s wood-clad entry arches are inspired by the Chinook cloud formations common to Alberta, and the building is one of the better reminders that public infrastructure can still be beautiful, useful, and ambitious at the same time.

Where to Gather After the Event

Inglewood, Calgary's historic neighbourhood, is home to many of the city's funkiest breweries, like Cold Garden and The Dandy Brewing Company. Calgary also has six of Canada's top bars, with Missy’s This That and Shelter Cocktail Bar near the top of the list.

Where to Stay

Hotel Arts is locally owned, and The Dorian is part of the Autograph Collection and features a great rooftop bar. If you're staying at the Hyatt Regency, request a room that faces away from the C-Train tracks.

Next week, we head to Montréal. Have a great weekend!