Alberta Inventors and Inventions - Private Sector Policy

The Alberta Informatics Circle of Research Excellence (iCore) was established by the Government of Alberta in October 1999 and fosters Alberta's expanding community of information and communications technology research in the province's universities. iCore is governed by a board of directors and operates on a day-to-day basis to create and support teams of world-class information and communications technology (ICT) researchers and their projects.

According to their website, iCore invests in people, world-caliber researchers and technicians who work in both fundamental and applied research information and communication technology. Through the operation of its grant programs, iCore hopes to develop the ICT industry in Alberta, growing from its current $8 billion CDN per year to a projected $30 billion CDN per year by 2010.

Alberta has the highest per capita spending rates on ICT research and development in North America and iCore is involved in the majority of this research. One of Alberta's strongest assets to ICT development is the province's advanced infrastructure. Several major electronic networks have been installed in Alberta for high-speed information sharing between researchers.

iCore's current strategy has created a taskforce with a mandate to look at current investments in ICT infrastructure and programs and make recommendations for Alberta's future. A similar study has taken place in the United States and concluded that "a new age has dawned in scientific and engineering research, pushed by continuing progress in computing, information, and communication technology, and pulled by the expanding complexity, scope and scale of today's challenges." This study recommends a program to develop cyber infrastructure that would support scientific and engineering research among various agencies, universities and industries. iCore believes that this interconnection between all elements of ICT is essential for the continued development of this sector in Alberta.