Software and IT

Alberta's software industry has highly specialized and widely recognized expertise in a wide variety of business areas, including:

  • custom programming
  • digital content creation
  • e-learning
  • energy and resource industry software
  • financial and process management software
  • gaming
  • geospatial and remote sensing systems and related software
  • image processing and analysis
  • industrial process control automation
  • scientific and engineering software
  • systems integration and consulting
  • telecommunications

Business opportunities

Specific opportunities in Alberta’s software industry exist in the following areas:

  • Broadband network applications on Alberta's province-wide SuperNet fiber network. Opportunities exist in wireless last mile applications for industry, citizens and government.
  • Geospatial and remote sensing systems and software including the areas of geospatial visualization and modeling (resource management and environmental), earth observation, and sensor systems (GPS, environmental, space-based).
  • Health systems, specifically health industry initiatives focused on expanding Alberta's leadership in health information and record systems.
  • Technology fusion. Significant opportunities exist at the intersection of biotech/health, nanotechnology and information technology, especially in areas in which the province has significant capabilities, such as:
    • bioinformatics
    • diagnostics
    • enhanced wireless medical systems
    • health portals and analytic engines to simplify and organize electronic health information and processes
    • ultra sensitive hyperspectral sensors/instruments and data cube analysis systems

Education and research

Alberta’s software and IT sector enjoys access to an outstanding research community and excellent education system - including 26 world-class post-secondary institutions - providing one of the most highly educated technologically advanced work forces in North America.These colleges and universities offer the full range of software-related training programs and courses.

Academic and industry research strengths include:

  • algorithmic number theory and cryptography
  • artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning
  • bioinformatics
  • computer graphics, visualization, image analysis, robotics
  • data mining and database management
  • e-learning
  • geomatics
  • high performance computing
  • software engineering

Alberta’s academic institutions are home to numerous world-class research groups in the area of software and IT. Some of these include:

Date Updated:
RDP-2065