BUSINESS

Innovative Alberta

Across the province and across industries, companies are driving innovation.

By Allison Cross

AMA Travel’s new My Travel Dream planner creates custom itineraries based on user input. | PHOTO: COURTESY OF AMA

In Alberta, innovation is everywhere: businesses big and small are adopting new technology, re-thinking service models and finding smarter ways to work. And it’s not just in labs — it is happening all around us, often behind the scenes.

From travel planning to food rescue and logistics, here’s how some made-in-Alberta organizations are turning innovation into practical solutions and better experiences for the people they serve. AMA: bringing travel dreams to life

A trip doesn’t begin at the airport or in the driveway. It starts with a dream — and then comes the planning. AMA Travel set out to better support these travel dreams by launching a new website designed to bring inspiration, planning and booking together in one place.

Along with a broader wave of tech innovation across AMA, the new website includes 270 destination pages to inspire, alongside new features like the My Dream Travel planner.

“At AMA, we’re there for our members, however they choose to plan their travels. Whether with a counsellor or online, our members can be confident that they have the support of our trusted travel experts along the way,” says Lisa Kramps, director of travel products at AMA.

AMA Travel’s My Travel Dream helps users turn a few details — such as destination goals and travel group size — into tailored experiences.

Pulling from content curated by AMA travel experts, the tool helps turn “what if” moments into real plans, making it easier to dream, reflect and get started.

These digital tools are complemented by direct access to AMA’s more than 140 travel experts, meaning travellers can easily combine online planning and direct support.

“Our website is digitally enabled, but human-powered. It brings together the trust our members have come to have, with the modern touch they expect,” Kramps says. “Whether online or with a travel counsellor, it’s about creating a more personalized journey from start to finish.”

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(From left) Knead founder Lourdes Juan; a pickup of locally grown potatoes from a grocery store. | PHOTOS: COURTESY OF COLIN WAY; COURTESY OF LOURDES JUAN

Knead Technologies: tackling the food rescue challenge After a large sporting event, thousands of pounds of food can go unsold and uneaten. What happens to the leftovers? This question prompted Lourdes Juan to found Knead Technologies, a Calgary-based, mobile-friendly food-rescue platform. Juan is committed to improving food security and reducing food waste. Large events tend to produce a lot of excess food. Non-profits that sign up with Knead can connect with event organizers to facilitate the pickup of uneaten food that is still safe to eat, then distribute it to community members in need. Local partnerships include the Leftovers Foundation (also founded by Juan), but Knead’s work is gaining traction elsewhere as well. “We partnered with the WNBA in Phoenix and picked up food leftovers from their All-Star Game a couple years ago,” Juan says. So far, Knead Technologies has 9,000 users across North America, supported by an eight-person team working out of Calgary and Edmonton. Clients can coordinate food pickups from restaurants, casinos and convention centres, and track the impact of their food rescues in terms of emissions reductions. As food rescue grows, Knead intends to scale alongside it. “Food rescue is really growing rapidly, and we want to support other food recovery organizations across the world to make it more commonplace,” Juan says. “There is so much food to be rescued, there are so many people who want to do it — and there are so many people who want to have that food.”

“Food rescue is really growing rapidly, and we want to support other food recovery organizations across the world to make it more commonplace.”

(From left) ShipAlberta’s online platform interface; a ShipAlberta team at work; Kamyar Asadibeiky, centre, at ShipAlberta’s launch. | PHOTOS: COURTESY OF MACHOOL

ShipAlberta: making shipping more affordable for small businesses For small and medium-sized businesses in Alberta, affordable and reliable shipping has traditionally been complicated, says Kamyar Asadibeiky. “Larger companies can negotiate contracts with carriers and have dedicated logistics teams managing operations,” he says. “Small and medium-sized businesses are often doing everything themselves, while still not necessarily getting the best deals for themselves or their customers.” This disparity prompted Asadibeiky to help create ShipAlberta, a logistics platform launched in 2025 as a partnership between Edmonton International Airport, Edmonton Global, Port Alberta and Machool Technologies. On the ShipAlberta platform, Alberta businesses can search for competitive shipping rates, create labels, process returns and automate shipping to different markets. “A business in Lethbridge selling specialty foods, a Calgary apparel brand or an Edmonton outdoor gear company can now access the same kind of shipping capabilities that large national retailers use,” he says. ShipAlberta also gives companies access to business intelligence within the platform. “Shipping data can tell businesses a lot about where their customers are, how costs impact margins and how they might expand into new markets,” Asadibeiky says. “Ultimately, the goal is to make shipping feel less like an operational challenge and more like a growth engine for Alberta businesses.” AMA

AMA Registries: Turning Ideas into Action Innovation doesn’t just happen in labs and startups. It’s also in how businesses get off the ground. AMA Registries is helping support Alberta entrepreneurs by offering tools that make starting and running a business simpler, faster and more streamlined.

Through initial supports like AMA Registries’ personalized Startup Checklist, new business owners are guided step-by-step through the key considerations and decisions to tackle before taking the step to register their business.

Once they’re ready to launch, the online AMA Business Suite brings everything together in one place — reducing administrative loads and making it easy to register a business, manage corporate documents and stay on top of key requirements from day one.

For established companies, AMA Registries offers services such as auto-renewal and helping to file annual returns on time. By reducing paperwork and streamlining administrative work, AMA Registries is helping create more space for Alberta businesses to focus on their growth and innovation.

Ready to take advantage of all that AMA Registries offers?

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