What started out as a planning exercise in 2007 to see how the region’s business service providers could collaborate to support entrepreneurs, evolved into a Regional Alliance strategy as TEC Edmonton, the Northern Alberta Business Incubator (NABI) and novaNAIT identified areas where early-stage entrepreneurs needed coordinated assistance.

 

Early-stage companies require multiple business services from IP protection to prototyping, from incubation space to mentoring. Providing these services requires highly specialized teams that can work in a timely, cost efficient manner to meet the entrepreneurs’ needs. The Alliance members have formed sub-committees - in incubation, prototyping, entrepreneur education and community relations - to assist in growing the collaboration framework.
The first milestone for the Regional Alliance was signing an MOU on March 18, 2009 to coordinate the region’s business incubators. The Edmonton Research Park  and the National Institute of Nanao Technology (NINT) joined the alliance and agreed to the terms of the MOU to develop a consensus on how to coordinate business incubation services.

The latest member to join the Regional Alliance is The Business Link, bringing to the alliance a breadth of entrepreneur education resources. The Business Link helps you find information for your business, marketing or operations plan whether you are starting a business, growing your business, or moving into a new market.