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Manitoba Tech Week: An Iconic Manitoba Celebration in the Making

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This article was published 26/02/2024 (596 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba companies will be touting the tech and innovation that makes them tick from February 26^th through March 3^rd during the first-ever Manitoba Tech Week. Promising something for everyone, Manitoba Tech Week offers workshops, networking, speakers and events to connect tech enthusiasts and experts while highlighting the role technology plays in Manitoba’s economy. Highlights of the schedule include a cybersecurity-themed escape room, a fabrication lab open house, an in-person event with Bill Nye the Science Guy, and the Manitoba Tech Awards.

“It’s a way to bring Manitobans together with companies operating in this exciting space, who are growing their companies here, to get information straight from the source” says Tech Manitoba’s CEO, Kelly Fournel. “Tech Week is meant to be a movement that showcases the broad category of tech companies in Manitoba, and to highlight the diverse education and career options that will serve you well in a tech company, but also in every traditional industry that now has a greater reliance on technology, too. It’s a fun way to let Manitobans know that we’ve got really innovative organizations here, which are vital to Manitoba’s future.”

There’s an opportunity on the table, explains Fournel, for Manitoba to consider how might innovation and technology support the achievement of our priorities. What skills do we need to support digital transformations underway in our sectors? Are students graduating with foundational digital literacy skills? How do we strategically support our existing employees to upskill, so they may transition to supporting emerging needs within their organizations, and not get left behind? No matter where you live, or what job you do, technology adoption is happening or will happen at greater scale very soon. Let’s be strategic about it, to ensure all Manitobans can benefit from the knowledge economy.

“We’re raising the profile of the role that innovation, upskilling and tech adoption can play for businesses here in Manitoba and [let them know] that they don’t have to do it alone,” says Fournel. “They have expertise here in Manitoba that they can tap into, so businesses of any size can figure out what’s best for their company, their employees, and find success because they figured out how digital adoption and employee training support enhanced performance.”

Tech Manitoba aims to make Manitoba the most diverse, equitable and inclusive tech sector in Canada. To reach that goal, the association identified a need to ensure that the province’s diversity was reflected in the sector by starting initiatives like Manitoba Tech Week, to help address the barriers that prevent underrepresented groups from getting involved in technology-related education, employment, and entrepreneurship.

“Part of our strategy is to celebrate what’s happening in Manitoba’s technology sector, but also to be a really good connector in ways that help newcomers, youth, women and

Indigenous Manitobans in particular, find pathways, where they see themselves having an exciting future. There are lots of great organizations in Manitoba who offer programs and services to help address barriers to gaining education, employment and start-up supports. No one organization can do it all, which is why we want to showcase as many events as possible during Manitoba Tech Week, to make it easy for anyone interested in learning more, about any particular tech-topic to participate, and to connect to the event’s host organization.”

There are several options for tech enthusiasts to get involved with the sector outside of Manitoba Tech Week as well. There are weekly networking events and meetup groups with a good mix of in-person and virtual events. Fournel recommends people sign up for the Tech Manitoba newsletter, found on techmanitoba.ca on the bottom of their webpage, to learn more about events they host, as well as opportunities put on by other industry associations, post-secondaries, and other local companies.

Manitoba Tech Week is organized by Tech Manitoba, a provincial, non-profit industry association, with the support from their sponsors: Skip the Dishes, Online Business Systems, and the University of Manitoba. To see the full schedule of events, visit mbtechweek.ca.