Alberta is in Paris for VivaTech to Showcase Province as ‘AI Intuitive’ Tech and Talent Hub

Alberta is making its presence known on the global stage via attendance at VivaTech 2026.

The annual event for technology, now celebrating its 10th edition, draws 180,000 attendees who discover 14,000 startups and innovators.

Minister of Technology Nate Glubish is there this week to explore opportunities for transatlantic collaboration in digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence.

“No government in Canada has adopted AI faster than Alberta,” posits Glubish.

“We have saved tens of millions of dollars and our services are getting better, faster, and smarter because of [AI],” he suggests.

Alberta’s AI Data Centre Strategy, “Powering the Future of Artificial Intelligence,” outlines how Alberta will attract AI data centre investment and development.

The province currently has one gigawatt of AI data centre capacity in the pipeline.

“We are building on that lead,” Glubish says, pointing to world-class research capacity from Amii and “sovereign AI infrastructure within reach of every government, academic, business, and citizen.”

The Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute is one of three national Canadian AI centres of excellence and recognized globally as one of the top five AI research institutes.

The University of Alberta recently ranked top in Canada for AI in the U.S. News Best Global Universities Rankings.

“That is the Alberta story,” Glubish believes, “and I am taking it to the world stage at VivaTech.”

The minister’s itinerary includes a bilateral meeting with Ms. Dorothée Bär, German federal minister for Research, Technology and Space, to explore partnership opportunities around AI.

Glubish will also deliver a keynote speech focusing on how Alberta is becoming a preferred destination for AI data centre investment in North America due to a combination of energy capacity, cold climate, and modernized privacy framework—fostering an ideal environment for investments to thrive.

Indeed, Alberta is aiming to be “the most AI-intuitive government in Canada.”

This mission includes the launch of the AI Academy, a free digital resource, as well as a goal to train 7,000 public service employees on AI to make services better for residents.

At last year’s VivaTech, Calgary Economic Development supported eight Calgary-based companies representing the city, including Binoloop, BlueMarvel.AI, Drishya.ai, Illumia Labs, Micro Engineering Tech, Motiv Studio, Sylvester.ai, ZeroKey, Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, LaundryWell, and RUNWITHIT Synthetics.