Life Sciences Week Alberta —Where Innovations Come Alive

Written By Preetinder Kaur

For someone who thrives in innovation and connection, Life Sciences Week Alberta feels like a festival of possibilities. It’s a week when ideas take the stage, new partnerships spark, and the life sciences community pulses with energy.

Each year, in late September (this year, September 22–26), Alberta hosts Life Sciences Week,  a province-wide celebration of biotech, health innovation, diagnostics, digital health, medical technology, and more. Recognized by Alberta Health and led by Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation (API), the event brings together researchers, entrepreneurs, students, policymakers, and industry to initiate collaboration and spotlight breakthroughs.

Over the years, Life Sciences Week has evolved into a platform for transformation, featuring networking forums, roundtables, pitch competitions, lab tours, startup showcases, panel discussions, and hands-on innovation sessions. For me, it is a celebration filled with people carrying great ideas, witnessing science and innovation working together to make Earth a better place to live, and seeing boundaries dissolve - that’s what makes it magical.

From Humble Beginnings to Provincial Showcase

Life Sciences Week is relatively new but has grown rapidly. API created the inaugural edition in 2023, aligned with the global biotech celebration, to amplify Alberta’s life sciences achievements and build momentum. In that first year, there were about 20 events with over 1,000 attendees. Today, the scale is much larger: in 2025, there are over 50 community-led events across Edmonton and Calgary, bringing together thousands from across the province and beyond.

As Life Sciences Week has grown, so has API’s ecosystem reach. What began as a modest showcase event has grown into Alberta’s flagship life sciences week, backed by a maturing innovation infrastructure that helps move discoveries toward real-world impact.

Highlights That Resonate

Here are a few moments from this year’s week that left a lasting impression on me:

  • “Innovative Solutions to Advance Equitable Access to Cervical Cancer Screening in Canada.” My week began with this roundtable, led by Carmen Wyton (Chair, Women’s Health Coalition). It involved deep brainstorming and collaborative thinking about how to improve cervical cancer screening equity in Canada. It reminded me how critical it is to centre inclusion and access in health tech innovation.

  • FemTech YEG — “Where Innovation Meets Her Health” hosted by Sandra Stabel, Kate Ellis, and Riya Ganguly. The keynote by Rachael Bartholomew was haunting in its numbers and call to action, highlighting how much work women’s health still requires in the AI and high-tech era. It underscored how far we still have to go, and inspired me to keep pushing.

  • At the Afternoon Kick-Off, Honourable Nate Glubish lauded Alberta’s innovation momentum, while Dr. Matt Anderson-Baron (Co-founder & CEO, Future Fields) shared a message that stayed with me of working on your idea, no matter how small it is.

  • Edmonton Scale-Up Stories: Live Panel Discussion, featuring: Catalina Vasquez (Co-founder & COO, Nanostics), Craig Milne (CEO, Innovotech), Loreen Wales (Founder & CEO, My Viva, moderated by Leah Sarich (Thin Air Labs), was one of the most engaging sessions of the week. In the discussion, Dr. Vasquez proudly shared that ClarityDX Prostate is now global and making a visible impact in men’s health. I loved her enthusiasm, and serving the community clearly holds a special place in her plans.

    As someone closely following Nanostics and Innovotech, I am continually inspired by their progress. Nanostics’ groundbreaking ClarityDX Prostate test is revolutionizing prostate cancer diagnostics through extracellular vesicle technology, offering precision, accuracy, and hope for early detection. Under Dr. Milne’s leadership, Innovotech continues to make great strides in antimicrobial innovation and biofilm research, providing advanced testing solutions that accelerate the path from lab discovery to clinical application and position Alberta as a strong player in global health solutions.

    Meanwhile, Loreen Wales, through her company My Viva Inc., has created a powerful digital wellness platform that blends nutrition, fitness, and mindfulness, a true reflection of her belief in holistic, personalized health empowered by technology.

Walking through the events, I felt that Life Sciences Week is more than a showcase; it is fuel. It’s a week to recharge passion, to hear voices pushing boundaries, and to anchor oneself in the idea that the long road is worthwhile when others are walking it with you.

It’s also a reminder: innovation is collective. The roads we travel to impact health, diagnostics, and therapies are complicated. But when minds and hearts come together, they make it easy.

Thank you to the sponsors, volunteers, organizers, panelists, and everyone who makes this week possible. I eagerly look forward to Life Sciences Week 2026.

References

Preetinder Kaur https://biohealthpen.com
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