Partners
BC + AI is a grassroots ecosystem, and ecosystems are made of relationships. We partner with universities, companies, communities, and regional hosts to put practical, responsible AI within reach of everyone in British Columbia. If that's the work you're in, there's a place for you here.
9 organizations, one ecosystem
Who we build with
These are the organizations we build alongside, gathering by gathering. They show up at events, in conversations, and in the work itself.
Institutional
Our home base since the first Vancouver AI meetup.
The Space Centre has welcomed Vancouver AI meetups from the start, giving the community not just a venue but an institutional anchor built around exploration, education, and wonder. Lorraine Lowe, the Space Centre’s Director, serves on our board.
Visit spacecentre.caAcademic
Computational creativity research behind our creative-AI work.
Philippe Pasquier and the Metacreation Lab were collaborating with Vancouver AI before it was fashionable. Their research into computational creativity, generative systems, and AI in the arts directly shapes our programming around creative AI.
Visit metacreation.netCommunity
Public-interest privacy mapping for Canadians.
Cloud Commons Canada is building LEON, the Local Environment Observability Node, a public-interest tool that gives Canadians a plain-language picture of where their data lives, who owns the apps they use, and what their portability rights are. Anonymized contributions feed an open dataset on Canadian app data practices, free for researchers, journalists, and policymakers. Gregory Czaplak leads the effort, and the partnership is a non-monetary alignment around digital sovereignty and data dignity.
Visit cloudcommonscanada.orgCommunity
A decade of gathering the city’s creative community.
CreativeMornings Vancouver has gathered the city’s creative community every month for more than a decade, and when AI became the conversation they were already in the room. A natural home for the intersection of creativity, technology, and community.
Visit creativemornings.comCommunity
Volunteer data professionals paired with nonprofits.
Data for Good Vancouver pairs volunteer data professionals with nonprofits that want to put their data to work, through weekend datathons, pro-bono projects, and a national volunteer network that ships. Their model maps directly onto our responsible-AI framing: data and AI in service of community impact, not the other way around. Gordon Hamilton leads the Vancouver chapter, and we are co-designing programming together.
Visit dataforgood.caCommunity
Black and Indigenous youth-led creative studio.
A Black and Indigenous youth-led creative studio building at the intersection of art, technology, and identity. Ethọ́s Lab runs AI Studios and Friday Night AI experimentation labs: spaces where young people from communities that AI is too often built about, rather than with, get to build it themselves.
Visit ethoslab.caCommunity
Our second home in Gastown.
FriendsQuarters is an event and co-working space on the edge of Gastown, with exposed brick, a bar, a back patio, and a podcast studio, run by Dean and Krista on the principle that friends make work. It is BC + AI’s second home in downtown Vancouver, hosting the intimate, off-program gatherings that round out our larger monthly meetups, including a recurring monthly AI Happy Hour.
Visit friendsquarters.comCommunity
An international AI gathering in Vancouver.
Global AI Summit brings markets, policy, and culture under one roof when it lands in Vancouver, pulling together an international audience around the question of who shapes the AI future. Our partnership with Christine Ni’s team includes community ticket access, programming exchange, and joint visibility for BC’s AI ecosystem on a global stage.
Visit globalsummit.caCommunity
A boutique, high-trust AI conference at UBC.
TruNorth AI Expo is the boutique counterpoint to oversized industry conferences, a curated, high-trust gathering at UBC centred on responsible AI: ethical, sustainable, human-centred standards that bridge government, academia, and industry. Our partnership spans speaker exchange, community ticket access, and joint programming around expo week.
Visit trunorthai.caWays to partner
Co-host
Bring a venue, a theme, or an audience and we’ll bring the community. Vancouver AI meetups, regional nights, and special-interest gatherings.
Regional chapters
Comox Valley, Surrey, Victoria, and beyond: partner to stand up a chapter where you are, with the playbook and people behind you.
Programs
Co-design or host a certification, accelerator, or working group, from creative production to responsible-AI governance.
Institutions
Universities, labs, and orgs: a direct line into BC’s AI community for research, talent, and real-world collaboration.
Start a conversation
The best partnerships start with a real conversation, not a pitch deck. Reach out and we'll figure out where it fits. Ecosystem, not empire.