Recurring rooms
The association keeps public rooms in Vancouver, Fraser Valley (FV+AI), and the Comox Valley. See what is next on the events calendar, or join the year-round network through membership.
Photos: Kris Krüg · Tristan Brand · Michelle Diamond
Four recent gatherings, four different rooms. Each frame links to that event’s recap.
How the ecosystem is developing
British Columbia is developing its AI ecosystem through member-driven community infrastructure, post-secondary research, public programs, and industry activity concentrated in Vancouver. BC + AI is the practitioner community layer: people building with AI, affected by it, or thinking critically about it, meeting across professions in the same recurring rooms.
Discussion turns into capability through professional programs: the Responsible AI Professional certification for decision-makers and practitioners, the AI Animation & Filmmaking Accelerator with Tiny Ghost Studios, and the AI Upgrade for Creative Professionals. Cohorts, pricing, and registration live on the certification pages.
The association also carries a public voice. It advocates for community AI infrastructure, procurement paths for local companies, responsible adoption by small businesses, regional access, clean compute, and making privacy and accountability real. The FAQ carries the full advocacy answer.
The work is documented in public. Event pages keep the photos, recaps, and talks; the news archive carries the long-form record; the changelog shows the site changing week by week. That public memory outlives any single program or cohort.
The ecosystem at a glance
The association’s own figures come from the same shared stats that feed the homepage and the About page, with the definition beside each number. Province-wide figures join the table once each one has a dated public source.
| Metric | Figure | What it counts | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Association members | 300+ | Members of the nonprofit: founding membership, not Discord reach and not meetup attendance. | About: the story and public proof |
| Documented events since 2023 | 94+ | Gatherings, programs, and events documented in the public archive since the community began in 2023. | Events archive |
| Total event attendance | 3,000+ | Total attendance across gatherings, programs, and events, not unique people. | About: the story and public proof |
| Active regional rooms | 3 | Vancouver, the Fraser Valley (FV+AI, Langley to Chilliwack), and the Comox Valley. | Communities index |
| Community running since | 2023 | Community programs have run since 2023. The nonprofit incorporated on August 22, 2025. | FAQ: organization and governance |
| AI companies based in British Columbia | TODO: needs source. No dated public count is recorded in the fact ledger yet. | ||
| People working in AI in British Columbia | TODO: needs source. Needs a dated public figure, for example from Statistics Canada or a published ecosystem report. | ||
| Venture investment into AI companies in BC | TODO: needs source. Needs a dated public figure from a published investment report. | ||
| Public funding committed to AI in BC | TODO: needs source. Needs dated government funding announcements, recorded program by program. | ||
Research institutions
The research layer shows up in the rooms as much as in the labs. The Mind, AI, and Consciousness deep dives run at SFU VentureLabs downtown, and BC universities, including UBC, SFU, and UVic, produce internationally competitive graduates in AI and life sciences, a point the Wild Salmon proposal builds on.
Research university
The University of British Columbia
Part of the university layer that gives BC internationally competitive graduates in AI and life sciences.
Research university
Simon Fraser University
Hosts rooms as well as research: the Mind, AI, and Consciousness deep dives meet at SFU VentureLabs downtown.
Research university
University of Victoria
With UBC and SFU, part of the graduate pipeline the coalition work on this site describes.
Academic research lab
Metacreation Lab at Simon Fraser University
Computational creativity research that directly shapes the association’s creative-AI programming.
Companies and labs
No company list renders here yet, and that is deliberate. A company appears by name once its entry carries a dated public source recorded in the ledger and the list has passed human review. An empty slot beats an unverifiable list.
Program partners are already part of the public record: the AI Animation & Filmmaking Accelerator runs with Tiny Ghost Studios, and each certification page names the people and studios behind it.
Applied AI companies
Awaiting sourced entries. This slot stays visibly empty until each name has a dated public source and human sign-off.
Industry research labs
Awaiting sourced entries. This slot stays visibly empty until each name has a dated public source and human sign-off.
Creative AI studios
Awaiting sourced entries. This slot stays visibly empty until each name has a dated public source and human sign-off.
Life sciences and health AI
Awaiting sourced entries. This slot stays visibly empty until each name has a dated public source and human sign-off.
Funding and public programs
These public bodies shape how AI work in British Columbia is funded and commercialized. A name on this list describes the landscape; it is not a funding or partnership claim about BC + AI. Backing and recognition appear on the government and funders page after verification and approval.
Provincial ministry
Ministry of Jobs and Economic Growth
Provincial office
Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence and New Technologies
An office inside the Ministry of Jobs and Economic Growth, not a separate ministry.Provincial body
Innovate BC
Provincial service
Trade and Invest BC
A provincial service delivered through the ministry above, not an independent body.National innovation cluster
Digital Global Innovation Cluster (DIGITAL)
A cluster layer for commercialization and co-investment, not a member room.Federal regional development agency
Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCan)
Federal department
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED)
Dollar figures for public AI funding in BC sit in the metrics table above and stay as visible placeholders until each has a dated public source.
BC, Toronto, and Montreal
BC gets compared with Toronto and Montreal constantly, usually without sources. This table takes the other route: a cell fills in with a cited public figure and stays a visible placeholder otherwise.
| What to compare | British Columbia | Toronto | Montreal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Practitioner community layer | BC + AI: 300+ members of the nonprofit with recurring rooms in 3 regions. | TODO: needs source. Fills in with a cited public figure after human review. | TODO: needs source. Fills in with a cited public figure after human review. |
| Research universities | UBC, SFU, and UVic. | TODO: needs source. Fills in with a cited public figure after human review. | TODO: needs source. Fills in with a cited public figure after human review. |
| Documented community events since 2023 | 94+ in the public archive. | TODO: needs source. Fills in with a cited public figure after human review. | TODO: needs source. Fills in with a cited public figure after human review. |
| Flagship annual gathering | Futureproof Festival, Vancouver, October 2026. | TODO: needs source. Fills in with a cited public figure after human review. | TODO: needs source. Fills in with a cited public figure after human review. |
Empty cells are deliberate. A Toronto or Montreal figure lands here with a citation to a dated public source, and never without one.
Adjacent ecosystem layers
British Columbia’s AI work is not one organization. These are adjacent layers. People use more than one of them. They are not enemies, and they are not interchangeable.
Recurring rooms / practitioner association
BC + AI
A member-powered nonprofit. People return to the same rooms, teach, document the work, and build a public voice together.
Industry network / directory / partnerships
AInBC
An industry network that publishes a directory and works on partnerships. A different operating model from recurring practitioner rooms.
Commercialization / co-investment cluster
DIGITAL
The Digital Global Innovation Cluster, styled DIGITAL. A cluster layer for commercialization and co-investment, not a member room.
Government investment narrative
britishcolumbia.ca
The provincial government investment story. Trade and Invest BC’s public narrative about investing in British Columbia.
BC + AI does not replace a directory, a cluster, or a government investment page. It is the room where practitioners keep showing up.
Watch the rooms
The association records what happens in the rooms and publishes it. Three recordings from different corners of the province’s AI work, with the rest in the video archive.
FAQ
- Why does B.C. need this kind of AI community?
- AI lands inside every profession, not inside a tidy AI sector. The people dealing with its consequences need recurring places to meet across those boundaries. Conferences, directories, and mailing lists can connect people, but trust grows when people return to the same rooms, share real problems, challenge bad ideas, and build together.
- What is BC + AI’s role?
- Three layers: recurring rooms where relationships form, professional programs that turn discussion into capability, and a nonprofit public voice that can represent member interests in policy conversations. Community is the base. Collective agency is the point. Read how the model works on the About page.
- How is BC + AI different from other ecosystem organizations?
- BC + AI is member-supported, practitioner-facing, and organized around recurring participation. Members meet, teach, run groups, document the work, and build a public voice together. Directories, resources, company visibility, and occasional events can all be useful, but they are not this operating model.
- What does BC + AI advocate for?
- Fund community AI infrastructure. Create procurement paths for local companies. Support responsible adoption by small businesses, regional access, and clean compute. Make privacy and accountability real. Trust is built through participation and proof, not awareness campaigns.
- How are you funded?
- Through memberships, corporate sponsorships, program partnerships, and grants. Member support matters because it keeps the organization accountable to the practitioners and communities doing the work, while a mixed funding base keeps any one funder from defining the whole agenda.
- Where can I see your impact?
- Start with the About page: 300+ members, 3,000+ event attendees, 94+ events since 2023, and 3 active BC regions. See the story and public proof.
More questions live on the FAQ.