Join the BC+AI Community
BC + AI Ecosystem Association offers profound value that goes beyond transactional perks:
Community-First & Grassroots-Driven:
The Association is designed as a grassroots, community-powered AI ecosystem organization, by the people, for the people of the BC AI ecosystem. It emphasizes community storytelling and authenticity, making the future of AI feel personal, collaborative, and even a little rebellious.
Ethical, Inclusive, and Responsible AI Development:
A core value is to champion ethical, inclusive AI innovation, with a human-first, human-centric approach. It aims to ensure AI benefits everyone in BC, respecting Indigenous perspectives and supporting underrepresented groups.
Connector, Advocate, and Catalyst:
The Association serves as a central hub and voice for the BC AI community, connecting talent, organizations, and resources. It also advocates for favorable conditions for innovation and ensures AI benefits are shared broadly.
Influencing the Future:
Members are invited to join in “building the future we actually want” for AI in BC. It’s about shaping the narrative and policies around AI in BC, ensuring they reflect the community’s needs and values.
Silo-Busting & Collaboration:
The community fosters a “silo busting, genre smashing” environment, bringing together diverse individuals from developers and designers to academics, policymakers, funders, and venture capitalists. It is a “mycelial network” where everyone, from a poet to a programmer, has a place and value.
Sense of Ownership and Contribution:
Members are not just consumers of benefits; they are “co-builders” and “contributors to a living ecosystem”. Paid members gain a “voice and a say” in the Association’s direction, reinforcing a sense of ownership.
Resilience and Self-Criticality:
The community is “hype-proof, self-critical, and self-aware,” openly discussing the challenges and ethical implications of AI alongside its benefits and possibilities.
Membership Tiers & Pricing (CAD)
Choose your tier, pay securely with Stripe, complete your profile, and invite your team if needed—that’s it, you’re in.
Inbox‑Only
Stay on the sidelines and receive our public newsletter and event alerts. That’s it.
Free
Sign up our NewsletterIndividual
One seat that belongs to you—even if you change jobs.
$240 / year
Register nowStudent
For current students (proof of enrolment required). Same seat rights as an Individual.
$80 / year
Register nowMicro Pack (5 Seats)
For small teams (≈1‑10 staff). Five assignable seats under a single company admin.
$600 / year
Register nowGrowth Pack (12 Seats)
For growing teams (≈11‑50 staff). Twelve assignable seats.
$1,400 / year
Register nowEnterprise Pack (30 Seats)
For large organisations or those who want to super‑charge the ecosystem. Thirty assignable seats.
$3,000 / year
Register now
Member Perks
Opening: You’re not just joining an association. You’re co-building the damn industry.
Private WhatsApp Lounge: Where the real talk happens. Members-only chat for questions, breakthroughs, signal boosts, and the occasional spicy AI drama.
Unique Member ID + Badge Graphic: Digital credentials you can flex anywhere—email sigs, decks, grant apps, social. Proof you’re building BC’s AI movement from the inside.
Monthly Member Newsletter: Handpicked intel. No hype, no spam. Just real updates, ecosystem signals, and backchannel invites you won’t find anywhere else. (Goes out first Friday of each month.)
But Wait There's More:
State of the Union Calls (Quarterly): Direct line to the core team. Strategy, updates, roadblocks—open-book policy with space to push back or shape what’s next.
Vancouver AI Meetups – Member Discount: 25% off standard tickets. Every month, in-person community collides with code, art, ethics, and edge cases.
TheUpgrade.AI Training Discount: 25% off every course, from prompt design to prototyping. Learn fast. Stay weird.
Member Spotlights: We put a different member on blast every month—blog, socials, newsletter, whatever gets your story out. No pay-to-play. Just earned attention.
Evening Zoom Hangs (Monthly): Laid-back sessions to meet other members, riff on ideas, or just decompress with people who speak your language.
NOOK Coworking: 5 consecutive day free membership pass
Space Centre: offers 50% off annual membership.
In Progress (Coming 2025):
Beta Tester Crew: Opt-in group that gets early access to new tools, experiments, and prototypes from inside the ecosystem. Your feedback shapes what launches.
AMA Sessions + Office Hours: Direct convos with builders, researchers, investors, and community OGs. No filters, no posturing—just real answers from people in it.
BC + AI Yearbook: A living artifact. One annual doc capturing the who, what, and holy-shit-how from across the ecosystem. Photos, projects, member milestones.
On the Horizon
Strategic Advisory Circles: Topic-driven, member-led working groups: Indigenous AI, AI x Education, Mind AI, Public Infrastructure, and more.
Policy & Advocacy Inclusion: Your seat at the table. Members help shape our position papers, lobbying goals, and public campaigns.
Vendor & Tool Discounts: We’re negotiating group rates and exclusive offers. Think SaaS, cloud credits, compute access. Power in numbers.
Compute & Infra Access: When our community compute stack launches, members get access. GPUs, shared sandboxes, ethical data lakes. Not promises—plans.
Teach, Host, or Lead: Step up. Members will soon be able to run sessions, publish guides, and co-lead workshops. This ain’t top-down. It’s a movement.
Last Word
Why We’re Here: We’re not here to sell you perks. We’re here to build the kind of AI industry you’d actually want to be a part of. One where knowledge is shared, wins are collective, and members have real influence—not just login credentials.
Call to Action: Don’t just join. Contribute. Push. Shape. This whole thing runs on us.
Seat Rules
Seat ownership: You pay personally → the seat travels with you. • Company pays → the seat belongs to the company and can be reassigned.
Directory wall: Only paid seat-holders appear in the public member directory.
Seat swaps: Company admins can reassign seats at any time. Inactive seats (no login for 30 days) auto-release.
Voting: Every paid seat = 1 vote on association matters (max 30 per organisation).
🌟 Launch Membership Drive: Founder ’25
Launch Year: This is our first year as a non-profit ecosystem, and we’re marking it with something special.
Founder ’25 Badge—Eligibility: Join and pay anytime between Sept 1 – Dec 31, 2025 to secure the permanent Founder ’25 badge on your profile.
Recognition: It’s a one-time recognition for our launch-year members — the folks who believed from the beginning.