Some of the brightest minds in the region were at Lethbridge Polytechnic on Friday for the seventh annual InnoFusion Conference. The event allowed students and professionals to connect over entrepreneurship, innovation and more. It highlights much of the innovation and research currently being done in southern Alberta. This year’s theme was “The AI Shift: How the Future Workforce and Employers Can Thrive Together.” “AI is reshaping the way we work, creating both challenges and opportunities for employers, employees and communities,” the event’s website says. “With diverse perspectives and thoughtful discussion, we’ll explore what these changes mean for the future workforce and how organizations and individuals can adapt and thrive amid change.” This year’s keynote speaker was RUNWITHIT Synthetics founder and CEO Myrna Bittner. Bittner says the event is “a great collision space.” “Where researchers get the chance to meet community members and industry and where research can be brought to life,” said Bittner. “And also where they can hear the concerns and the advances that have been made in industry and their community and can be understood.” The annual conference was hosted by Lethbridge Polytechnic, the University of Lethbridge and the Regional Innovation Network of Southern Alberta, among others. It ran from 11 a.m. through 4:30 p.m. “AI has been around for the last couple of years and continues to expand every day,” said Joshua Leith, AgENT program co-ordinator. “It’s up to us—as instructors, as researchers, as innovators—to make sure that we’re staying on top of it, but as well to prepare the next generation of learners as they graduate out of here.”
