Vancouver Tech Journal

❝ This article is part of our ongoing series spotlighting the 25 startups competing in the 2026 New Ventures BC Competition. It was originally published on the NVBC website. City: Vancouver Founded: March 2026 Sector: Lab automation/SaaS The Quick Pitch: IvoryOS Technologies turns fragmented Python automation scripts into visual, drag-and-drop workspace with just a single line of code, making self-driving labs accessible to any research team.

Hey everyone – William here. Over the weekend, I found myself reflecting on last week’s Vancouver Tech Days—and what an incredible two-day experience it was. We brought together founders, operators and investors for candid conversations about what it takes to build ambitious technology companies from Vancouver. There were plenty of insights I’m still thinking about, but one moment in particular has stayed with me.

Canada's Ocean Supercluster has announced three new ocean innovation projects totalling more than $25 million, with the largest going to Vancouver-based Miru Smart Technologies to develop a next-generation smart glass system for marine vessels. The $11.7 million Project OceanShade will design, develop, and validate Miru dynamic glass — a window system that automatically adjusts its tint in response to changing light conditions.

What Edward Chiang has learned about finding the right problem, building an early team and surviving hundreds of rejections.

Welcome back to VTJ’s Midweek Memo: the Vancouver tech events and opportunities newsletter you can’t miss. In this edition: A workshop to move from AI experiments to workflows that stick Two opportunities to get student talent working on your tech problems An open invite to talk Vancouver tech with VTJ 🗓 Wednesday, August 5 | Apply ​​You have started using AI. Now you want it to pull real weight at work. This hands-on workshop gives you the thinking to get there.

Amanda Collett spent more than 15 years producing events across Canada, the US, and Europe. At every one, she watched organizers ask attendees to download an app, exhibitors rent scanners they barely knew how to use, and leads sit trapped in someone else's platform until someone remembered to export them. Last December, on her 40th birthday, she did something about it.

❝ This article is part of our ongoing series spotlighting the 25 startups competing in the 2026 New Ventures BC Competition. It was originally published on the NVBC website.

Until now, companies have been feeding sensitive information such as account numbers, financial records and medical records into their AI models, despite the well-known exposure risks. It’s a clear toss-up: unlock the full value of your data to gain a competitive edge or play it safe and fall behind. Companies are being put in a position to choose. It’s a high-stakes catch-22.

❝ This article is part of our ongoing series spotlighting the 25 startups competing in the 2026 New Ventures BC Competition. It was originally published on the NVBC website. City: Victoria Founded: April 2021 Sector: Healthtech The Quick Pitch: Circl Brain condenses decades of brainwave research into an accessible, 10-minute mobile EEG test and dashboard, giving clinicians objective data to track and optimize a patient’s neurological healing.

❝ This article is part of our ongoing series spotlighting the 25 startups competing in the 2026 New Ventures BC Competition. It was originally published on the NVBC website. City: Richmond Founded: February 2021 Sector: Cleantech/Advanced materials The Quick Pitch: NanoTech Innovation is redefining industrial corrosion maintenance with a patented, sustainable coating that is applied directly over rusted surfaces, chemically transforming the existing rust into a durable protective primer.