Nicole Janssen Named a 2021 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Award Finalist

Edmonton, September 15, 2021 – AltaML, a leading Canadian applied artificial intelligence (AI) studio, is proud to announce that Nicole Janssen, Co-CEO, has been named a Finalist for the 2021 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards for the Start-Up Award. The RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards are the pre-eminent national business awards recognizing the country’s leading female entrepreneurs. Now in its 29th year, the program is an initiative of Women of Influence, an award-winning organization dedicated to advancing Canadian women.

From a pool of thousands of nominees, 23 Finalists from coast to coast have been selected to represent 7 Award Categories. The Start-Up Award is dedicated to a female entrepreneur that has been successful in building a profitable business, and whose company has been in operation for three to five years. Nicole Janssen is one of 3 Regional Finalists being recognized in this category, representing the Western Region.

As the world shifts into a digital economy, the window of opportunity for AI in business is now, and AltaML is scaling fast to position itself as a global leader in responsible AI. AltaML serves as a corporate lab for companies that have data and analytics capabilities, and that either need to get started on AI, or need additional expertise and innovation that is hard to achieve internally. Taking a partnership approach to leverage the company’s subject matter expertise with its own AI expertise, AltaML learns quickly, tests inexpensively, and discovers the right path to scaling AI-powered products and solutions in previously unexplored markets. In some cases joint ventures are created through these close working relationships to pursue large product opportunities.

AltaML was founded around local AI talent, scarce in many jurisdictions. To help grow the Calgary AI ecosystem where one of our three offices is located, AltaML developed an industry-led applied data science internship program called the Applied AI Lab, supported by industry partners and the Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund. By providing mentorship to highly qualified interns to acquire critical applied experience, the Lab also creates impact in expanding the industry partner’s AI experimentation capacity and provides a job-ready talent pipeline to the community.

“It is a tremendous honour to be selected as a finalist for an RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Award,” says Nicole Janssen. “AI is disruptive, and it is hugely important for women to be at the table and to be making decisions about how these technologies are to be developed and used. I am passionate about what we are building at AltaML and within its family of companies, and how together we are driving change through responsible AI adoption. Our growth has required that I progressively let go of things that I have been accustomed to leading, and it is very rewarding to see the team execute so well on the vision to be a billion dollar AI company, from right here in Canada.”

The winners will be announced and celebrated at the 29th Annual Awards Gala, on Wednesday, November 17, where all attendees will be once again digitally transported into our Virtual Awards Gala. The evening’s festivities and award ceremony which will be live streamed around the world, will shine a spotlight on all these amazing Canadian women entrepreneurs.

The RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards recognizes female business owners from across Canada who make impressive and substantial contributions to the local, Canadian or global economy. Candidates share a strong entrepreneurial vision and a relentless passion in pursuing their dreams. These awards recognize business women from three major regions across Canada: East, Central and West. All nominees were required to submit thorough applications, which are reviewed and judged by a panel of prominent business leaders and subject to a due diligence performed by KPMG.

“This year we received a record-breaking number of applications and are honoured to celebrate the accomplishments of our 2021 award finalists,” says Alicia Skalin, Co-CEO, Women of Influence. “These entrepreneurs have demonstrated remarkable innovation in the face of adversity, and we couldn’t be more excited to showcase their stories across the country.”

The 2021 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards are presented by RBC. Award sponsors include The Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub, RBC, and our official Due Diligence partner KPMG.

About the RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards

The RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards are the pre-eminent national business awards recognizing the country’s leading female entrepreneurs. The awards are an initiative of Women of Influence, an award-winning organization dedicated to advancing women globally.

About Women of Influence Worldwide Inc.

Women of Influence, now in its 27th year, is one of North America’s leading organizations offering solutions for workplace gender equality and women's advancement. Through our global events, digital media, signature awards, and consulting, Women of Influence reaches a diverse community of professional women and men across Canada and internationally. Providing insights and inspiration, perspectives on key issues, and creating opportunities to connect — we are making change happen for women, today. Our signature programs include the Top 25 Women of Influence Awards and the RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards. For more information, please visit www.womenofinfluence.com

About AltaML

AltaML is an award-winning AI software company driven by a purpose to elevate human potential through applied AI. AltaML helps organizations identify productivity or process challenges that can be solved with applied AI, and works as an invested partner, bringing its deep AI expertise together with partner domain expertise to develop and deploy AI solutions and products. AltaML’s customers are primarily enterprise-level organizations undergoing digital transformation and looking for predictive value from their data. In 2020, AltaML was named one of Canada’s Companies-to-Watch in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50TM awards, was named a 2020 Responsible AI Award winner by the Responsible AI Institute, and was the winner of Start Alberta’s “Most Significant Cross-Community Collaboration of the Year” award for the AltaML Applied AI Lab data science internship program. AltaML has offices in Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto.

For interview requests or further information please contact:

Claire Kay, AltaML External Relations Lead, [email protected]

Amanda Kruzich, Women of Influence, 416 456 8633, [email protected]