Our favourite tech stories of 2022

We covered some of the coolest innovations this year

If you thought the world of technology was stagnating, think twice.

This year we saw creative ideas of all sizes sparking up B.C.’s position as a hub for innovation and crystallizing faith in the province’s talent pool. From edtech and land mapping tools to startups that can change people’s very blood types, BCBusiness has seen it all. To wrap up it up a nutshell, we thought we’d handpick a few that we found to be particularly promising. 

So without further ado, here are five of our favourite tech stories from 2022 (in no specific order).

1. 2022 Education Guide: From simulations to VR to robots, B.C. post-secondary institutions keep the best of edtech

Our 2022 Education Guide covered some of the newest technologies that B.C. colleges and universities are leveraging to make schooling more affordable, accessible and engaging for students. Simulation labs, VR scanning, robots and teleconferencing platforms are just a few examples of how edtech is already changing the landscape of learning in the province. 

Guardian 

2. New digital mapping tool can help preserve Indigenous land and culture

Victoria-based spatial intelligence provider LlamaZoo’s data preservation and land management software platform, Guardian, draws information from satellites, drones and environmental assessment programs to create virtual twins of landscapes. The company is working with First Nations communities to help Indigenous leaders preserve and manage their land (and culture) more efficiently.

3. Leadership 2022: After making some green in the cannabis market, John Coleman is seeing red

This one’s a doozy—a company that’s trying to remove blood type constraints. For our Leadership issue, Avivo Biomedical’s CEO John Coleman talked about his journey from the cannabis industry to the world of biotechnology, where he and his team are challenging the idea that blood types are absolute. Optical

4. This new browser add-on can help people with low vision read better

Realizing that billions of people have trouble seeing, Emily Carr University’s Tyler Hawkins designed and developed a font for people with impaired vision. Available as a Google Chrome browser extension, Optical improves legibility control by allowing readers to make incremental adjustments to words on the screen. 

MarineLabs

5. The CEO of MarineLabs thinks everything that floats should be a real-time data station

Coastal intelligence company MarineLabs arms coastlines with instruments that collect data so people can safely live on them “forever.” It records information on the cloud, making it accessible through a subscription service. Use cases for this kind of information range far and wide, from ship navigation to weather stats used for coastal impact assessments.