Cam Linke recognized with U of A Alumni Horizon Award

Cam Linke, Amii CEO, received the Alumni Horizon Award from the University of Alberta for his professional achievements and contributions to community in a ceremony held at the Citadel Theatre on October 25.

“I am honoured and humbled to receive this recognition," says Cam Linke. "I have had the great fortune to work alongside incredible people who believe in ambitious things for our community, for Edmonton, and beyond. This award is really recognition of all of the teams and collaborators I’ve been lucky enough to work with.”

In 2007 Cam earned his B.Com and was the quarterback for the UofA Golden Bears. In 2017, he went back to school to pursue his M.Sc. from the Department of Computing Science, where he studied under Richard S. Sutton and Adam White. His research focused on AI adapting behaviours to improve their own self-learning and he successfully defended his thesis in October 2020.

A long-time leader in Edmonton’s tech and startup community, Cam has worked as a CEO, investor, community builder, product manager, software entrepreneur, academic, and developer.

Cam got involved with city’s tech ecosystem early, having recognized that Edmonton needed a place and platform for the city’s tech startup and entrepreneurial communities. In 2009, Cam co-founded Startup Edmonton, which has quickly become essential to Edmonton’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and continues to be a catalyst for Edmonton to flourish and focus on modern and information-based assets.

In 2012, Cam co-founded Flightpath Ventures, a venture capital fund that has seeded some of Edmonton’s most notable success stories such as Poppy Barley, Samdesk and DrugBank, and continues to create long-lasting economic impact for Edmonton’s tech and venture community.

Cam is passionate about using technology to build a better world. In his current role as CEO of Amii, he is determined to make Amii the leading AI and machine learning research institute in the world while staying true to Amii’s vision of AI for good and for all.

Cam’s leadership is the north star that guides Amii across the intersections of research and business to drive innovation and economic impact.

Since becoming Amii’s CEO, Cam has been able to:

• Secure Amii’s long term funding on provincial and federal levels.
• Work in collaboration with colleagues at Vector and Mila to advance the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy and secure $60 million for Canada’s AI institutes.
• Expand partnerships with industry, from less than 10 annually to more than 100.
• Build relationships with the University and triple our research talent, growing Canada CIFAR AI Chairs at Amii from 10 to 36.
• Position Edmonton, Alberta, and the University of Alberta as centres of AI excellence.
• Attract world-class scientists to work and live in Edmonton.
• Establish and support the AI and tech community with events such as Upper Bound, Tech Aid, DemoCamp, and countless student-centred events.

“Cam sees what Amii is, has devised a vision for what could be, and is rallying people around it to help him achieve it," says Bruce Johnson, Board Chair at Amii. "Amii is on the map internationally and its reputation is growing. It’s drawing the attention of top AI talent and investors. The work Cam is doing at Amii is good for the economy and the future of this province.”