Web Summit Vancouver brought thousands of founders, investors, and industry leaders to one city. For three days, the Climate Innovation Zone, led by NorthX in partnership with Foresight Canada, Alacrity Canada, CRIN, the University of British Columbia, and Simon Fraser University, and sponsored by ClimateDoor, was where the most important climate conversations happened.
The goal was straightforward: create a dedicated space where BC’s climate tech ecosystem could surface bold ideas, forge meaningful connections, and demonstrate to a global audience that Canada is serious about deploying solutions at scale. By every measure, it delivered.
Spotlighting the innovators doing the work
The Climate Innovation Zone gave BC’s climate founders a platform they deserved. NorthX’s Power Pitch sessions showcased first-of-a-kind ventures across the climate tech spectrum, including women founders building the next generation of climate companies, and created the kind of open exchange between builders, investors, and partners that doesn’t happen by accident.
The standout moment came when UBC spinout CURA beat out more than 1,100 others to win the Startup Pitch Competition at Web Summit Vancouver. NorthX first backed CURA in late 2025 through our university funding call, drawn to its bold approach to industrial decarbonization through low-carbon cement technology. Just last month, we invested again, supporting a pilot project progressing toward commercial-scale production in one of the most emissions-intensive sectors in the industrial economy. Watching that recognition land on a global stage was a reminder of what this ecosystem is capable of when world-class technology meets the right support.
As Sarah Goodman, President & CEO at NorthX Climate Tech, put it: “The technology is built in the labs and on the shop floors, but companies are built when you get out and you connect with people, connect with investors, connect with customers”
The conversations that moved the needle
Across sessions on venture capital, carbon removal, hydrogen, agtech, AI infrastructure, and industrial decarbonization, a single theme ran through nearly every discussion: technologies only create impact once they deploy successfully in the real world.
NorthX’s session on what top investors are betting on next explored how capital is flowing in today’s climate tech market, and what it actually takes to earn it. Thomas Park, CIO at InBC, highlighted the importance of understanding what type of capital a company genuinely needs, and why repeatable business models and strong unit economics matter as much as technical breakthroughs.
The ClimateDoor-led discussion brought forward the strategic dimensions of climate innovation: Indigenous partnership, global market access, dual-use technologies, and energy security, underscoring that climate solutions scale fastest when technology, community, capital, and policy move together.
Where the real connections happened
Some of the Climate Innovation Zone’s most valuable work happened away from the microphone.
The physical space was designed to be a hub, a place where a founder could come off stage and immediately find themselves in conversation with a potential investor, partner, or customer. Those moments in the margins of the program, introductions made between sessions, and impromptu gatherings around shared challenges are where ecosystems actually deepen. For three days, the Climate Innovation Zone was that place at Web Summit Vancouver.
What this means for BC climate tech
Canada has the technologies, the talent, the industrial expertise, and the natural resources to lead in climate innovation. The Climate Innovation Zone existed to accelerate that potential — to compress the distance between ideas and deployment, and to show what a coordinated, ambitious ecosystem looks like in action.
The challenge ahead is speed and execution. Scaling climate solutions requires stronger commercialization pathways, coordinated infrastructure investment, and policy environments that treat clean energy, agriculture, and industrial decarbonization as the strategic priorities they are.
Web Summit Vancouver was a signal that the ecosystem is ready. NorthX will keep building toward that future and we’re grateful to every partner, speaker, founder, investor, and attendee who made the Climate Innovation Zone such a meaningful part of it.
This is where the future gets built.
