Rewriting BC’s AI Source Code

July 30th Community Meetup · AI Hackathon Kickoff · SIGGRAPH warm-up · Annual Membership —open the dataset, bend reality.

Author

Kris Krüg
July 11, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Yo, dreamers and model-trainers

The future isn’t imported. It’s made here:
Coffee shops, forest domes, punk venues, planetariums.
We build it. We break it. We remix it. Here’s what’s next:

  1. Mission 19 meetup at our spaceship HQ (you know the one)

  2. Hackathon Round 3 - $2,500 up for grabs. Real stakes. Real story. Launches tooday.

  3. SIGGRAPH “Calm Before the Storm” community mixer. no velvet ropes. Come as you are.

  4. An annual Vancouver AI ticket pass: a 12-month ticket into the heart of our independent movement

  5. Four Vancouver AI viral YouTube talks you have to binge (and boost)

No pressure—just the future of AI, culture, and community in BC.
Ready? Let’s fucking go.

1 ▶︎ Mission 19 — Build the Future, Don’t Download It

​Vancouver AI serves as BC's cross-disciplinary gathering point where, within the vibrant BC + AI industry ecosystem, diverse participants—from coding novices to seasoned researchers—connect to share insights, showcase applications, and collectively shape responsible AI development through monthly in-person exchanges.

Bring half-finished code, shoes you can dance in, and a question that scares you—there’s always a seat at the fire.

2 ▶︎ Hackathon Round 3 Drops Today — “BC’s AI Story”

We’ve just collected a 1,000-voice survey with RIVAL and Angus Reid Forum on how BC feels about AI—students, aunties, coders, land protectors. Remix that raw signal into anything—interactive viz, prototype, short doc, zine, interpretive VR rant. Free to participate, all welcome…. $2500 up for grabs → Download the Dataset

Submission deadline

Aug 13

Awards & demo night

Aug 27

3 ▶︎ SIGGRAPH “Calm Before the Storm” - Community Pre-Party

Global graphics royalty lands in YVR the beginning of August. Before they vanish into expo halls, we’re giving them a softer, wilder landing pad: micro-talks, ambient art, zero velvet ropes.

Calm Before the Storm #SIGGRAPH

SIGGRAPH’s halls will be buzzing with billion-pixel dreams; this is the warm-up jam where indie devs, VFX wizards, sustainability hackers, and curious…

lu.ma/siggraph2025

🗓 Saturday, August 9th 4pm
📍 Alibi Room, Vancouver
🔗 https://lu.ma/siggraph2025

4 ▶︎ YouTube Channel Went 🚀 — Amplify the Signal

We shoved our best talks into the algorithm and it snapped awake. Your clicks extend our collective voice beyond the dome. Start here:

Morten Rand-Hendriksen on why Anthropic's MCP should terrify you.

Watch them. Share if they're actually good. Argue if they're wrong.
Full channel → https://www.youtube.com/@van_ai

Bonus reading that pairs with Morten’s talk: Empire of AI by Karen Hao → https://amzn.to/4nmmMB9

5 ▶︎ Annual Vancouver AI Membership — Lock in that Earlyworm! 🪱

Annual Vancouver AI Membership: $480/year

All meetups for 12 months. Private community chat. Your own member number.

Your dues keep this independent. No corporate sponsors dictating our agenda.

Join if you want to steer, not just consume.

See you under the UFO roof—or lighting up the comments.

Grit, glitter, glitch, gratitude,

Kris Krüg
CEO, BC + AI Ecosystem
778-898-3076

We support British Columbia’s transition into ethical, inclusive AI—by helping public institutions, businesses, and community leaders build the knowledge, skills, and partnerships they need to navigate emerging technologies.

Why Build Your AI Company in Vancouver?

We sit at a cultural intersection, with ties to Asia, Europe, and the Americas. We’re close enough to SF to be relevant, but far enough away to do it our own way.

We’ve built an ecosystem that’s small enough to be intimate and flexible, but big enough to matter. We have high-trust communities, deep pockets of talent, and a shared understanding that AI isn’t just a technical field—it’s a social, ethical, and creative force.

vancouver.bc-ai.net/why-build-ai-in-bc

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