Two incredible things are happening in and for Vancouver’s tech scene this week! Both contain the word “Grow”, have green and black logos, have to do with startups and both could also be considered brainchildren of Debbie Landa, CEO of Dealmaker Media and co-founder of GrowLab. But while linked they are completely separate things, so in order to do away with any confusion I figured I’d introduce you to both of them so you can follow the stories as you please. Both should be super interesting for folks keen on tech, startups, and Growing digital business, with a capital “G”.

So first up: GrowLab! THIS piece that CBC published yesterday explains what this new Vancouver-based startup incubator is all about and provides quotes from Growlab’s executive director, Michael Tippett, who you might recognize as one of the founders of NowPublic. Essentially, each season they take on a few tech industry entrepreneurs with great ideas, they give them seed funding, office space, mentorship and programming over a four month program (three months in Vancouver, one month in Silicon Valley). If all goes according to plan each will come out the other side successful digital pioneers with great products and great futures ahead of them.

That’s GrowLab. And they are super awesome.

The other “Grow” related news this week, launching tomorrow, is the Grow 2011 conference being held at the convention centre. It’s the second annual one being held here in Vancouver and in their own words it’s a “three-day conference that brings together the top minds in business, entrepreneurship, technology, and capital to inspire and engage the next generation of disruptive entrepreneurs … bringing the best minds of Silicon Valley and Canada together to share lessons learned and inspire action”. I’m going to be attending the full day of the conference on Thursday and am super excited to not only glean some insight while I figure out how to take the Canada Is Awesome network to the next level but I’ll also be reporting on it for those interested.

Look at this lineup of speakers! If it wasn’t sold out I’d tell you that you’d be crazy if you didn’t register this very instant.

So there you have it:
- GrowLab is a Vancouver-based startup accelerator.
- Grow 2011 is a tech/entrepreneurship conference happening in Vancouver.
- And yes, I just let it slip that Canada Is Awesome, based on the success of Vancouver Is Awesome and what we’ve achieved here, is going full on social venture/tech startup. In the coming months we’ll be seeking mentorship, investors and partners so that we can bring this positive movement national. Let’s Grow this!