Year Three of Strengthening Regional Resilience with REAL
Decision-makers are increasingly required to navigate complex challenges without accessible, data-backed insights needed to see, solve, and operationalize.
How do we best share insights and knowledge, not only with and between leaders, but in a way that is beneficial to their entire organizations at large?
RWI’s Regional Advanced Laboratory (REAL) was founded in 2023 as a place where regional leaders could come together to activate change.
REAL partners include leaders from across the Edmonton Metropolitan Region (EMR), who use insights from our Synthetic Twin: a high-fidelity 6D sandbox (3D GIS, Context, Time, & People agentic-entity AI) of the EMR to see, solve, and operationalize de-risked investments and policy-related decisions.
We’ve run simulations and scenarios during our REAL quarterly deep-dive workshops over the past two years, opening up a world of actionable intelligence within our community. We’ve quantified the economic benefits of a booming population and identified potential strains, such as housing scarcity or an overwhelmed medical system. And we’ve dialled forward scenarios on how best to support youth's sense of belonging through a variety of interventions.
Now in its third year, we’re making those insights available to everyone within our partner organizations: our deep-dive workshops will include hybrid presentations and day-of take-home documentation. Every team and every team member will be able to access the insights, data, and knowledge shared at these meetings, making REAL membership more valuable than ever.
Key Insights and Conversations from 2025
Our quarterly REAL deep-dive workshops cover a broad range of vital topics, as suggested and voted on by our partners.
On Jan. 15, 2025, we presented data visualized in Synthetic Earth to showcase and analyze the potential economic and social impact of the international student caps announced in Canada in 2024. Although the federal government projected a 35% decrease, our research found a 48% drop in international study permits for 2024 compared to the previous year. There were no signs that this downward trend had stopped, making “what if” scenarios particularly interesting.
On April 16, 2025, REAL partners came together to kick off a timely conversation on the growing need for smarter, more sustainable ways to move people and goods across Alberta. With a growing population and economy, the session explored the evolving role of transit and transportation in the EMR in shaping future trade and urban mobility. RWI utilized our platform to visualize and dial forward through several accessible, compelling lenses, including the EMR’s present and future housing density; transit ridership, accessibility, and density; and its global connectivity and access to markets via both land and air.
On September 16, 2025, REAL partners gathered to explore how cascading disasters, from heat and smoke to power outages, test resilience across the EMR. The session highlighted that resilience means more than response; it requires knowledge, preparation, and agency. Using realistic scenarios, participants examined vulnerabilities and discussed equitable, proactive strategies to strengthen communities before disaster strikes.
Most recently, we gathered on Dec. 10, 2025, to visualize what populations are disproportionately impacted by instability, driving them deeper into precarity and poverty. The discussion and analysis covered a variety of demographics, including high-fidelity, people-centred data visualizations of youth and families in precarity, those struggling with food insecurity, and how economic instability and stress place populations at greater risk for violence, housing loss, and more.
Turning REAL Insights into Organization-Wide Value
Whether it’s simulating cascading disasters and power outages, calculating the ROI of investing in Edmonton as an inland port, or showcasing the impacts of economic precarity, REAL deep-dive workshops provide attendees with actionable insights and converged data.
After the first two years of REAL, partners are excited to open up the regional intelligence and community sharing with virtual attendance options. With online participation now available, REAL partners can ensure more of their team members and departments can engage and access workshop insights at the same time.
Your team will have access to the synthetic intelligence of REAL meetings through hybridized attendance options and take-home materials summarizing vital information, available day-of, supporting entire organizations in their decision-making processes.
We’re providing insights that not only match the breadth of the problems leaders face but also match the breadth of the teams and staff within their organizations, businesses, and administrations. Every piece of information available at our deep-dive workshops will be vital to someone making key decisions, making the value of a REAL partnership exponential.
We know our REAL events are the rooms where leaders meet with the ultimate goal of creating better futures, and now we’re expanding that room to fit every department, every team, and every employee in your organization.
The Next Chapter for REAL
Our regions and communities are now defined by complexity, uncertainty, and accelerating change. Access to timely, high-fidelity insight is now necessary for effective leadership and a de-siloed organization. We are enabling anticipation of the unprecedented and backing decisions with reliable, precise, and fast data, alongside regional collaboration and expertise.
And since our models are powered by INFLECTOR AI by RWI Labs, you can access these advanced simulations without the environmental impact, all available on your average consumer laptop.
By expanding access beyond the room, we are multiplying our impact, with insights reaching entire organizations, informing everyone from executives to frontline teams.
Be part of the local initiative strengthening our region’s resilience: contact us and learn more about becoming a REAL partner today.