Economic Developers Association of Canada (EDAC) Conferences bring together community leaders, economic development professionals and entrepreneurs from across the country. These professionals attend EDAC Conferences to participate in sessions, network and listen to speakers sharing their innovative ideas and solutions to national and local challenges.
EDAC 2026 will be held in Moncton, New Brunswick at the Delta Hotel Beausejour.
Keeping busy professionals in mind, EDA has re-imagined the format of the EDA Invitational Golf Tournament. This year’s event features a streamlined 9-hole Texas Scramble experience.
Join us on September 24 at the Broadmoor Golf Course in Sherwood Park, AB. No golf experience is required! Dinner is included with your registration.
We are pleased to welcome Invest Alberta as our Title Sponsor. Their business development team will be on hand to network with tournament participants.
The EDA Invitational also offers an excellent opportunity to showcase your organization with sponsorship opportunities. more info...
The Alberta North Central Alliance (ANCA) has partnered with Economic Developers Alberta (EDA) Institute to deliver the complete EDA Community Economic Development (CED) Certificate to your region.
The program combines self-paced on-line learning, along with 4 days of in-person instruction and a final virtual course that will allow participants to complete and be awarded the CED certificate. Please note that attendees must completed EDA's core courses plus 2 optional courses; Rural Economic Development and Social Economic Development, to be awarded the CED Certificate.
Participants will:
Build practical economic development skills
Strengthen your communities and organizations
Connect with a regional network of practitioners
Earn EDA's Community Economic Development (CED) Certificate
For additional information on this week of learning, please review the attached pdf file. Date: October 5 - 8 Time: 9am to 4pm each day Location: Faust Multicultural Gathering Place - 22 1st Avenue, Faust AB Trainers: Holly Sorgen and Leann Hackman Carty.
Please note that breakfast, coffee and lunch will be served.
This event is hosted by ANCA and EDA
A discount code is required for registration
Economic Development – Establishishing the Foundation (ETF)
Your journey starts here.
This introductory course provides a solid grounding in the principles and practices of economic development. This is a core course within the Community Economic Development Certificate Program and serves as the foundation for all other EDA Institute courses.
Participants will learn to:
Explain what economic development is and how it differs from individual projects or oneâtime initiatives.
Describe how economic development practice has evolved from a narrow businessâgrowth focus to today’s integrated, resilienceâcentered approach.
Identify the key contributing factors that shape a community’s capacity to grow, including human capital, infrastructure, natural resources, financial capacity, and community alignment.
Differentiate between governance and operations roles in economic development and explain the responsibilities of Council, administration, and practitioners.
Interpret basic economic and community data, both quantitative and qualitative, and explain how it informs planning, investment readiness, and strategy development.
Apply core community analysis tools, including needs assessment, asset mapping, gap analysis, and SWOT, to understand a community’s economic position.
Explain the purpose and structure of a Strategic Economic Development Plan and distinguish between vision, mission, goals, strategies, and tactics.
Select and justify economic development strategies that fit a community’s context, capacity, and readiness.
Describe common economic development delivery models and assess which model is most appropriate for a given community.
Explain how a Logic Model connects strategy to implementation and accountability.
Identify appropriate partners, funding sources, and incentives to support economic development initiatives.
Describe the role of performance measurement and continuous improvement in economic development, using the SOME Framework as a guide.
Explain resilience as a lens that should be integrated across all aspects of economic development practice, framed by the six-factor resilience model introduced in Module 1 and developed further in the CER course.
The purpose of the Annual EDA Ministry Dinner is to bring together EDA members and stakeholders with specific Ministers and senior staff from the Government of Canada and the Government of Alberta, to network, share information about programs and explore potential partnerships.
The dynamic format of the dinner involves rotating table visitations to maximize networking during the meal.
EDA Xperience 2027 Conference attracts more than 400 economic development experts and elected officials from across Alberta, Canada and around the world.
