The AI for Economic Development Practitioners program hosted by ETSI-BC and led by AI Smart Ventures is now at the halfway mark. The 28 participants work for Chambers of Commerce, Regional Districts and economic development organizations across the Southern Interior.
Participants are learning practical applications of AI tools for their day to day work. They bring their actual work into the labs and put AI to the test. They have also used AI to draft and polish grant applications, train the tools to sound more like them, and find ways to let AI help shorten the time between “rough idea” and “ready to submit.”
Together, the participants have collaboratively tackled more than half a dozen real-world case studies that mirror their own everyday tasks: letters of support, reference letters, wrestling with AI policy questions, and honing the tone and voice of AI generated writing. The goal is to ensure participants can create AI-generated content that feels authentic, not like it came from a robot.
Registrants have also experimented with the challenge of transforming census data and local business survey results into plain language summaries, charts, and “mayor or council briefs” that help communicate trends like housing mix, labour potential, and business climate, for local government elected officials, the public and potential investors.
Feedback so far is very encouraging. Participants are calling these sessions a solid investment of their time. The program is helping them identify where AI can genuinely save hours on grant writing and reporting, without compromising privacy or policy requirements. Several participants have already started building their own “voice assistants” and internal agents in tools like Copilot and ChatGPT, and they are walking away from sessions with drafts, templates, and workflows they can use right away in their communities.