On October 8, 2026, TechPlace welcomed Burlington’s innovation community to its 2026 Annual Open House and Innovation Showcase. It was also the night TechPlace announced the winners of its first AI Catalyst Awards. Humanik received the AI Student Builder Award.
Tyler Thomlinson started building Zylo and Humanik late at night while studying at Brock University. Today the team is building HumanikOS, so small and mid-sized businesses can run AI employees inside their company without getting locked into one vendor.
Thank you to TechPlace, Brock University, Brock LINC, Innovation Factory and the Burlington Chamber of Commerce for making these awards happen, and to Brian Lenahan, Preet Ambekar and Daniel Thanos for judging.
Congratulations to the other winners. We look forward to seeing what everyone builds next.