Ian Burgess | Ascendance Foundry

From AI Apprenticeships to Rural Advantage: Why Ian Burgess Is Building for the Next Workforce Cycle

On a recent episode of the Rural Entrepreneur Podcast, I spoke with Ian Burgess, founder of Ascendance Foundry and Validere—two ventures tackling very different problems, but driven by the same underlying question:

How do we redesign systems fast enough to keep up with AI-driven change—without losing people in the process?

Apprenticeship as an Operating System (Not a Program)

Ascendance Foundry is built on a simple but radical premise:apprenticeship should be the default interface between education and work in the AI era.

Rather than treating AI as a tool to be “added on,” Ian frames it as a new language—one that sits between human conversation and computer code. Fluency isn’t optional; it’s becoming table stakes.

Ascendance Foundry operationalizes this through:

• Early recruitment (Grade 11 through early university)

• Immediate immersion via a one-week AI bootcamp

• Placement into real companies as fellows

• A co-learning model where students and company mentors level up together

This isn’t workforce training.It’s capability compounding.

Why This Matters for Rural and Emerging Regions

Ian is refreshingly honest about rural entrepreneurship:

• Lower population density slows innovation

• Fewer serendipitous collisions

• Thinner mentor networks

But AI changes the terrain.

As value shifts from bits to atoms—energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, logistics—the economic center of gravity moves closer to rural and resource-based regions.

The constraint is no longer access to information; it’s access to talent that can operate across physical systems and AI-enabled workflows.

That’s where models like Ascendance Foundry matter.

They don’t try to recreate Silicon Valley in rural places.They re-wire how talent is developed and deployed across geographies.

Toronto as a Strategic Launchpad

Toronto isn’t just a backdrop for Ascendance Foundry—it’s a leverage point:

• Deep co-op and technical education pipelines

• Year-round access to students

• Favorable economics compared to U.S. hubs

• A bridge between global companies and emerging talent

For companies, it becomes a de-risked talent discovery engine.For students, it becomes early exposure to real work, real stakes, and real mentorship.

A Shared Pattern

What struck me most in this conversation wasn’t the specifics of AI tools or apprenticeship design.

It was a shared pattern I see across strong founders and regions alike:

The future belongs to those who treat systems—not roles, credentials, or institutions—as the unit of change.

Ascendance Foundry is doing that for Validere does it for compliance and operations.And rural regions that embrace this mindset won’t just adapt—they’ll lead.

🎧 Listen to the full episode of the Rural Entrepreneur Podcast for the complete conversation with Ian Burgess.