The model.

CommunAT is a Bay Tech Ltd. initiative — Manitoba's STEM coordination layer, built from the ground up to connect programs that already exist.

What CommunAT is

One layer. One mission.

CommunAT does one thing: it makes Manitoba's STEM programming findable. Member organizations list their programs. Families search them. Educators share resources. Equipment moves between organizations. Mentors get matched to programs that need them.

We don't run STEM programs ourselves. We don't compete with FIRST Robotics, Code Clubs, library coding nights, makerspaces, or science fairs. We connect them. The analogy is a transit map — every operator still runs their own service; the map makes the whole system navigable.

The team

Two people, two roles.

Shawn — Operations

Runs operations and the CommunAT platform build. Day-to-day operational decisions, technical platform, partnerships, member-organization onboarding.

Maryam — Director of Education

Runs the education side. Curriculum direction, member-org education coordination, program quality standards across the CommunAT network.

Co-ownership: 50/50 across Bay Tech Ltd. The Operations / Education split mirrors the split in what CommunAT does.

Why Manitoba

The right province for this layer.

Manitoba has fragmented STEM programming, no provincial aggregation layer, and a population distribution — concentrated Winnipeg core plus a long tail of rural and Indigenous communities — where coordination matters more than in denser provinces.

It's also the province we operate in. Bay Tech is a Manitoba company. CommunAT is built here. Not an out-of-province idea looking for a market.

Legal structure

Evolving.

CommunAT is currently a Bay Tech Ltd. initiative. As the funding architecture and member-org network develop, the long-term structure is under review — a separate nonprofit, a cooperative, or a continued Bay Tech program are all on the table. The structure will be set with input from funders, founding member orgs, and legal/tax advisors. We'll publish the decision when it's made.

Questions about the model?

Reach out and we'll walk through it in detail — funding architecture, governance, how the platform works, anything.

Reach out