Conference & Meetings World Supplements Canada AI Supplement | Page 11

Canada
Canada’s Superclusters
accelerate innovation
T
he Government of Canada
recently invested $950m in its
‘Superclusters’, a sum to be
matched by the private sector. The goal is
accelerating the innovation economy.
The fi ve new Superclusters span the
country, bringing together SMEs and large
size businesses, academic institutions, and
not-for-profi t organisations to collaborate
on strategies that will fuel their regions'
innovation ecosystem. The end result? A
culture of collaboration and innovation
across industries and geography, and
growth in regional economies.
“We looked at what we did well across
our great nation, and we asked industry,
academia and NGOs how we could do
it better. The response was impressive,”
said Navdeep Bains, Canada’s minister
of innovation, science and economic
development.
AI is a collective
term for computer
systems that
can sense their
environment, think,
learn and take
action in response
to what they’re
seeing and their
objectives.
Digital Technologies Supercluster
The Digital Technology Supercluster
is a consortium of global names in
healthcare, telecoms, natural resources
and computing, along with start-ups, SMEs,
researchers and post-secondary institutions
- all working together to solve pressing
challenges facing the world today.
The Digital Technologies Supercluster
will identify and propel projects that are
guided by defi ned industry needs. With an
initial focus on health, natural resources
and industrial projects, the Supercluster will
innovate solutions using data analytics,
quantum computing, and virtual, mixed
and augmented reality.
Based in Vancouver, a centre of
excellence for CleanTech, telecoms
networks and other digital technologies,
the Digital Technologies Supercluster is
capitalising on the geographic advantage
of the west coast, Asia and the Cascadia
Innovation Corridor to connect resources
and market access.
“Leveraging the capability of
Canada’s world-leading broadband
and telecommunications networks,
we will use advance data collection,
analytics and visualisation in order to
realise breakthroughs in sectors such
as healthcare, natural resources,
and industrial applications. Our goal
is to produce innovations that have
tremendous local and global impacts,”
says Josh Blair, chief corporate offi cer,
executive vice-president TELUS, founding
member of Canada’s Digital Technology
Supercluster.
SCALE.AI Supercluster
The AI-powered Supply Chains Supercluster
is incorporated as SCALE.AI, a business-led
consortium headquartered in Montréal
and centered in Québec and Ontario.
Their mission: to shape a new global supply
chain platform while bolstering Canada’s
recognised leadership in AI.
SCALE.AI Supercluster will focus on
four impediments to the adoption of
an intelligent supply chain including a
technology roadmap for inter-sector
integration, collaboration between SME,
talent development and support for start-
up and SME scale-up.
CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD
11