With elections just around the corner, Ontario Liberals released earlier than usual its 2018 budget, which includes at least $1.5 billion for R&D and innovation. The $158.5-billion spending plan focuses largely on enhanced social, education and healthcare initiatives but also commits millions to businesses as well as R&D, innovation and competitiveness.
Organization: Vector Institute
Tech Mahindra invests $100M for Centre of Excellence in AI, blockchain
India’s Tech Mahindra will invest $100 million over the next five years to create a new Centre of Excellence (COE) in Canada for major emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and Blockchain. The Indian technology powerhouse made the announcement during Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s visit to India in February. Tech Mahindra said the COE,…
TD acquires Toronto AI firm
TD Bank has acquired Layer 6 Inc, a Toronto-based artificial intelligence firm, for an undisclosed amount. The bank said its latest investment is part of a transformation strategy to deliver personalized customer experience. Layer 6 offers an AI platform to financial institutions and e-commerce for prediction and personalization. Layer 6 is co-founded by co-CEOs Tomi Poutanen…
Supercluster contenders must include strategies for confronting the risks in managing diverse interests
Managing different organizations with varying interests and different sizes of financial commitment will require a change in culture for the companies and institutions engaged in the Innovation Supercluster Initiative (ISI) competition. Governance and managing millions of dollars in government funds matched by industry are among the key challenges and risks ISI contenders will face, according to panelists at the recent Canadian Science Policy Conference
Vector Institute boosts AI faculty roster, gets $30M funding to get more master’s students to go into AI
The Vector Institute in Toronto is doubling its team of experts in artificial intelligence with 10 new faculty members joining its roster. The not-for-profit group — launched by the Univ of Toronto and an impressive group of AI companies — also announced that it is managing new funds from the Ontario government that will help…
Thales creates Montreal-based cortAlx to provide safe and ethical AI solutions
A new centre for artificial intelligence is in the works in Montreal further solidifying its position as one of Canada’s main hubs for AI. Thales SA, a France-based, multinational defence and aerospace contractor, recently announced the creation of the Centre of Research and Technology in Artificial Intelligence eXpertise (cortAIx), which will be supported by the…
Garth Gibson
Dr Garth Gibson has been appointed president and CEO of the Vector Institute, effective January 2/18. The Canadian born Gibson is moving to Toronto to head up the recently created artificial intelligence (AI) non-profit organization after a 26-year career in the US as a professor and associate dean of computer science at Carnegie Mellon Univ…
Vector Institute aims to play key role in Canada’s bid to maintain AI leadership
Geoff Hinton, Yoshua Bengio and Richard Sutton may not be household names but in the world of artificial intelligence (AI) these Canadian researchers are superstars at the forefront of a field that is attracting a host of marquee tech titans angling to gain competitive advantage in the rapidly evolving field. Yet many highly accomplished AI researchers have left Canada to seek opportunity elsewhere prompting a remarkable alignment of government, academia and industry to make Canada the go-to destination for AI advancements in an ever-expanding range of industry sectors.
Is Canada’s Innovation Budget ambitious enough?
Opinion is decidedly split on the federal government’s delivery of its promised innovation Budget. The March 22 budgetary planning document contains a wide range of measures related to skills, company financing, program consolidation and clean technology.