The framework for understanding Canada\u2019s current position and potential future was laid out plainly by the country\u2019s Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, Evan Solomon. When asked about how he views his responsibilities in his relatively new position and portfolio, Solomon said he thinks about it in terms of the horizontal and vertical axis.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re now at an inflection point where we can\u2019t consider what to buy for a decade, we have to buy now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eliot Pence,
Dominion Dynamics<\/p>\n
On the vertical side sits \u201cthe energy systems and the infrastructure, the talent, the research, the ability to commercialize the models, the applications all the way up the stack.\u201d Before Canada can reach its full potential as a technology leader, it needs to ensure that vertical access is in place.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for the horizontal axis, where AI crosscuts into different industries like agriculture, healthcare, the arts, and defence? That\u2019s where the government has a role to play, Solomon said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got this incredible vertical axis, which you see here at Tech Week, and then you see where the applications are across the spectrum,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd, frankly, the adoption across those sectors is really my job; to build this up and to make sure safe, transparent Canadian AI is adopted across the sector, so we get that economic lift and can stay competitive.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Many of those sectors were represented during the three-hour event.\u00a0 TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey, for one, kicked off the afternoon by describing the bond between technology and art.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that that deep, rich storytelling experience is transformative, and also that transformative storytelling and advanced technology are mutually dependent,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Following Bailey was a panel dedicated to a technology subcategory that may not have made the mainstage at a marquee industry event in year\u2019s past, but seems incredibly pressing in the wake of the Federal Government\u2019s $6.6-billion Defence Industrial Strategy<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The panel introduced another theme that reverberated throughout the afternoon\u2019s programming, highlighting how Canada needs to update its approach to procurement in favour of policies that strengthen sovereignty by strengthening Canadian competitiveness.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEvery procurement structure is faulty; it either privileges the incumbents, the large companies, or privileges the insurgent companies like mine,\u201d said panelist Eliot Pence, founder and CEO of Dominion Dynamics, and one of the issue\u2019s honourees. \u201cWe\u2019re now at an inflection point where we can\u2019t consider what to buy for a decade, we have to buy now. We\u2019re also in a moment in time in which we want to privilege Canadian companies, and we have not done that for a long time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Pence explains that it took Canada more than a decade<\/a> to purchase fighter jets to replace its aging CF-18s. \u201cThat\u2019s just an irrelevant timeframe for modern warfare,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have to find different ways of buying things that save lives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe West is seriously, seriously outgunned en masse in the era of modern warfare,\u201d added panelist Katheron Intson, co-founder and CEO of Sentinal R&D. Intson added that her company, which manufactures fix-winged drone technology on Canadian soil, was looking to raise money from American investors prior to the recent federal funding announcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n RELATED: Cold Front<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI would have thought that we were on a fast track to becoming an American company,\u201d she said. \u201cLuckily, Canada seems to have woken up and identified us as having a sovereign, albeit exportable technology.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Xanadu founder Christian Weedbrook experienced a similar about-face from the federal government. The Toronto-based quantum computing company\u2014which\u00a0became the first tech firm to list on the TSX in five years when it wen<\/a>t<\/a> public<\/a> late last year\u2014has long been an active participant<\/a> in the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency\u2019s (DARPA) Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI).\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Canadian government thought, that\u2019s not good\u2014and also what\u2019s not good is us potentially leaving,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, they decided to set up the Canadian Quantum Champions program<\/a> as a complement to that, but its main goal, or one of its main goals, was to keep Canadian companies here, and I think it\u2019s achieved it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI love the fair play, but I love it when Canadians win the gold medal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Jim Balsillie<\/p>\n In the rapidly expanding domain of physical AI, Waabi\u2014which recently raised Canada\u2019s largest-ever funding round<\/a> at $750 million USD\u2014has been deploying its self-driving technology on the other side of the border and will be operational in every US state by 2028. Founder and CEO Raquel Urtasun says robots \u201cwill be everywhere\u201d in five to ten years, and not just in the streets.\u00a0<\/p>\n The native of Pamplona, Spain, told University of Toronto president Melanie Woodin that she originally chose Canada\u2014and U of T\u2014because of its head start in AI innovation, but worries it\u2019s now at risk of falling behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason why I came to Canada in the first place is because a lot of the breakthroughs in AI were actually happening here,\u201d she said, but added that Canada needs to do better at translating that innovation into economic opportunities and entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n Closing out the event was Research in Motion co-founder and chair of the Council of Canadian Innovators Jim Balsillie, who laid out the challenge in blunt terms.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCanada\u2019s economic thinking remains rooted in the 1970s\u2014a tangible production era,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause of this, Canada has been in a structural, 40-year erosion, ranking last in the G7 in productivity per capita, and is projected to remain the worst performing advanced economy in the OECD for the next 40 years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Balsillie explained that Canada continues to operate under a model of \u201ctraditional trade equilibrium\u201d as others\u2014and especially the United States\u2014adopt a winner-takes-all approach.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m as much an economic nationalist as I root for the Canadian teams at the Olympics,\u201d he said. \u201cI love the fair play, but I love it when Canadians win the gold medal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite the challenges Canadian innovators face, Balsillie ended the event by tipping his cap to those in the room.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou guys have done what you\u2019ve done with the wind in your face,\u201d he said. \u201cImagine if you had the wind at your back. 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