IEEE CANADA TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP WEBINAR SERIES – II

Speaker: Suzanne
Grant of Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance

_{Topic: #TechnologyNorth – the gold standard}

Suzanne envisions a world where a Made in Canada #TechnologyNorth seal is the global gold standard of quality, synonymous with leather shoes Made in Italy, grapes harvested in Champagne, and autos designed and manufactured in Germany. Canada’s world class innovators have delivered excellence decade over decade. Without adequate support of the sector through COVID19, this vision may be a non-starter. During economic difficulties Canada has traditionally bailed out traditional auto and airline industries, and innovative technologies like the AVRO Arrow, Nortel, Research In Motion, Cognos and aspiring young companies were orphaned. By failing to protect our  innovators, Canada traded in future traction of Canada’s valuable intellectual property. America, Europe and the Middle East hungry to prosper from our bargain IP and talent came out the winners. Each downturn has taken at least a decade for technology to reinvent itself and rebound.

We have a track record of great beginnings and a more mature Canada can weather the storms and aim for bigger commercial finish lines, where prosperity and job abundance translate to big returns. Before COVID19 struck, we were hitting our stride with record venture investments and sought after talent from leading education institutions. Canada’s Innovation Agenda demonstrated a maturing future view aiming to lead. This is no time to retreat! The government has invested on behalf of Canadians and accountable for a $36B year over year injection into innovation via universities and commercialization. This investment is at risk. Toronto was the fastest growing tech hub in North America with ICT and advanced technologies outpacing job and economic growth rates by almost twice the national average. As we look beyond COVID19, our technology sector, adequately supported through this crisis, can be the catalyst to jump start Canada’s future economy. With a troubled oil and gas sector, Canada will need agile, fast movers doing the heavy lifting to fund our social, health and education programs and rebuild the nation’s balance sheet.

And as we get back to shipping products and services, a more sophisticated approach to sales, branding, advocacy and public relations, layered with Canada’s science, technology, engineering and maths genius can place Canada out in front in multiple lanes. The digitization revolution just got a bump up and opportunities and demand will remain for trillion dollar market frontiers. Data, Internet of things and machine learning are golden.  Demand for artificial intelligence, environmental, medical and space solutions will continue to accelerate. Winning the future will take more collaboration, agility, commercial savvy and embracing diverse talent sets and creativity. We’ve got this Canada!

About The Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance
CATA is a trusted industry alliance with a mandate to help Canadian innovation thrive. They focus on commercial capabilities and market access for Canadian HQ small and medium technology businesses. The alliance brings together industry thought leaders with academe and policy makers to advocate for Canadian competitiveness. CATA amplifies a bold, confident podium culture amongst Canadian innovators. CATA recently proposed $3.6B in COVID emergency relief – the Resilience and Rebound Fund for tech small and medium companies.
CATA is home to the National Innovation Leadership Council, and a joint body with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police – the CACP/CATA E-Crimes Cyber Council. CATA is launching a President’s Council this Fall

Posted by IEEE Ottawa Section Publications on 2020-05-08 at 17:12 in .

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