Canada: new investments in artificial intelligence
The Premier of the State of Alberta, Rachel Notley, announced a five-year investment plan in the field of artificial intelligence worth a 100 million Canadian dollars; the objective of the plan is to produce an important multiplier effect on the economy of the Province, with the creation of about 6,000 new highly skilled jobs and generating private investments for over 200 million.
Alberta’s decision to focus on innovative sectors represents a way to diversify the provincial economy, based mainly on the extraction of hydrocarbons. The decision is in line with the importance attributed to the artificial intelligence sector by the federal government and with the position of global excellence that Canada has been able to consolidate over the years in academic research which is mainly carried out in the hubs of Edmonton, Montreal and Toronto.
In 2017, the Trudeau Government launched the “Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy” worth 125 million Canadian dollars, with the aim of developing a global approach to research. The strategy aims to support the national research community in the field of artificial intelligence and develop a global approach to the economic, ethical, political and legal implications connected to its use.
The field of artificial intelligence has also been selected by the Federal Government as one of the five winners of the “Innovation Superclusters Initiative”, a project worth about 950 million Canadian dollars, as part of a broader strategy for the diversification of the Canadian economy. In this context, last December a financing of about 230 million dollarswas announced to the Artificial Intelligence hub based in Montreal .
Canada boasts the third-largest concentration of artificial intelligence experts in the world and is a confirmed world leader in the research and development of technologies related to the sector. It has also succeeded to create a climate stimulating the growth of start-ups.