Canada’s national Artificial Intelligence strategy: AI for All

The founders and scaleups we work with every day show that Canada has the AI talent, research depth and company-building ambition to compete globally. The question is how quickly we can turn that advantage into companies that scale from Canada and deliver practical benefits for Canadians.

A federal strategy that includes a stronger role for government as an early customer, improved access to compute, targeted growth capital and a renewed focus on talent are all important pieces of the scaleup equation. These are the conditions founders tell us they need.

The companies we support are not building technology for its own sake. They are applying it to real economic and social challenges: improving health care delivery, strengthening food and agriculture systems, accelerating housing and infrastructure, and helping Canadian businesses become more productive. Getting the conditions right for these companies is not only an innovation priority, it is an economic priority.

As the strategy moves from announcement to implementation, the details will matter. Compute access needs to be timely, practical and available to emerging companies, not only large institutions. Procurement needs to make room for Canadian scaleups that are ready to solve public-sector problems. And talent policy needs to help Canada retain and attract the people who can build globally competitive AI companies here.

Canada has long been recognized for world-class AI research and talent. The next test is whether we can translate that strength into scaled companies, stronger productivity and better outcomes for Canadians. MaRS looks forward to working with government, founders, investors, researchers and industry partners to help make that happen.

 — Grace Lee Reynolds, CEO, MaRS Discovery District