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Results: 1 - 15 of 3261
View Raj Saini Profile
Lib. (ON)
Good afternoon, gentlemen. Thank you very much for coming here today.
Mr. Tang, I'm going to start with you, because very rarely do we have a medical practitioner, and as a pharmacist I thought I would start with you first.
You talked about the white paper you produced. One thing I found interesting, which I found even in my own practice, is the translational research component, which you've termed the “valley of death” because there's a lack of resources.
How do we get beyond that problem? We might be able to create a great piece of equipment or a great piece of software, but the transition to actually seeing it used clinically usually is very difficult.
What do you propose, on a medical basis, whereby we can get the benefit of all this technology but actually apply it usefully to help patients?
An Tang
View An Tang Profile
An Tang
2019-06-06 16:19
Thank you for offering me the opportunity to answer.
Serendipity has it that the federal government recently awarded a strategic innovation fund grant to a consortium led by Imagia Cybernetics, a Canadian start-up specialized in AI in oncology, along with the Terry Fox Foundation and academic radiology departments across the country, in partnership with the four top computer science labs specializing in artificial intelligence. The goal, over a three- to five-year period, is to make sure that we harness the imaging data we have and create new applications that can be used in academic departments prior to commercialization of these products down the road.
Jo Stevens
View Jo Stevens Profile
Jo Stevens
2019-05-29 10:18
That quite neatly leads me on to my next question. I think there is quite a strong argument that global tech giants are a bit like a public utility and should be treated as such because of the power you wield.
Bearing in mind what you said just now about innovation, do you think that if that was the case and there was a bigger antitrust emphasis, it would negatively impact innovation? Is that your main reason?
John Weigelt
View John Weigelt Profile
John Weigelt
2019-05-29 10:19
I was making a linkage between those themes. My sense was that, look, we democratize technology. We make it silly simple for emerging nations and emerging companies with great ideas to leverage very advanced technology. When you think about artificial intelligence and the work that's happening in Montreal, Toronto, and even globally, the ability to make use of these tools to provide a new market is critically important.
I see this as a catalyst for the innovation community. We're working across the five Canadian superclusters, which is Canada's innovation engine around agriculture, oceans and advanced manufacturing, to build out new toolsets. Our ability to look across those communities and do cross-platform types of approaches and leverage our experience on a platform provides for activities in the community's best interest.
For example, in the ocean supercluster, working with data and having data about our oceans and having that sharing of a common commodity across the community is something we advocate to help that community grow . Having that platform and easy access to it provides that innovation.
Mark Ryland
View Mark Ryland Profile
Mark Ryland
2019-05-29 10:20
Yes, I would be happy to.
We face robust competition in all the markets we operate in. Cloud computing is a great example. There are not a large number of players in the cloud market, but competition is very strong, prices are dropping, and it enables, as my colleague was saying, new kinds of business models that were really previously impossible.
I worked for some years in our public sector business at Amazon Web Services. What I saw there was that we had very small companies, 10-, 20- or 30-person companies, competing for large government contracts that would have been impossible for them to compete for prior to the existence of cloud computing. It would have required a very large, dedicated government contractor to compete for these large contracts because they required so much infrastructure and so much capital investment in order to go after a large contract.
With the ability to get onto many IT services from cloud, you now have this great democratization, to reuse that word, of international market access, of mom-and-pop shops with international market access, whether through Amazon sellers on our retail site or through using our cloud platform. I think competition is really strengthened because some of these large-scale players enable people to access a broader set of markets.
Jo Stevens
View Jo Stevens Profile
Jo Stevens
2019-05-29 10:21
But they have to do it through you, don't they? Where else would they go?
Mark Ryland
View Mark Ryland Profile
Mark Ryland
2019-05-29 10:21
No, you can do it through us or our competitors.
Jo Stevens
View Jo Stevens Profile
Jo Stevens
2019-05-29 10:21
But there aren't that many competitors, are there?
Mark Ryland
View Mark Ryland Profile
Mark Ryland
2019-05-29 10:21
There are not a huge number of competitors, but the competition is fierce.
Jo Stevens
View Jo Stevens Profile
Jo Stevens
2019-05-29 10:21
It sounds a bit odd to me that you have very few competitors, yet it's fierce. That's not what I'd normally assume to be the case.
How about you, Erik?
Erik Neuenschwander
View Erik Neuenschwander Profile
Erik Neuenschwander
2019-05-29 10:22
From what little I know about legislation, it appears to be very challenging to write. I would presume that a goal of any legislation would be not to limit innovation, not to put a ceiling on what companies can do, but instead to try to put a floor for good behaviours.
View Navdeep Bains Profile
Lib. (ON)
I appreciate the opportunity to meet with you on this occasion, as you mentioned at the outset, with regard to the tabling of the 2019-20 main estimates.
It's my intention to share with this committee the details of the continued implementation of our government's innovation and skills plan. That's what's reflected in the budget, and the estimates as well.
My comments will be brief. I want to allow the maximum amount of time for questions.
However, before I go further, I'd like to thank this committee for its ongoing review of the Copyright Act as well as its invaluable efforts and reports on the Canadian manufacturing sector; innovation and technology; intellectual property and technology transfer—which was very helpful for us when we unveiled our first national IP strategy—and broadband connectivity, of course. Your committee has also studied Bill C-25 and Bill C-36, as well as Canada's anti-spam legislation. Long story short, Mr. Chair, our government greatly values these contributions. They have helped shape our innovation agenda.
We are well on our way to accomplishing our goals, but we know there is much left to do. That is why I am here today to discuss the proposed budget allocation of $8.6 billion in the 2019-20 main estimates for the ISED portfolio and to answer any questions that you may have. I am seeking your continued support as we advance the innovation and skills plan.
Allow me to provide some examples of what's in that budget, particularly in the main estimates.
One issue that's very important to us, and that many of you are aware of, is CanCode. To develop the digital economy, our CanCode program has helped more than one million students learn digital and coding skills. It's more than simply coding. It's about collaboration. It's about teamwork. It's about preparing young people for the jobs of tomorrow.
Budget 2019 seeks to provide an additional $60 million over the next two years. Because of that initial success, we've allocated additional funds to help another million young students gain new digital skills. It's not only about the kids; it's also about the teachers. We're empowering many teachers to learn how to teach how to code as well so they can provide additional opportunities for future generations.
Broadband is another area that's very important and that's come up often in the many conversations this committee has had, and of course in our travels across the country.
To ensure we have the infrastructure to put the skills to use, which I just highlighted with regard to CanCode, budget 2019 proposes $1.7 billion for high-speed Internet access.
I look forward to working with my colleague Minister Jordan to implement this funding. Our government is committed to this initiative. It complements the connect to innovate program that we launched a few years ago, and we were able to leverage a billion dollars' worth of support in total through that program.
The next item I want to talk about is superclusters.
We've supported the creation of five innovation superclusters. These superclusters will strengthen key sectors of our economy, which will attract international investment.
In doing so, these superclusters are building innovation ecosystems that bridge the gap from idea to commercialization to growing global firms. It's really about creating this ecosystem. I think you'll find this stat very important as well. Superclusters are expected to create 50,000 jobs and to grow Canada's economy by $50 billion over the next 10 years. This is really about growth and jobs, and about continued global leadership for Canada when it comes to our innovation economy.
Complementing this initiative, we are providing new sources of capital for large-scale innovation projects, as well. One such project that is very important to highlight, and that impacts many of our communities, is the strategic innovation fund, SIF. Through the SIF, we have announced contributions of $1.2 billion, leveraging investments of $15.3 billion. We not only are making these investments but also have seen significant leveraged dollars. We're expected to create, again, tens of thousands of jobs. These range from, of course, the automotive sector, which is very critical to our economy, to the aerospace sector to food processing to digital technologies.
If you're counting, that's more than 100,000 jobs from just those two initiatives. I'm talking about superclusters and SIF. I just wanted to highlight some of those key initiatives in my opening remarks as well.
I also want to take this opportunity to talk about the recently launched digital charter, which is central to the next phase of our innovation and skills plan. Under the digital charter, individual privacy and business innovation are complementary, not competing, priorities. This approach supports an environment in which business models that rely on leveraging data for growth put an even bigger premium on trust. This is really about creating and building trust in the digital world. Trust and growth should be mutually reinforcing principles. You can't have one at the expense of the other.
Our government's investments under the innovation and skills plan are working. Since October 2015, Canada's economic growth has led the G7 and unemployment is at a record low.
By building on Canada's competitive advantages—the most highly educated workforce in the world, unrivalled access to global markets and low costs for doing business—companies are growing in Canada, coming to Canada and investing in Canada.
Let me give you a quick snapshot. I'm an accountant; I like numbers. In 2018, we saw the highest levels of venture capital investments since the early 2000s. It was $4.6 billion. That's clearly an indication of how we're turning a corner. We're seeing additional investments—particularly late-stage investments—in companies that are scaling and growing. Foreign direct investment grew by nearly 60% as well, which is really important to know.
We're seeing nearly twice as many Canadian companies on their way to the billion-dollar mark, which is a true sign of global competitiveness. We call them unicorns. How do we create more Shopifys? How do we create more large-scale companies that are growing and creating jobs? Right now, we have 20 in the pipeline that are well on their way to doing that.
Canada has become one of the world's best places to live and do business. We saw that recently at two conferences. Collision in Toronto and C2 Montreal highlighted again how the world is coming to Canada to take advantage of all the opportunities here.
Our world-class workforce and cutting-edge infrastructure is attracting investment and opportunities.
Our government is committed to building a strong and innovative economy that benefits all Canadians.
Once again, I thank this committee for its work and for giving me this opportunity to speak today.
I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.
View John Oliver Profile
Lib. (ON)
View John Oliver Profile
2019-05-28 8:52
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Minister, for joining us this morning and for that presentation.
The first area I wanted to ask about is the innovative superclusters initiatives. For my riding of Oakville, this was a huge announcement. We have many advanced manufacturing concerns in my riding. There's food, innovative nuclear, aerospace, and of course, I'm home to Ford Canada and Ford's largest manufacturing plant in Canada. It's a really important area.
The one thing I heard from all the stakeholders working in this area of advanced manufacturing was what you said about the goal here, which is to go from an innovative idea to invention to commercialization to globalization, and assisting our homegrown Canadian manufacturers through that cycle into global competitiveness.
My first question is around that. Can you give the committee an update? Where are you in terms of the rollout? How do you see the supercluster initiative progressing? Maybe give us some highlights from British Columbia and from Ontario of what's happening in this area.
View Navdeep Bains Profile
Lib. (ON)
I think it really speaks to a key part of our innovation skills plan, which is around growth and jobs, of course, and also creating a collaboration in the culture of innovation.
We had a very competitive process when it came to the superclusters. Many companies, organizations and academic institutions partnered up to put forward their proposals. Ultimately, we selected five. One that really stood out was advanced manufacturing—the one that you highlighted—or NGen as it's called and as it's being marketing presently. It's a supercluster that really has brought together some key areas of strength in manufacturing. We have a footprint that's reasonably strong at 10%. It needs to not only maintain that level, but to grow now.
This supercluster is really focused on advanced manufacturing, 3D printing and skills. They have a concierge service where they are upskilling and re-skilling individuals to understand that as technology evolves and changes, so do the functions and the roles of individuals who use this technology. They need the skills and upgrading as well. It's a really big play on talent and people.
As you highlighted, the digital supercluster has not only moved from a strong governance model, but ultimately now has announced projects as well. You will see projects coming forward in the coming weeks that highlight collaboration where data strategies are shared, where intellectual property strategies are shared and where collaboration will take place, particularly between the larger and smaller companies. How to integrate the supply chains was also a key desire of our programming.
It's also really interesting to note that when we are out there trying to attract foreign investments, many of them are talking about these superclusters because it allows companies that are new to Canada, for instance, to automatically connect into an ecosystem where they can leverage relationships and really be part of some interesting collaborations.
It's across the country. We'll see investments in the ocean supercluster in a timely manner, as well as in Scale AI for artificial intelligence.
As I mentioned in my opening remarks, we are very confident that we'll hit a minimum of 50,000 jobs. We think that we will exceed that, but that's a very minimum benchmark in the coming years.
View John Oliver Profile
Lib. (ON)
View John Oliver Profile
2019-05-28 8:56
Great, and the 50,000 job count in advanced manufacturing or across those types of skills is enormous. Those are high-quality, well-paid jobs that are going to support Canadians for years to come.
On the B.C. digital supercluster, can you speak to some of the outcomes and what's been achieved there?
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