It’s a flow chart challenge
Canada’s AI work has global impact, but how can the country keep it up?
Jean-Francois Gagne’s map of the AI ecosystem in Canada is a constant work in progress. In fact, each time he presents his graphic to an audience, he gets more names to add to the dozens of logos, from research labs to incubators to startups.
“We have two guys working on this full-time,” says the cofounder and CEO of Element AI. “We’re trying to show the impact of the Canadian ecosystem on a global scale.”
Gagne was among a number of presenters at the first AI Forum in Montreal, a three-day event focused on what’s next for AI. While discussion points were varied — from the ethics of AI to how neural networks work — an overarching theme was the need for the community to put systems in place to create a sustainable business and economic model.
AI has reached the point where it its impact is being felt across the Canadian economy, Gagne said. “We have the financial resources, combined with the technology, talent and good understanding of how we need to reinvent business. AI is large enough, wide enough and has disrupted long enough that we can build a sustainable business model around the opportunity. Some answers will come from research, some from entrepreneurs, and some from engaging with corporate joint ventures.”
So how can Canada build on this AI momentum moving forward?
First, collaboration between the countless ecosystem constituents is a critical starting point, Gagne said. “For our part, we are working with every AI lab in Canada, engaging with helping incubators and accelerators, investing in tech transfer, and supporting research. We’re in touch with Creative Destruction Lab, MILA (Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms), and IVADO (Institute for Data Valorisation). We also intend to work with the Vector Institute and NextAI, and contribute to many other pieces of the ecosystem.”
Seed-stage capital firm Real Ventures in Montreal is spending time with startup communities such as the University of Waterloo’s Velocity program, Communitech, Ryerson’s DMZ, OneEleven, MaRS Innovation Accelerator Fund, and Creative Destruction Lab, among others community members, said Jean Sebastian Cournoyer, general partner. “We all benefit from collaboration. The only way any of us succeed is if we see amazing companies coming out of our collective efforts.”
A second key element is open AI platforms that will allow developers to leverage AI tools to build solutions. Rising stars include Montreal-based Maluuba (recently acquired by Microsoft), which specializes in machine reading and writing. Integrate.ai is putting down roots in Toronto under the leadership of Facebook alumnus Steve Irvine, whose intent is to deliver a scalable software platform that collects data and accelerates the learning of models.
Matthew Zeiler, co-founder and CEO of Clarifai is a Manitoba native and deep learning specialist now based in New York, who developed an image- and video-recognition platform. As he explained to the AI Forum audience, “The focus of our effort is on a platform that any developer can work with. Someone could be building the next Uber or Snapchat with our platform as the core. As they have exponential growth, we will as well.”
A third component is open access to algorithms and massive data sets, an area in which governments, research labs, universities and industry are participating. “A lot of algorithms have been made open source, so it’s easier than ever before to get started doing this. There are definitely opportunities to jump-start the creation of new IP and systems (to) capitalize on,” said Dave Gershgorn, another Forum participant.
Corporate/startup partnerships will be another driving force in building AI momentum. According to Andy Mauro, CEO and co-founder of Automat.ai, innovation used to be a dedicated team within enterprise organizations. “What we are seeing now is a lot of innovation teams getting shut down in favour of corporate partnerships with startups, because they can do deals that are transformative.”
Scale-up investment has also been flagged as a critical area of focus. Bilal Khan, managing director of OneEleven in Toronto said during a recent facility tour, that “the greatest long-term economic prospects are not necessarily from having 1,000 startups, but rather from post-seed technology companies. The opportunity lies in creating stronger economies. Our role as a scale-up innovation hub is to provide large capital pools to fewer companies, versus spreading the peanut butter too thin.”
While there is much to be done, Gagne is confident the stars are aligned to take Canadian AI to the next level.
“A lot of organizations in the Canadian system are dedicating themselves to AI, and there are a lot of players on the map. But we need a new playbook, because there is no one single person figuring this out.”