October 15, 2020
You may be familiar with the saying “may you live in interesting times”. This year has certainly been full of ‘interesting’ and unprecedented times. The Digital Technology Supercluster was founded on the principles of creating a culture and team that is agile, resilient, fast and reliable with a deliberate focus on thriving in unknown territories. Together with our Members, we have risen to the challenges and captured the opportunities presented (so far) by 2020’s interesting times. We are excited to continue to support our Members as we accelerate Canada’s economic restart and renewal by supporting the development, deployment and scaling of Canadian technologies to build a better Canada for everyone.
On September 22, we welcomed 270 guests from across Canada to our virtual Accelerated Innovation discussion featuring the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. We were thrilled to hear Minister Bains reflect on the purpose of the Supercluster program and as he celebrated our progress with 67 collaborative projects, working to solve some of industry and society’s biggest problems. We also had the opportunity to hear from Members who shared their project experience and how the Digital Supercluster has helped them and their project partners deliver meaningful solutions that support Canadians’ health and safety while driving economic energy across the country. We are halfway through the five-year term of our first Contribution Agreement with the Government of Canada. As we see it, we are 2.5 years into our first century of success as the Digital Supercluster! Given this, coupled with the changes we have seen in our economy, the social needs of Canadians and the potential opportunities for Canada on the horizon, it is a good time to reflect and reimagine our strategy and ask ourselves: in today’s rapidly evolving domestic and global environment, how do we make sure that Canadians and Canadian industry wins? With input from you, our Board and others, we are developing our strategy for the coming decade – one that will see Canadian digital technologies:
- Keep Canadians safe and healthy while driving better access and health outcomes
- Address the impacts of climate change while protecting our environment
- Accelerate digital transformation of key economic sectors such as our natural resources sectors
- Build a globally recognized skilled workforce
We are determined to support our Members through continued co-investment in projects that address issues such as those noted above. To continue to build our momentum, we will open our fourth call for projects on October 22.
We look forward to reading your project proposals!
Sue Paish
CEO, Digital Technology Supercluster