Canada Is Becoming a Hub for Artificial Intelligence

The work of Canadian computer scientists Geoffrey Hinton, Yann LeCun, and Yoshua Bengio has helped to shape artificial intelligence (AI) as we currently know it. These eminent professors lay the groundwork for everyday AI technologies like searching for an image on Google.

Today, the Canadian AI ecosystem is thriving, with encouragement from the government and independent organisations to grow the industry. A large number of Canadian startups are interested in developing, applying and commercializing AI technology and increasing numbers of students are deciding to stay in Canada due to the opportunities emerging there. US tech giants including Microsoft and IBM are looking at business opportunities in AI, and Uber, Google Brain and DeepMind have all announced plans to expand to Canada to carry out research and development in the industry.

The Vector Institute is a non-profit research organization that aims to increase Canada’s awareness of AI’s potential, with a focus on the transformative potential of deep learning and machine learning. It serves as a research and commercialization hub for driving the use of AI in order to foster economic growth and improve quality of life.

The institute was launched in March 2017 and has received around $150 million in investments from Canadian businesses and government. Companies from sectors like finance, education, retail, advanced manufacturing and more have contributed millions in funding, demonstrating an enormous amount of support for AI from a wide range of sectors. Algorithms will eventually be capable of filtering huge amounts of data to produce information such as delivering insights to improve guidance systems for autonomous vehicles, helping diagnose medical patients and assisting farmers to simplify the management of their crops.

Canada’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development Program (SR&ED) encourages businesses of all sizes to conduct research and development. It allows a company to deduct SR&ED expenditure from its income for tax purposes and provides a tax credit to reduce tax payable. Get in touch with Swanson Reed R&D Tax Consultants for a free eligibility assessment.