Since our inception in 2018, DIGITAL has leveraged over $200M of our $255M co-investments into a total $506M portfolio that has reinforced Canada’s leadership in Artificial Intelligence (AI). As early champions of successful innovations led by prominent Canadian AI companies such as Tali, Wysdom and OWL Co, it’s clear that we’ve always been ahead of the curve in AI. Our ongoing investments are building on a strong and broad domestic experience in the development and deployment of solutions to enhance Canada’s AI-ecosystem.
By convening some of the most innovative Canadian-led digital technology consortiums in the world, we are supporting Canada’s global leadership in the ethical and responsible development and deployment of AI, while accelerating an innovative and competitive Canadian economy. Through our investments we reinforce standards for our Members to both adhere to current regulations addressing ethics, biases, cultural sensitivities, and human rights; and to anticipate, inform and support future directions so that Canadian AI rightly claims world leadership in transparency, operability and ethics. For example, we hold our Members accountable for establishing data governance, data sharing and cybersecurity protections; along with strengthening IP portfolios and developing robust IP strategies. Combined, our efforts are both accelerating and strengthening the global commercial potential of Canadian companies in the rapidly evolving AI arena. The good news is that our Members continue to be ‘ahead of the curve’ and defining the future.
"Support from DIGITAL has uniquely enabled significant IP development here in Canada by providing crucial funding that drove our innovation. The tools developed through the resources and opportunities facilitated by DIGITAL funding exemplify our commitments to innovation and excellence in the realm of conversational AI; revolutionizing how we optimize virtual assistants and setting new benchmarks in analytics capabilities. Their support has been instrumental in fostering a dynamic Canadian ecosystem, catalyzing new partnerships, and promoting sustainable growth. The advancements made through our project not only strengthen Canada’s position in the global tech landscape but also support enhanced customer interactions and intelligent automation worldwide.”
AAQIB AZEEM
VP of Strategy and Innovation at Wysdom.AI
Accessible, effective, and sustainable healthcare for Canadians – anywhere, anytime.
Access to effective and sustainable healthcare is fundamental for successful families, communities and economies. Since our inception, we have been dedicated to leveraging the creativity and expertise of Canadian industry across all aspects of healthcare. Our goal is to provide innovative products and services to Canadians and the world, enhancing health and wellness while creating opportunities for Canadian health innovators to excel globally.
The Advanced AI Wound Care Network exemplifies Canada’s leadership in healthcare technologies. This collaboration democratizes access to high-quality wound care while reducing the cost of care and releasing precious health human resources to other areas of care. The collaboration is focusing on the adoption, evaluation and commercialization of Swift Medical’s AI-powered wound assessment, decision support and predictive care technologies. Initially advanced through the Telewound Care Canada project, the new consortium is now focused on accelerating global commercialization by expanding the capabilities of Swift Medical’s existing digital wound care platform with the integration of three AI-powered technologies. This work demonstrates how Canadian leadership in AI decision-support can enable better patient outcomes, more cost-conscious resource utilization and enhanced health system capacity to increase access and equity both at home and around the world.
Simultaneously, leveraging AI for next generation clinical trial technologies seeks to revolutionize the completion, success and relevancy of clinical trials. Nearly 1/3 of adults globally suffer from multiple chronic conditions. At the same time, 85% of all clinical trials fail to recruit enough patients for the clinical trial to proceed and 80% of trials that do proceed are delayed due to recruitment challenges. These barriers slow down the research and delivery of life-saving therapies and devices desperately needed by patients worldwide. This collaboration in this space aims to develop and augment a comprehensive, integrated ‘AI Clinical Buddy System’ for more effective and diverse patient recruitment, adherence, engagement and to support monitoring of clinical trials, with the initial trial focussed on a potential solution for chronic concussions. By leveraging these opportunities and demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed solution, the project team stands to position themselves as global leaders for AI-driven healthcare innovation.
"The ultimate aim of any clinical trial is to bring life-saving therapies to market quickly and safely to help as many patients as possible. By increasing the diversity, personalization, and patient support with the AI Clinical Buddy System, we will be able to help life sciences companies and patient populations worldwide. While we have been developing patient-centric AI technologies for the past 5 years, we’re tremendously excited about this ambitious project and honoured to be working alongside industry leaders in this transformative project."
LYNDA BROWN-GANZERT
CEO at RxPx
A critical focus of supporting a more sustainable health care system is enabling better access to home care delivery.
By managing hospitalization risk and better home care delivery using Large Language Models, the consortium aims to leverage the potential of LLMs and predictive algorithms for AlayaCare’s flagship AC Cloud product, an extensive health record platform currently used by over 700 home care service providers across North America and Australia. Anticipated features powered by the algorithm will include the first ever LLM-based smart AI assistant for home-based care, offering a broad range of natural language summarization and conversational abilities, risk dashboards, and decision support for clinical supervisors and caregivers. Enhanced features will utilize patient clinical data such as comorbidities, diagnoses, previous hospitalizations and falls, to automatically identify which patients receiving home care are at risk of hospitalization. These features will help AlayaCare support more effective patient care and further penetrate the $2B global home health care market.
While the health applications offered by AI are boundless, its potential to maximize the competitiveness, environmental sustainability and profitability of our natural resource industries is equally revolutionary.
Demand for metals and critical minerals continues to grow as they are essential building blocks for technologies aimed at accelerating the global transition towards a lower carbon future. Narrow vein deposits are often located on the periphery of existing mines, at the bottom of pits or below existing underground workings. To date, unlocking the value of these deposits has been unreachable due to the complex requirements and high cost of conventional mining methods.
Data driven surgical mining is using AI and machine learning (ML) to target narrow vein mineral deposits while reducing mining waste, emissions & costs. Novamera’s data-driven, real-time ‘Surgical Mining’ suite of technologies will use AI and ML to allow mining companies to extract additional mineral deposits on existing and currently unmined projects, supporting increased production while reducing waste by up to 95%, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by up to 44% and at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods. The combination of hardware and software solutions generates real-time digital twin models of deposits; prescribes a course for surgical, low-impact extraction; and informs how and where to drill with real-time adjustments while using conventional drilling equipment. The consortium will demonstrate the application of Novamera’s technology with facility testing and on-site in Newfoundland and Labrador to validate the impact in enabling better accuracy and measurement of deposits. This project will also quantify the reduced environmental impact of surgical mining compared to open pit methods. This work aims to help unlock the over $6T in global value for narrow vein deposits of metals and critical minerals the world needs, while at the same time, positioning Canadian innovation at the forefront of the global race for green technology solutions.
Together, these investments underscore our commitment to advancing Canadian innovation and leadership in AI by supporting a healthier population and a more environmentally sustainable world while driving economic growth and global competitiveness of Canadian companies.
"We can’t transition to clean energy without mining. Technology and innovation will be key to finding new ways to get the material we desperately need while minimizing the impact on communities and the environment. We are dedicated to equipping the mining sector with the necessary tools to meet the growing demand for metal in a profitable, rapid, and sustainable manner.”
DUSTIN ANGELO
CEO at Novamera
How we do it
An interview with Nadia Shaikh-Naeem, VP Programs
“Following our co-investments, our partners have gone on to raise over $1.2B in follow-on funding. This is testament to Canadian-led innovation, Canadian leadership, and our addressing of real life problems that are increasing Canadian competitiveness on the global stage.”
Watch the video