Every year, our Annual General Meeting gives us a rare chance to pause and come together as a community. Members, partners, innovators, and colleagues gather to reflect on what was accomplished, celebrate the people who made it possible, and also challenge “what comes next?”
Our 8th AGM was no different. One idea carried through the whole day: innovation is never a solo act.
The work behind the work
Over the past eight years, DIGITAL has worked alongside industry, government, academia, and innovators across the country. Together, we’ve supported Canadian SMEs to advance the adoption and commercialization of digital technology, advance collaborative projects, and connect organizations with the opportunities they need to grow. The AGM continuously reminds us that every project needs collaboration: a company that took a chance on a new partner, a public agency willing to try a different approach, a researcher whose idea found its way into the real world.
That’s what ecosystem-building really looks like. It’s less about any single breakthrough and more about creating the conditions where good ideas can move from development to deployment, so the people behind them don’t have to go it alone.
Innovation, close to home
Our Member showcases made that especially clear. Both spoke to two of the most pressing challenges facing communities across Canada: workforce development and housing.
Ellen Hlozan from Trax walked us through her team’s work on a four-part AI training program for building officials across Canada. They have been training users on ethics, use of AI in government, AI-assisted regulatory workflows, and how to apply them in their day-to-day work. It’s a technical idea with a very human outcome: when regulatory processes become faster and clearer, homes get built sooner, and the people waiting for them aren’t left in limbo.
Karina Delcourt from ETRO Construction shared how her team has retooled the way buildings come together with prefabricated washroom cassettes, developed as part of BC Housing’s DASH program. Their new approaches to construction and project delivery show how efficiency on the job site can become a real capacity to meet housing and infrastructure demand.
The two approaches were very different, but they shared a purpose: using technology to make building homes faster and more efficient.
Honest conversations about growth
Our panel discussions took on the bigger questions shaping Canada’s digital economy, and the conversations were refreshingly candid.
In Building the Market While Building the Company, Nadia Shaikh-Naeem (Moderator), Janet Grove, Omar Dabash, and Gary Agnew spoke to the realities of commercialization, including the tension of scaling technology companies while also creating a market for solutions that may have applications across sectors. They explored how partnerships, ecosystem support, and procurement pathways can help Canadian innovations find their first customers and scale with confidence.
Our second panel, Canada’s AI Opportunity: From Innovation to Global Scale, brought together Elysa Darling (Moderator), Pam Saunders, Rob Goehring, and Solveig Johannessen. They considered what it will take to turn Canada’s strengths in artificial intelligence into lasting economic outcomes. Adoption, commercialization, and talent were all on the table, but the common thread was trust: Canada’s unique value proposition as a trusted partner and ally in a fast-moving global landscape.
Our sincere thanks to all six panelists for sharing their insights and expertise.
Looking ahead
We’ll keep connecting industry, accelerating technology commercialization and adoption, and helping companies scale by unlocking access to capital, talent and markets. And, of course, we’ll continue making space for collaboration. That’s how we shape an economy that is more productive, competitive, and resilient.
That’s how we grow Canada.