April 21, 2020 | Local, Clean technologies, Big data and Artifical Intelligence, Advanced manufacturing 4.0, Autonomous systems (Drones / E-VTOL), Virtual design and testing, Additive manufacturing
Good evening,
Thank you to those who participated in this afternoon's update call with Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains. If you weren't able to join the call, we've uploaded the audio here: https://bit.ly/2VQHxZV
We were pleased to have both Minister Bains and Iain Stewart, President of the National Research Council, on the call today to provide an overview of how the government plans to use the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) to support Canadian innovators who are ineligible for the 75% Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and other stimulus measures announced to date. Our call with the Minister comes on the heels of an announcement by the Government of Canada to increase IRAP's funding envelope by $250M and double the funding available for Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) with an investment of $962M.
For more information about the new IRAP program announced today, visit https://nrc.canada.ca/en/support-technology-innovation/register-nrc-irap-innovation-assistance-program.
And while the majority of the call today did focus on the IRAP program, more information about accessing support from the RDAs is expected in the coming days, and we'll update you accordingly.
I'd like to pause and thank you all for participating in our national advocacy efforts to support the Canadian technology ecosystem.
By showing up, being counted, and sharing your stories with your local government representatives and members of the media, you're helping to reorient Canada's economic policies towards the 21st century innovation economy and keep Canadians working. Your advocacy matters and your voices are being heard, as Minister Bains acknowledged on the call today. Advocacy is most effective when we all speak with one voice, and over the past number of weeks, you've all put on your jersey's for Team Canada, and it's made a difference. Congratulations to you all.
You can see your advocacy at work in these articles published today in various Canadian newspapers:
Have a great weekend,
Ben
Benjamin Bergen
Executive Director
Council of Canadian Innovators \ Conseil Canadien des Innovateurs
April 30, 2021
Le budget fédéral 2021 a été déposé par la ministre des Finances Chrystia Freeland lundi dernier. Derrière les déficits records et les mesures de soutien à l’économie en temps de pandémie, dont un programme national de garderies, le budget comprend aussi 101,4 milliards d’investissements additionnels dont certains fonds sont destinés à l’innovation, via des programmes […]
June 15, 2020
AN OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN ABOUT CANADA'S LARGEST UNMANNED SYSTEMS DEFENCE PROCUREMENT Get informed on the Government of Canada's Remotely Piloted Aircraft System Project and how Canadian industry and other stakeholders can be best positioned for industrial opportunities As part of Canada's defence policy, Strong, Secure, Engaged (SSE), the Department of National Defence has committed to acquiring a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS). This project will acquire a medium altitude and armed RPAS, along with associated equipment, weapons, infrastructure, and in-service sustainment capability. Canada's Industrial and Technology Benefits (ITB) Policy will be applied on this project, requiring the chosen supplier to make investments in Canada equal to the value of the contracts. that align with Value Proposition (VP) strategic objectives. Unmanned Systems Canada (USC) is organizing a webinar to brief Canadian industry and other stakeholders on the RPAS project, including key information on project requirements, procurement process and project timelines. The webinar will also be used to familiarize Canadian industry and other stakeholders on the ITB Policy and describe the initial Value Proposition approach. It will also describe the next steps on how Canadian stakeholders can provide input and feedback to refine the VP for this project to ensure strong economic benefits for Canada. This joint presentation will include representatives from the Department of National Defence, Public Services and Procurement Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. In addition, the webinar will include brief presentations from the two Qualified Suppliers on the Project: L3 Technologies MAS Inc, and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. Webinar date: June 22nd, 2020 English session: 1:00 pm EDT French session: 2:30 pm EDT Each session is one hour in length. English webinar registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Fz7G5NglR-aWIw_aW1Pa7g French webinar registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XcA8YokRRw67fBL3A3dnKg Links to project information are here: PSPC Website - https://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/app-acq/amd-dp/air/snac-nfps/sdat-rpac-eng.html DND Website - https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/procurement/remotely-piloted-aircraft-system.html ISEDC - http://www.Canada.ca/ITB
August 2, 2021
Frequent flyer program customers of Star Alliance member airlines will soon be able to use their biometric identity across any participating airline at any participating airport following a new agreement between the world's largest airline alliance, NEC Corporation and SITA. The agreement announced today is aimed at accelerating the availability of biometric self-service touchpoints across Star Alliance's member airlines while delivering a faster, touchless airport experience. Connecting to SITA‘s Smart Path solution, the Star Alliance biometrics platform will be able to use SITA's shared airport infrastructure already available in more than 460 airports. Together with SITA and NEC's global presence, multiple biometric projects can be delivered in parallel, speeding up the availability of biometric passenger processing to Star Alliance's member airlines globally. This will be vital in enabling Star Alliance to deploy biometrics faster. A further advantage is the NEC I:Delight platform – which allows passengers who have opted to use the service to be identified quickly and with a high degree of accuracy, even on the move – can be easily integrated with SITA Smart Path. The I:Delight platform is also able to recognize passengers even when wearing a mask, an increasingly important feature for travel during the current pandemic. The platform is already in use by Star Alliance member airlines at several airports in Europe. Uniquely, passengers using Star Alliance's biometrics platform enroll only once. Passengers then can pass through biometrically enabled touchpoints across multiple member airlines and participating airports using just their face as their boarding pass. This speeds up the passage through the airport while making each step completely touchless, supporting important health and hygiene safety measures in times of COVID-19 and delivering on Star Alliance's vision of a seamless customer experience. Jeffrey Goh, CEO, Star Alliance, said: “This agreement is instrumental in bringing further scale to our biometrics service, with the inherent benefits of speed and meeting customer expectations for a more touchless and hygienically safer experience across all of our member airlines. Biometrics is a key element of that experience and our strategy of leading the way in digitalizing the passenger journey.” Barbara Dalibard, CEO, SITA, said: “Together with NEC, SITA is pleased to be supporting Star Alliance in bringing the full benefits of biometric identity to their member airlines. Passengers have long welcomed the advantages of control and speed automation brings to the passenger journey; a trend that has been accelerated by COVID-19. With this agreement the benefits of biometric identity will be extended from a single airline or journey to a vast network of airlines. That is truly unique and demonstrates the benefits digital identity can bring to the passenger.” Masakazu Yamashina, Executive Vice President, NEC Corporation said: "NEC is honored to join this three party partnership with Star Alliance and SITA. While the impact of COVID-19 continues, we are pleased to lead the creation of seamless and touchless travel. NEC is committed to providing a safe and comfortable customer experience through our NEC I:Delight identity management solution."