Digital Policy Salon: The Next Frontier
Policy Updates 🇨🇦

Canada signs on to the Artemis Accords, a common set of space exploration principles

Canada has joined the US, UK, Japan, and others in signing on to the Artemis Accords, “a common set of principles to govern the civil exploration and use of the moon, Mars, comets, and asteroids.” Among other things, the Accords ban secret launches, assert that all members must pitch in with astronaut emergencies, and require all space systems to be universal so that equipment is compatible internationally.

In other space news, the most recent launch to the International Space Station (ISS) took place yesterday and used a new “fast-track” approach. From lift-off on earth to arrival at the ISS, the trip took just three hours–about the same time as a flight from Ottawa to Calgary.

Biodiversity advocates warn that in order to be ecologically smart, some cities may need to rethink old bylaws

An ecology and urban planning professor at Ryerson University has decided to challenge a City of Toronto bylaw that, by preventing citizens from growing tall grass and weeds on their property, contradicts the city’s own biodiversity strategy.

With awareness-raising events like “No-Mow May,” biodiversity and pollinator advocates assert that longer lawns with diverse wild flowers can help support local bee populations.

The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Statista, releases new data on robot workers

The World Economic Forum and Satista have released new data on robot worker “density”–the number of robots per employee in various sectors. Globally, in the manufacturing sector, there are now 113 installed industrial robots per 10,000 employees, up from 74 in 2017.

Robot density in Canada clocked in at 165 robots per 10,000 employees in 2019, compared with 228 in the US and 855 in South Korea.

Online platforms ramp up global efforts to curtail disinformation and weed out bot accounts

Facebook and Twitter have both introduced new measures to moderate certain content. Twitter is implementing measures to deamplify certain kinds of content and accounts, while Facebook has opted for an outright ban on specific kinds of content and groups.

In the lead up to the US election, Facebook will also introduce a new ban on political ads that seek to suppress voters or question the validity of the upcoming election. - Mairead Matthews | email

Our Perspective

By Rob Davidson | email

Only nine months ago, proponents of Intelligent Retail and e-commerce focused on the importance of innovation to make the case for adopting technology advances and omni-channel strategies. With many brick-and-mortar stores forced to close, limited consumer physical movement (by choice and regulation), interrupted supply chains, and the growing influence of e-commerce giants like Amazon, COVID-19 has exposed the weaknesses in traditional retail strategies during an era of mass digitization.

Intelligent Retail (including e-commerce) is characterized by the movement from product-centric strategies to consumer-centric strategies by leveraging digital technologies to integrate supply chains and enhance in-store consumer experience and omni-channel consumer relationships.

Small Canadian retailers without an online presence have become especially vulnerable. On October 1, 2020, the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) program expired, leaving October rents due — in full — for the struggling small retailers. As the COVID-19 pandemic begins its second wave, and provinces tighten restrictions again, retailers of all sizes need to adapt.

Read the full article here 📝

Special Events

You’re invited to join Dr. Peter Taillon, Senior Data Analyst with ICTC’s Digital Think Tank, along with his distinguished panel of guests as they dive into the ecosystem, regulatory, and legal aspect of non-passenger Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs). Significant advances have been made in industrial and service vehicle automation, and the economic benefits and technological and social impacts may well result in their broad deployment before passenger CAVs.

Our distinguished panel consists of:

Barrie Kirk , Executive Director, CAVCOE

, Executive Director, CAVCOE Uwe Müller , Sales & Marketing Lead — Commercial Pilots, Volvo Autonomous Solutions

, Sales & Marketing Lead — Commercial Pilots, Volvo Autonomous Solutions Martin Abadi, Counsel — Emerging technologies in transportation, BLG

You will have the opportunity to directly engage with our speakers on this content through an online chat. Click the link below to secure your registration today.

Register here 🗓

Interviews in the Field

What do you get when you cross small businesses, big businesses, academic institutions, and research bodies from 29 countries (EU and non-EU Member States), all with the common goal of securing Europe’s leadership in the global digital economy? Long answer: a public-private joint undertaking that spearheads initiatives in electronic components and systems, enabling technologies for initiatives in digital health, smart mobility, energy conservation, and beyond. Short answer in seven letters: ECSEL JU.

ICTC’s Senior Director of Research & Policy, Alexandra Cutean, sat down with ECSEL Joint Undertaking’s Executive Director Bert de Colvenaer and the organization’s Head of Unit for Communications, Alun Foster, to learn more about how this multi-faceted consortium is simultaneously shaping a strong digital future for Europe and setting a transatlantic example worth exploring.

Alexandra:

What would you say is your biggest success to date, or something that really stands out as a successful initiative?

Bert:

We have a couple. One is the base technology progress we’ve made on 5G, with silicon on insulator (SOI). Essentially, this is a wafer design that optimizes energy at the chip level. The technology allows for high energy efficiency in digital applications. Everyone struggles with battery life, so the question becomes how can we reduce the power drain on batteries by reducing the energy needed by the chip? Europe is one of the leaders in the new energy technology market, but a lot is required to power electronics that can bring energy from where it’s generated to the point of consumption. This is a process that includes energy transfer and load balancing. It’s something that’s needed by anything from your smartphone to autonomous cars.

Alun:

Another success story I’d like to highlight is in regard to digital health, since it was mentioned. There has been a quiet revolution ongoing in the medical equipment industry and a huge amount of progress made in this domain in Europe over the years — much of it has been attributable to ECSEL JU-funded projects. There are a whole branch of technologies being used for key developments, like minimally invasive surgery and drug discovery. Many of the players in this market have realized that they can benefit a lot if they get their volumes up. They’ve also realized that they can’t get their volumes up unless they collaborate. So, with the help of ECSEL JU funding, open platforms have been created, allowing each supplier to create their own marketplace while ensuring they can still fall back on the same basic sets of technologies that they chipped in to develop in the first place. This kind of collaboration is really evident in our medical equipment industry at the moment, and it will have a big effect on society in the coming years.

Bert De Colvenaer, Executive Director of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking

Alun Foster, Head of Plans and Dissemination for the ECSEL Joint Undertaking

Read the full interview here 🎙

What We’re Reading

(CBC)

The governments of Ontario and Canada are set to announce details of their plan to each spend $295 million to help Ford upgrade its assembly plant in Oakville to start making electric vehicles.

The fact that the governments are chipping in cash is not new — it was a key part of last month’s $1.8-billion deal between Ford and its biggest union, Unifor, to start making five new electric car models at the plant.

Ford has put 800,000 electric cars on the road worldwide in recent years, but the company is ramping up production of electric vehicle production, because the company forecasts them to outsell fossil fuel-powered ones at some point in the next decade. The upgrade of the Ford plant will make Oakville into the company’s No 1. electric vehicle factory in North America.

Talking Points:

This investment signals Ontario’s intent to amplify its status as a leading vehicle manufacturer, while taking into account ongoing changes related to both the industry and technology at play, and evolving societal needs. Considering the rapidly changing automotive landscape, this investment may be the foundation that eventually spurs the development of a long-term Canadian strategy for both electric vehicles as well as connected autonomous vehicles.

Research Visualized

Immersive technologies come in many forms, from fantastical, other-worldly virtual reality experiences to apps that let you try on virtual glasses. This visual from our recent report Spanning the Virtual Frontier: Canada’s Immersive Technology Ecosystem points out the variety of use cases for such technologies. Further, it demonstrates that no one technology is uniquely appropriate for one use or industry. Rather, we see an evolving and innovative world of immersive tech unfolding.

Top use cases of AR, MR, and VR — Source: ICTC, 2020

Our Research

Canada’s path to post-COVID economic recovery will be tied to the competitiveness of Canadian startups and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), which are the heart of Canada’s economic engine and growth.

COVID-19’s devastating economic impacts include the loss of 2 million Canadian jobs, faltering supply chains, and a historic increase in Canada’s debt. Canadian Startups and SMEs that understand the importance of generating Intellectual Property (patents, trademarks, copyrights, and industrial designs) are the hallmark of innovation and Canada’s competitiveness in a global context.

ICTC’s latest white paper written in partnership with ventureLAB, Bolstering Growth: The Next Frontier for Canadian Startups, discusses the ingredients needed for a competitive and resilient scale-up ecosystem in Canada.

“A thriving Startup ecosystem in Canada will pave the way for strong economic recovery and job growth in the next number of years. This paper discusses the construct of a strong Canadian innovation landscape in this increasingly digital and globally competitive environment.” — Namir Anani, ICTC President & CEO

Bolstering Growth: The Next Frontier for Canadian Startups delves into the following topics and considerations:

Creating, protecting, and incentivizing Canadian IP

Building a built-to-scale Canadian business culture

Establishing Canadian anchor companies and leveraging trade

Read the full white paper here 📖

Twitter Highlights

Talk to Us 💬

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['Technology', 'Autonomous Vehicles', 'Startup', 'Space Exploration', 'Intelligent Retail']