Canada’s digital technology supercluster officially launches

Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster is excited to announce its official launch and celebrate the funding allocation by the Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development (ISED) and funding commitments by its initial cohort of members. The Government of Canada is investing up to $950 million over five years to support industry-led innovation superclusters across the country and accelerate economic growth, productivity, and competitiveness across five Superclusters. The British Columbia-based Digital Technology Supercluster will receive $153-million of this funding. 

This federal funding has enabled the Supercluster to secure additional commitments of over $200 million from its initial cohort of 29 members, representing 33 organizations. Members represent a broad spectrum of organizations across sectors including 14 SMEs, 13 large companies and six post-secondary institutions. In addition, there are more than 500 organizations including SMEs, colleges, research organizations and not-for-profits that have become Associates of the Digital Technology Supercluster.

As an industry-led consortium, the Supercluster will leverage BC’s strengths and position Canada as a global hub for digital technology innovation, generating new jobs, growing GDP and increasing Canada’s global competitiveness through the application of data analytics, quantum computing, and virtual, mixed/augmented reality.

Several collaborative projects in development

The Supercluster will invest in solutions to enhance industry productivity, sustainability and competitiveness and the development of a diverse and skilled digital – ready workforce. There are already several collaborative projects in development that will support the competitiveness of BC’s natural resource sector, improve health outcomes for Canadians, and secure new markets for industrial manufacturing.

Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster is active with the recent appointment of a cross-industry board of directors, the leadership team, and the support and guidance of members, associate and government partners.

“We are thrilled to officially launch Canada’s first-ever Digital Technology Supercluster and join forces with leaders from industries across the province and country,” says Sue Paish, CEO of the Digital Technology Supercluster. “With funding from the Canadian government’s Innovation Superclusters Initiative and in collaboration with a consortium of diverse organizations. Our leadership team and board of directors are looking forward to launching Canada into a digitally-driven future.”

“The Digital Technology Supercluster is set to unlock the potential of Canada’s digital industries to create thousands of good jobs and grow the Canadian economy,” says the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. “By teaming up with companies of all sizes, academic institutions and not-for-profit organizations, we’re building a crucial hub for this sector and developing a culture of openness and collaboration that leads to more innovation, successful commercialization and scale-up.”