Last week’s CanCon podcast talked about the state of Artificial Intelligence and the possibility of a supercluster in Toronto. News this week kept both subjects top of mind. Maluuba, a machine learning startup based in Kitchener-Waterloo, was acquired by Microsoft, followed by Microsoft donating $6 million to the Université de Montréal and $1 million to McGill University to be put towards furthering their AI research. These developments have the CanCon team speculating if we will, in fact, get an AI supercluster in Canada, just not in Toronto.
Speaking of superclusters, a new group of Canadian tech luminaries says southern Ontario has what it takes to be Canada’s first tech supercluster. But what exactly is needed to connect the cities of Toronto, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, and Guelph? Thalmic’s Stephen Lake knows.
2016 was a tough year for most, and the beginning of 2017 takes us into truly uncharted territory. As a change of pace, the team offers up the latest tech news that’s keeping us optimistic.
Tune in as CanCon’s podcast crew – Erin Bury, Managing Director of 88 Creative, Patrick O’Rourke, MobileSyrup Senior Editor, Jessica Galang, BetaKit News Editor, and Douglas Soltys, BetaKit Editor in Chief – argue that, bit by bit, perhaps the Canadian tech sector is moving in the right direction.
Have some hot takes on the topics that were covered? Maybe you want to suggest something for a future podcast! Perhaps you have a burning question about something you read in tech news that we didn’t cover. Email us, post a comment below with the answer or question, or better yet, rate CanCon 5-stars on iTunes and post your thoughts there.
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CanCon Podcast Episode 51 (01/20/17)
Superclusters, superclusters everywhere
Machine learning startup Maluuba raises $9 million Series A
Microsoft acquires Montreal based AI startup Maluuba
Microsoft donates $6 million to Université de Montréal
How to make the Toronto Waterloo corridor a technology supercluster
Sunny sunny optimism
Canadian entrepreneurs optimistic about economy, plan to invest $96.6 billion in their businesses
Futurist optimist: why 2017 is the dawn of an amazing world
Moving The Dial asks senior leaders to go out of their way to support women in tech
Canadian Content music clip (under fair dealing): “Bit by bit” by Mother Mother