If you read BetaKit’s latest newsletter, you already know that on Sunday we teased some upcoming changes. This is one of them.
I’m happy to announce the launch of a second weekly edition of The BetaKit Newsletter. Landing in your inbox every Wednesday at 4:30 pm ET, it will offer more of the sharp, award-winning tech coverage you expect from BetaKit. But while the Sunday edition will remain focused on the best of BetaKit’s journalism throughout the week, the Wednesday edition will deliver additional coverage of global tech from a Canadian perspective, as well as news across the labour market—who’s hiring, firing, and what it feels like to work in tech right now.
We’ll send out a full edition next week. But it felt fitting to share our news on Canada Day.
Why now? Well, BetaKit’s reporting focus for much of this year has been on the role tech will play in Canadian sovereignty. As you’ll see in the stories below, our reporters have been diligently working to connect the dots on the builders, debates, and policy decisions that are reshaping our country’s tech ecosystem.
We’ve reported on foreign actors exacerbating national divisions, and sharp criticisms on the country’s new AI strategy (you can watch or listen to Minister Solomon’s take below). We’ve also reported on the innovators working to build a better future, from the researchers using a supercomputer to simulate an entire ocean, to the founder trying to make entrepreneurship accessible for all.
There’s more happening in tech than ever. So, we’re bringing you more coverage of it all. Consider the curated list of our sovereignty-focused reporting below as just a primer.
There’s another reason. The photo above is of the Canadarm—it’s a reminder of how far Canadian innovation can reach. Happy Canada Day.
Sovereign stories
Minimum viable sovereignty
Last year, Canada woke up to the need for digital sovereignty. How has that knowledge translated beyond performativity into pragmatic action? Canadian Shield Institute managing director Vass Bednar makes the case for how Canada can bootstrap digital self-reliance in the face of weaponized integration.
Defending the Dominion
The company vying to become Canada’s first neoprime announced the largest defence-tech Series A in Canadian history yesterday. For BetaKit Most Ambitious, Josh Scott profiled Dominion Dynamics and its mission to build on Canada’s rich history of defence tech.
Take a Gander
Gander, a Canadian-made alternative to US social media giants like X and Facebook, publicly launched today. The company touts itself as a more responsible social network, verifying users and storing data here in Canada.
A coherent case for sovereign AI
Just weeks ago, the US shut down all foreign access to Anthropic’s latest large language models; it was a moment Canadian AI company Cohere had anticipated from its inception. Cohere co-founder Nick Frosst recently joined The BetaKit Podcast to explain why he thinks sovereign AI requires autonomy and agency.
Open-source optimism
Canada’s new AI strategy laid out a vision for how the country can best capitalize on the AI boom, including direction to support research into open-source tech built with allied nations. One scrappy Saskatoon-based association is getting a head start on that plan, after it recently launched an open-source jobs database as well as a library of open-source software built in Canada.
Mini Quiz
Which of the following technologies were invented in Canada?
- Java programming language.
- Electric wheelchair.
- Walkie-talkie.
- IMAX.
- All of the above.
You’ll find the answer at the bottom of this week’s newsletter.
BetaKit Podcast · July 1
“Either we build the innovation here with our SMEs and our entrepreneurs … or we buy it from somewhere else. And either we make the rules here, or we follow someone else’s. Those are the choices we’ve got as a country.”
Canada’s Minister of AI and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon joins to discuss the country’s refreshed AI strategy, digital sovereignty, and social media regulations. Listen now ›
Feature image courtesy MDA Space.
Quiz answer: All of the above. It would be kind of a lame Canada Day quiz if it wasn’t, right?