Province releases inaugural innovation report

Artificial intelligence legislation, intellectual property ownership and data sovereignty are highlighted in Manitoba’s first innovation and prosperity report.

The province released a 39-page report targeting future technology use and innovation Friday. The report includes six pillars: intellectual property generation and ownership, data and AI ownership, infrastructure, skills and human capital, federal-provincial alignment and sector considerations (which breaks down “opportunities” and “barriers” by sector).

The report contains a number of private sector-led recommendations.

“We are now moving into a new world where artificial intelligence systems built on proprietary data can supercharge the winners,” the report reads.

Productivity has declined in Manitoba since 2015. It’s a trend Premier Wab Kinew aims to reverse. In September, he vowed to turn Manitoba into a “have” province by 2040 by, in part, tackling productivity.

Manitoba is considered a “have not” province because it relies on federal equalization payments to fund essential services such as health care.

Innovation Minister Mike Moroz co-chaired a nine-person task force alongside Jim Balsillie, co-founder of the Council of Canadian Innovators and the former co-chief executive of BlackBerry, to shape the new strategy. The group is largely made up of industry members.

Recommendations include building sovereign compute and digital infrastructure using federal and provincial money, delivering adaptive IP funding supports, and building infrastructure to meet Manitoba’s economic goals. Balsillie highlighted the Port of Churchill.

More than 150 businesses and First Nations were consulted leading up to the report, Balsillie said. He believes most of the pillars can start being tackled within the month.

The finished report arrives roughly a year after Manitoba established its department of innovation and new technology.

The department had been considering artificial intelligence implementation, intellectual property policy development and sovereign cloud strategies when the task force was struck.

The new report follows the release of Manitoba’s economic development strategy in September. Artificial intelligence and agriculture technologies were listed as “emerging sectors” in the strategy.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com