Immigration
New information hub a must for foreign tech workers with AI experience
Candidates for Canadian immigration with Information and Communications Technology experience will want to take note of Canada.ai, a new information hub showcasing developments and research in Canada’s burgeoning Artificial Intelligence industry. (Shutterstock)
Candidates for Canadian immigration with Information and Communications Technology experience will want to take note of Canada.ai, a new information hub showcasing developments and research in Canada’s burgeoning Artificial Intelligence industry.
The platform was recently unveiled in Toronto, Ontario, at TechTO, one of the largest gatherings of Canada’s technology sector.
Canada.ai was built primarily by the Toronto-based NEXT Canada in collaboration with the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, Borealis AI, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms, the Vector Institute and others.
The hub aggregates news on the latest AI research and development in Canada and serves as a directory of AI-focused companies, organizations and research institutes. It also provides information on AI events happening around the country.
“Canada is home to several of the world’s most advanced AI organizations and companies, operating across the country from Montreal to Vancouver,” said Jean-François Gagné, co-founder and CEO of Element AI. “Together, we can continue to push the boundaries of what Canada can accomplish with artificial intelligence, and secure our position as a leading force in the industry.”
Canada.ai will be especially useful to immigration candidates with AI and tech expertise who are considering their options in provinces like Ontario, which is a focal point of Canada’s AI sector.
In 2017, the majority of immigrants nominated by Ontario for permanent residency were employed in Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) occupations. Software engineers and designers led the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP)’s top five nominee occupation categories in 2017, followed by computer programmers and interactive media developers.
One of the OINP’s most popular immigration streams, the Human Capital Priorities Stream, opened exclusively to candidates in the federal government’s Express Entry pool with experience in 15 ICT-related occupations on one occasion in June 2017. The stream, which normally only nominates candidates with at least 400 Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points, waived that requirement in this instance.
Last year, Canada also introduced the Global Talent Stream to accelerate work permits for highly skilled foreign workers and, in August 2017, the province of British Columbia introduced the BC Tech Pilot program to address shortages in 32 tech-related occupations.
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