{"id":186284,"date":"2018-10-21T06:18:05","date_gmt":"2018-10-21T10:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=186284"},"modified":"2018-10-21T06:18:05","modified_gmt":"2018-10-21T10:18:05","slug":"immigration-policies-diversity-helping-canadas-reputation-artificial-intelligence-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/10\/21\/immigration-policies-diversity-helping-canadas-reputation-artificial-intelligence-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigration policies, diversity helping Canada\u2019s reputation as artificial intelligence leader"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Raquel Urtasun, who leads Uber\u2019s self-driving car research program in Toronto, told the Global Forum that she moved to Canada because \u201cCanada was, is and will be at the forefront of AI.\u201d (File Photo<\/a>: Computer Science, University of Toronto\/Website<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Canada\u2019s diversity and immigration policies are playing key roles in the country\u2019s growing reputation as a global leader in artificial intelligence, say two of the country\u2019s top minds in the field.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Steve Irvine, a veteran of Facebook and Instagram and the founder and CEO of integrate.ai, returned to Canada two years ago to build his new artificial intelligence (AI) company after six years in California\u2019s famed Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n

At first, it seemed like a no-brainer that he would build integrate.ai in Silicon Valley. But his research led him to conclude that Toronto was the place to set up shop.<\/p>\n

Speaking at\u00a0Fortune Magazine<\/em>\u2018s Global Forum this week in Toronto, Irvine said the diversity of Canada\u2019s biggest city was one of the major factors that led him to establish integrate.ai there.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiversity is the reality here in Canada,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re one of the most diverse countries in the world, Toronto is one of the most diverse cities in the world, and that brings a lot of perspectives on these issues. Not only can we get great top-end technical talent and research talent, but we naturally have a pool of more diverse candidates who bring interesting perspectives to the big issues we\u2019re dealing with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immigration policies pave the way<\/h3>\n

Contributing to this reality are policies like Canada\u2019s Global Skills Strategy and its\u00a0Global Talent Stream<\/a>\u00a0program, which provides work visas for eligible international workers in as little as two weeks. The hardline immigration polices of the current U.S. government under President Donald Trump are giving top AI minds an added incentive to choose Canada over Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s never been easier to bring top international talent into the country,\u201d Irvine said. \u201cIt\u2019s easy now to get them in from a visa standpoint, but with everything that\u2019s happening geopolitically, we\u2019ve noticed a big difference \u2014 there\u2019s a lot of top-notch talent that would normally be on their way to Silicon Valley right now that have changed their plans. [Canada] is a great alternative for them \u2014 it gets them over to North America, into a big hub that is close to all the other hubs that they would care about, but they can live in a city where they can feel comfortable and that gives them the same level of opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raquel Urtasun, who leads Uber\u2019s self-driving car research program in Toronto, told the Global Forum that she moved to Canada because \u201cCanada was, is and will be at the forefront of AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally from Spain, Urtasun was teaching at the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago when she decided to join the University of Toronto\u2019s Department of Computer Science.<\/p>\n

Dubbed an AI \u201csuperstar\u201d by\u00a0Wired Magazine<\/em>, Urtasun said Canada\u2019s diversity and its immigration policies are playing a key role in luring AI talent north of the border.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came to join the University of Toronto, which is one of the top places for doing AI research,\u201d she said. \u201cAlso, immigration policies are very good here and, as a foreigner, I really appreciate the diversity that we see. I subscribe to Canadian values and I moved here from the U.S. and it was great to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

As co-founder of Toronto\u2019s Vector Institute, she\u2019s seen the same feeling growing among its community of international AI researchers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a year and a half and we\u2019re starting to see a lot of talent stay in Canada,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have retained a lot of talent and there is so much talent coming from outside that doesn\u2019t necessarily have ties to Canada but wants to be here because this is the place to be. We\u2019re really building an ecosystem here that will allow Canada to maintain that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s \u2018open to people\u2019<\/h3>\n

Sharing the stage with Irvine and Urtasun was Canada\u2019s Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Navdeep Bains.<\/p>\n

Bains said ensuring Canadian companies have access to the foreign workers they need to fill skills gaps in the local workforce is a key aspect of \u201cCanada\u2019s value proposition,\u201d especially in the current geopolitical climate.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmigration policies really differentiate [Canada],\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re seeing the rise of anti-immigrant sentiments, populist politics, nationalism, and our brand in Canada is that we\u2019re open \u2014 open to trade, open to investment, open to people \u2014 that brand, that openness is so critical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bains said that openness is critical for innovative startups looking to Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re a company, you\u2019re moving very quickly, you have to be agile, you need access to talent, you need to scale up your business or you need certain technical skills, you can bring that individual to Canada in a matter of two weeks,\u201d he said, referring to Canada\u2019s Global Talent Stream program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a big, big deal and I think that\u2019s why [Canada is] really well-positioned \u2014 we have a diverse domestic workforce, and we have access to global talent.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canada\u2019s diversity and immigration policies are playing key roles in the country\u2019s growing reputation as a global leader in artificial …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":186285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-immigration","mauthors-stephen-smith","mauthors-cic-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}