Innovation Policy Lab / en Canada should be exempt from restrictions on foreign investment in U.S. startups: 老司机直播 expert in the National Post /news/canada-should-be-exempt-restrictions-foreign-investment-us-startups-u-t-expert-national-post <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Canada should be exempt from restrictions on foreign investment in U.S. startups: 老司机直播 expert in the National Post</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-868855262.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=LMwizDoV 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/GettyImages-868855262.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=uAgO7lll 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/GettyImages-868855262.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=aUqzHXED 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-868855262.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=LMwizDoV" alt="President Donald Trump speaks, with Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin by his side"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>davidlee1</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-10-04T11:32:15-04:00" title="Friday, October 4, 2019 - 11:32" class="datetime">Fri, 10/04/2019 - 11:32</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"> U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin during a meeting with business leaders at the White House (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/munk-school-global-affairs-public-policy-0" hreflang="en">Munk School of Global Affairs &amp; Public Policy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/innovation-entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/innovation-policy-lab" hreflang="en">Innovation Policy Lab</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/united-states" hreflang="en">United States</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>New regulations proposed by the U.S. Treasury Department could stifle Canadian investment in U.S. startups, warns&nbsp;<strong>Whitney Haring-Smith</strong>, a visiting fellow at the Innovation Policy Lab at the University of Toronto鈥檚 Munk School of Global Affairs &amp; Public Policy, in a <em><a href="https://www.pressreader.com/canada/national-post-latest-edition/20191004/282411286060588">National Post</a> </em>op-ed.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/whs_2019-crop.jpg" alt>Haring-Smith (pictured left),&nbsp;managing partner at U.S. venture capital firm Anzu Partners, outlines&nbsp;the potential fallout from regulations that would increase U.S. scrutiny on&nbsp;鈥渘on-control鈥 or minority investments in American startups from foreign investors.<br> &nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;He writes that while the regulations will likely allow for a small number of 鈥渆xcepted foreign states,鈥 there鈥檚 no guarantee the Trump administration will place Canada on that list.</p> <p>鈥淏eyond campaign speeches and angry tweets, tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum have been justified as part of a 鈥榥ational security threat鈥 to the United States,鈥 Haring-Smith writes. 鈥淚n this environment, nothing can be taken for granted.鈥</p> <p>While the U.S. has good reason to place restrictions on investors from China or Russia, he writes, including Canada in that group could result in Canadian authorities responding in kind against U.S. investments in Canadian companies 鈥 with both countries鈥 innovation ecosystems suffering as a result.</p> <p>鈥淔or the future of North American economic development, it is critical that Canada be an 鈥榚xcepted foreign state鈥 under these new rules,鈥 Haring-Smith writes.</p> <h3><a href="https://business.financialpost.com/opinion/new-trump-administration-rules-on-foreign-investment-in-startups-risk-catching-canada-in-the-crossfire">Read Haring-Smith's&nbsp;op-ed in the <em>National Post</em></a></h3> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 04 Oct 2019 15:32:15 +0000 davidlee1 159393 at From fighting fungus to improving innovation: 老司机直播 researchers lead CIFAR interdisciplinary research programs /news/fighting-fungus-improving-innovation-u-t-researchers-lead-cifar-interdisciplinary-research <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">From fighting fungus to improving innovation: 老司机直播 researchers lead CIFAR interdisciplinary research programs </span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Untitled-1-vertical.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=TYJWrHFw 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Untitled-1-vertical.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=t5lKAkH_ 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Untitled-1-vertical.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=vUObT6TV 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Untitled-1-vertical.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=TYJWrHFw" alt="Photo of Barbara Sherwood Lollar, Dan Breznitz, Leah Cowen and Aephraim Steinberg "> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Romi Levine</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-04-29T12:43:21-04:00" title="Monday, April 29, 2019 - 12:43" class="datetime">Mon, 04/29/2019 - 12:43</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">(From left) 老司机直播's Barbara Sherwood Lollar, Dan Breznitz, Leah Cowen and Aephraim Steinberg are leading CIFAR research programs </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/romi-levine" hreflang="en">Romi Levine</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ontario-impact" hreflang="en">Ontario Impact</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/munk-school-global-affairs-public-policy-0" hreflang="en">Munk School of Global Affairs &amp; Public Policy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cifar" hreflang="en">CIFAR</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/department-physics" hreflang="en">Department of Physics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/earth-sciences" hreflang="en">Earth Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/innovation-policy-lab" hreflang="en">Innovation Policy Lab</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/molecular-genetics" hreflang="en">Molecular Genetics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/political-science" hreflang="en">Political Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Drug-resistant germs like the fungus <em>Candida auris</em> are making their way into hospitals around the world,&nbsp;stumping scientists who are trying to trace their often-mysterious origins.</p> <p>But a group of international researchers from a diverse range of disciplines, including microbiology, evolution, food security and immunology, are hoping that by working together&nbsp;they can address the potential harm to humans, wildlife and agriculture.</p> <p>The newly created program, called <a href="https://www.cifar.ca/research/programs/fungal-kingdom">Fungal Kingdom: Threats &amp; Opportunities</a>, is co-directed by <strong>Leah Cowen</strong>, a professor and chair of molecular genetics at the University of Toronto, and Joseph Heitman, a professor and chair of molecular genetics and microbiology at the Duke University School of Medicine. It is one of four research programs led by 老司机直播 faculty that make up <a href="https://www.cifar.ca/cifarnews/2019/04/08/cifar-announces-new-research-programs-and-ai-chairs">the new 13-program portfolio</a> of&nbsp;CIFAR, a Canadian-based organization that looks to address some of the world鈥檚 most pressing issues through interdisciplinary research.</p> <p>鈥淭hrough CIFAR, University of Toronto researchers have been able to engage with a global network of scholars across disciplines and borders to tackle complex challenges,鈥 said <strong>Vivek Goel</strong>, 老司机直播鈥檚 vice-president of research and innovation. 鈥淭his highlights the international demand for 老司机直播鈥檚 expertise in a range of areas 鈥 from public policy to geochemistry.鈥</p> <p>The other 老司机直播-led CIFAR research programs include:</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.cifar.ca/research/programs/innovation-equity-the-future-of-prosperity">Innovation, Equity and the Future of Prosperity</a>, co-directed by&nbsp;<strong>Dan Breznitz</strong>, who is the co-director of the&nbsp;Innovation Policy Lab at 老司机直播鈥檚 Munk School of Global Affairs &amp; Public Policy, Susan Helper, an economics professor at Case Western Reserve University, and&nbsp;Amos Zehavi, a professor at Tel Aviv University and a senior associate at the Innovation Policy Lab.<br> This program is one of two in the social sciences that CIFAR has added this year&nbsp;鈥 the first since 2004.&nbsp;</li> <li><a href="https://www.cifar.ca/research/programs/earth-4d">Earth 4D: Subsurface Science and Exploration</a>, co-directed by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.provost.utoronto.ca/awards-funding/university-professors/">University Professor</a>&nbsp;<strong>Barbara Sherwood Lollar </strong>in 老司机直播鈥檚&nbsp; department of Earth sciences and John Mustard, a professor of Earth, environmental and planetary sciences at Brown University.</li> <li><a href="https://www.cifar.ca/research/programs/quantum-information-science">Quantum Information Science</a> 鈥 a renewed program, co-directed by <strong>Aephraim Steinberg</strong>, a professor of physics at 老司机直播, and David Poulin, a professor at Universit茅 de Sherbrooke.</li> </ul> <p><br> 鈥&nbsp;Breznitz said the CIFAR program gives his research group a platform to look at innovation in a different light. While there are proven benefits that come with innovation 鈥 from economic growth to personal well-being&nbsp;鈥&nbsp;those benefits are not always&nbsp;distributed equally.</p> <p>The program looks to combine research on innovation technology and distribution 鈥 two areas&nbsp;Breznitz said are heavily siloed 鈥 in order to create an action plan that leads to meaningful change.</p> <p>Inequality can take many forms in the innovation sphere, said Breznitz, offering the example of how innovation is funded.</p> <p>鈥淭he main vehicle for financing innovation is venture capital,鈥 he said, adding this&nbsp;usually means giving a small group of people large sums of&nbsp;money in the hopes they can deliver exponential returns.</p> <p>鈥淲hat you're really creating is an industry completely obsessed with financial access,鈥&nbsp;he said. 鈥淭hose who succeed,&nbsp;the people who basically get the lottery ticket, are people who are already extremely well-off.</p> <p>鈥淣inety per cent of people are left out.鈥&nbsp;</p> <p>The first step in launching the program will be to create a common language between researchers 鈥 a challenge when they come from many different backgrounds like law, engineering, geography, sociology and economics.</p> <p>鈥淭hat's going to be both hard and the most fun,鈥 said Breznitz. 鈥淚've got a very big, new sandbox to play with.鈥</p> <p>Sherwood Lollar's program, Earth 4D, is taking an innovative approach to studying our own planet. It calls for thinking about Earth as we do other planets in our solar system by&nbsp;taking a closer look at how each of its elements interact with one another&nbsp;鈥&nbsp;from the interior to the surface and into the atmosphere.</p> <p>鈥淚nterestingly, when we think about our own planet, that's not typically the way science has gone about it,鈥 she said. 鈥淚f you think about the breadth of work we do on this planet, it tends to be: 鈥榃e need to understand this problem over there and that problem over here.鈥欌</p> <p>Sherwood Lollar鈥檚&nbsp;team will be focusing on four themes: water, and how water&nbsp;resources are being altered by climate change; energy, from the need to drive technology to how subsurface life sustains itself without the sun; the origin and evolution of life on this planet; and the concept of time and how it affects the other themes.</p> <p>鈥淲e decided we really were at a place and point in time where there was an opportunity to transform how we think about Earth,鈥 said Sherwood Lollar.</p> <p>To do so, she said&nbsp;it was necessary to bring together a group of researchers who&nbsp;not only bring a wide range of expertise, but are at different points in their careers.</p> <p>鈥淚ntergenerational exchange is really important in this group,鈥 she said. 鈥淥ne of the things I love about it is we're already seeing people who didn't know each other, and didn鈥檛&nbsp;work together, coming together to do this kind of work.</p> <p>鈥淐IFAR is a very unique and effective agent in the Canadian intellectual and research landscape because their mandate is specifically to try to bring together [researchers in] pursuit of big fundamental questions that have been wrestled with across the board&nbsp;鈥&nbsp;by society, by science, by engineering, by humanities 鈥 but to do it in a new way,鈥 said Sherwood Lollar.</p> <p>Steinberg鈥檚 quantum information science program&nbsp;launched in 2002 and has been renewed three times, most recently this year. The group explores the potential of the growing field of quantum information science, including its applications in disciplines like physics, engineering and computer science.</p> <p>鈥淲hat a program like ours needs to do is not just build a computer and solve the problem that FedEx has already ordered, but rather try to demonstrate what determines which of the right problems to use a quantum computer for,鈥 Steinberg said in a video posted on CIFAR鈥檚 website.</p> <p>As for Cowen, her&nbsp;research program coincides with a growing awareness and concern about dangerous fungi, including <em>Candida auris</em>, which was recently covered by the <em>New York Times.</em></p> <p>The fungus first appeared in Japan in 2009 and has since spread&nbsp;across the globe, said Cowen.&nbsp;</p> <p>"It has this amazing ability to survive on surfaces so it's causing outbreaks in hospitals."</p> <p>Human activity 鈥 including global trade, modern medicine and climate change 鈥 is intensifying the impact of fungi,&nbsp;according to Cowen. 鈥淭he fungal kingdom includes as many as six million eukaryotic species and is tremendously diverse in terms of the kind of organisms included and also the impact on global health, agriculture, biodiversity, ecology, manufacturing and even biomedical research.鈥&nbsp;</p> <p>Because the implications are so far-reaching, Cowen said there鈥檚 a need to bring&nbsp;together researchers from a number of fields&nbsp;who can look at the fungal kingdom from different angles.</p> <p>鈥淲e have brought together these amazing people that are much greater than the sum of the parts,鈥 she said.</p> <p>Cowen鈥檚 program will look at a number of&nbsp;challenges related to fungi, including: the emergence and spread of fungi; how fungi are adapting and interacting with their hosts; what makes some fungi resistant to anti-fungal drugs and fungicide;&nbsp;and developing strategies to thwart fungal diseases.</p> <p>鈥淚t's the first time ever we've brought together this kind of diversity to do a research program to tackle these challenges,鈥 Cowen said.</p> <p><em>With a file&nbsp;from Perry King</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 29 Apr 2019 16:43:21 +0000 Romi Levine 156378 at 老司机直播, Toronto experts offer insight into the 鈥榩romise and peril鈥 of building smart cities /news/u-t-toronto-experts-offer-insight-promise-and-peril-building-smart-cities <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">老司机直播, Toronto experts offer insight into the 鈥榩romise and peril鈥 of building smart cities</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/smart-city-pic-1140-x-760.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=XRFkiMJs 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/smart-city-pic-1140-x-760.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=bibzg7hN 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/smart-city-pic-1140-x-760.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=JUeLWAit 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/smart-city-pic-1140-x-760.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=XRFkiMJs" alt="Photo of intersection in downtown Toronto"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Romi Levine</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2018-01-29T00:00:00-05:00" title="Monday, January 29, 2018 - 00:00" class="datetime">Mon, 01/29/2018 - 00:00</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Data and inclusiveness are big considerations when it comes to building smarter cities, say Toronto urban experts (photo by Erik Eastman via Unsplash)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/romi-levine" hreflang="en">Romi Levine</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cities" hreflang="en">Cities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/factor-inwentash-faculty-social-work" hreflang="en">Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/innovation-policy-lab" hreflang="en">Innovation Policy Lab</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/institute-municipal-finance-governance" hreflang="en">Institute on Municipal Finance &amp; Governance</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/munk-school-global-affairs-public-policy" hreflang="en">Munk School of Global Affairs &amp; Public Policy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/technology" hreflang="en">Technology</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>There was a rush of excitement in Toronto when Sidewalk Labs, a sister company of Google, announced in October its intention to build a new, tech-focused community on Toronto鈥檚 waterfront.</p> <p>Political leaders including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mayor <strong>John Tory</strong> lauded the initiative, with Trudeau saying the new neighbourhood will be a testbed for new technologies 鈥渢hat will help us build smarter, greener, more inclusive cities.鈥 He added that he hopes this model will be embraced all over the world.</p> <p>With few concrete plans for what Sidewalk Toronto will look like, the possibilities are almost endless. This makes it the ultimate experiment into what a 鈥渟mart city鈥 could look like 鈥 giving Toronto鈥檚 urbanists a lot to talk about.</p> <p>On Thursday, experts from the University of Toronto and across the city shared their insight on what future of cities might look like at <a href="https://munkschool.utoronto.ca/imfg/event/promise-and-peril-in-the-smart-city-local-government-in-the-age-of-digital-urbanism/">Promise and Peril in the Smart City: Local Government in the Age of Digital Urbanism</a>, presented by the Institute on Municipal Finance &amp; Governance (IMFG) and the Innovation Policy Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs on 老司机直播鈥檚 downtown Toronto campus.</p> <p>鈥淲hen we talk about smart cities, we want to acknowledge the fact that there's this huge amount of technology that could be applied to making cities more efficient ... but doing it in a way that acknowledges that cities are basically human places full of buildings,鈥 said <strong>John Lorinc</strong>, <em>Spacing&nbsp;</em>magazine鈥檚 senior editor, who moderated the event.</p> <p>Panelists included <strong>Zachary Spicer</strong>, a researcher at IMFG, Tracey Cook, executive director of municipal licensing and standards for the City of Toronto, Peter Sloly, a partner and national security and justice lead at Deloitte&nbsp;and former Toronto deputy police chief, and Pamela Robinson, an associate professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Ryerson University.</p> <p>鈥淭here's a lot of enthusiasm about being able to remake cities using technology and to rethink how cities operate,鈥 said Spicer. 鈥淚f we have the opportunity to remake cities and to rethink them, we can probably put them on a more equitable foundation and create opportunity for people who don't currently have it.鈥</p> <p>Spicer鈥檚 words of caution are a thread that ran through the night鈥檚 discussion: While smart cities can be innovative and sustainable spaces full of opportunity, they run the risk of leaving members of the population out of the equation, deepening urban inequality. &nbsp;</p> <p>Often the most vulnerable populations, like low-income and older residents, do not have access to the internet, he said, so they miss the opportunity to take advantage of many tech-focused urban initiatives.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__7411 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/Panel-750-x-500.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>Promise and Peril speakers from left to right: Lorinc, Cook, Spicer, Robinson, Sloly (photo by Romi Levine)</em></p> <p>鈥淲e need to understand how this kind of technology maps itself on all of the people of Toronto and we need to start asking more people what they desire from this technology and what their fears are,鈥 said Robinson, <a href="/news/gap-growing-between-rich-and-poor-toronto-warns-report-u-t-researchers-united-way">pointing to the research of <strong>David Hulchanski</strong></a>, professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work on the growing gap between the city鈥檚 rich and poor.</p> <p>Building smarter cities also means reacting to companies like Uber and Airbnb, which look to disrupt regulated industries like taxis and tourism. Cook said when it comes to regulation, the city has to strike a balance between innovation and inclusivity.</p> <p>鈥淎s we're thinking about innovation, we're thinking about enabling people mobility,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e have to ensure we're addressing things such as our values, our employment insecurity and what we do with all these different factors we're facing with technology and its impact.鈥</p> <p>City partnerships with tech giants like Alphabet, Google鈥檚 parent company, also raise concerns about data ownership.</p> <p>鈥淓verywhere is being turned on and everywhere is getting smarter, I'm just not sure we're getting more wise in the use of it,鈥 said Sloly.</p> <p>The question is how we ensure the data collected is being used in an ethical and appropriate way, said Spicer.</p> <p>鈥淢aking it known and making people aware is the first step,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e don't educate people along those lines.鈥</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 29 Jan 2018 05:00:00 +0000 Romi Levine 128091 at Canada should prepare for new technology spurring job loss, says 老司机直播 innovation expert /news/canada-should-prepare-new-technology-spurring-job-loss-says-u-t-innovation-expert <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Canada should prepare for new technology spurring job loss, says 老司机直播 innovation expert</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-03-17-future-car_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=h1jRs8Ak 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-03-17-future-car_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=EYC-Rclm 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-03-17-future-car_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=deMA0Ktf 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-03-17-future-car_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=h1jRs8Ak" alt="photo of car factory"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-03-17T13:26:50-04:00" title="Friday, March 17, 2017 - 13:26" class="datetime">Fri, 03/17/2017 - 13:26</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Robots building cars in a car factory. Being proactive can help Canadians prepare and adapt as the advent of artificial intelligence, information technology and robotics eliminate jobs, says David Ticoll (photo by spencer cooper via Flickr) </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/daviel-lazure-vieira" hreflang="en">Daviel Lazure Vieira</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Daviel Lazure Vieira</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/munk-school-global-affairs-public-policy" hreflang="en">Munk School of Global Affairs &amp; Public Policy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/innovation-policy-lab" hreflang="en">Innovation Policy Lab</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/automation" hreflang="en">Automation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/labour" hreflang="en">Labour</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/economy" hreflang="en">Economy</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">鈥淚f we do things right we will adapt faster than anyone鈥 </div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The economic impact of an automated workforce will be much bigger than many observers expect, says&nbsp;<strong>Dave Ticoll</strong>, of the <a href="http://munkschool.utoronto.ca/ipl/">Innovation Policy Lab</a> at the University of Toronto鈥檚 Munk School of Global Affairs.</p> <p>But Canada is uniquely placed to manage structural change, says Ticoll, who&nbsp;recently wrote<a href="http://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/march-2017/the-automation-elephant-in-the-room/"> an article detailing his views on labour obsolescence</a> for&nbsp;<em>Policy Options</em>.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淚f we do things right we will adapt faster than anyone.鈥&nbsp;</p> <p>With the advent of artificial intelligence, information technology and robotics, we鈥檙e experiencing a significant shift in today鈥檚 economy, says the entrepreneur. And although experts have talked about labour substitution, where machines take over human work,&nbsp;little is said about labour obsolescence, Ticoll says. This is when technology change produces a new business model that no longer needs or supports some jobs. The work associated with these jobs doesn鈥檛 get automated 鈥&nbsp;it simply becomes unnecessary.&nbsp;</p> <p>The <a href="http://munkschool.utoronto.ca/feature/self-driving-cars-are-the-not-so-distant-future/">changing car industry is a good example</a>, he says.&nbsp;Ticoll expects many people to forego car ownership in favour of on-demand, automated transportation services. Reduced car sales mean less need for car dealers and insurance brokers. Their jobs won鈥檛 get automated, Ticoll says 鈥 they will simply go away.</p> <p>The shift is occurring in many industries, he says. As more consumers bypass malls in favour of online buying, for instance, retail clerks are replaced by technology. However, the demand decreases for shopping mall employees like maintenance personnel and facility planners.</p> <p>Ticoll believes we鈥檙e underestimating the scale of structural changes to come.</p> <p>鈥淭raditional jobs automation research focuses on one question: can a computer do this work?鈥 Ticoll says. 鈥淏ut to forecast labour obsolescence we must assess both technology and business innovation as they play out in a specific sector.鈥</p> <p>For the auto industry, Ticoll predicts, connected and automated vehicles&nbsp;will be the norm by the 2030s. According to his analysis, this change will affect jobs that currently employ 1.1 million Canadians. Of these, up to half (like truck drivers) will face direct competition from automation, while the remainder are at risk of functional obsolescence.</p> <blockquote> <p>鈥淲e need to change the way we operate for the 21st century economy鈥</p> </blockquote> <p>Many other industries will be affected by such technology and business model shifts. &nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淲e need to change the way we operate for the 21st century economy,鈥 he says. 鈥淔or example, more people need STEM skills 鈥 science, technology, engineering, mathematics.鈥</p> <p>Increasingly, he says, governments at all levels are taking action on this front.</p> <p>Ticoll cautions that fostering STEM skills won鈥檛 be enough. Income inequality and precarious jobs are on the rise and Canada must ensure that those affected aren鈥檛 left behind. Possible solutions range from the adoption of a universal basic income, which the Ontario government is slated to pilot, to a&nbsp;proposal from Bill Gates to tax robots.&nbsp;</p> <p>Despite labour challenges, Ticoll believes that Canada is uniquely placed to succeed in navigating structural change.</p> <p>鈥淐anada is a relatively small country compared with the United States, China or Europe. Our labour force is only about 18 million people. So we could potentially achieve a higher density of people with technological skills. It鈥檚 easier to train and keep occupied 18 million people than 10 or 20 times that number. If we do things right we will adapt faster than anyone.鈥&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 17 Mar 2017 17:26:50 +0000 ullahnor 105882 at