Google is contributing to the $150 million going into The Vector Institute, a new initiative housed at the University of Toronto, guided by chief scientific adviser Geoffrey Hinton. The Institute is getting started today, with significant investment from the governments of Canada and the province of Ontario. Google’s contribution is around $5 million, but it’s likely the future of the two organizations will be closely aligned, since Hinton also acts as VP and Engineering Fellow at Google, where he has had a key role in spearheading AI via Google Brain.

Oulu-based Koukoi Games unveiled a new partnership with FoxNext Games to develop a tie-in mobile game for the upcoming film, Ferdinand.

“Feel the beat with Ferdinand and his friends in this cheery and colorful idle puzzle game that brings the beloved character and spirit of Spain to life,” Rick Phillips, EVP of FoxNext Games, said in a statement.

Université de Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and its School of Management (ESG UQAM), Tourisme Montréal and the City of Montréal have launched MT Lab, an incubator dedicated for tourism, culture and entertainment startups.

A joining of academic, entrepreneurial and municipal sectors, MT Lab has a mission to host fledgling entrepreneurs from Quebec, Canada and abroad in the tourism, transport, festivals, culture, hotel, restaurant and entertainment sectors.

European carrier and cloud-neutral colocation provider Interxion has revealed that its upcoming data center in Stockholm will become one of the first to harness the benefits of Stockholm Data Parks.

The Stockholm Data Parks initiative was officially launched in January, supported by the government of the city and several local utility companies. It aims to offer power, connectivity and cooling services to potential data center builders, with four parcels of land earmarked for development.

FREDERICTON – A New Brunswick startup is launching its technology across the Atlantic this week at a global business event.

Fredericton-based Turret Psychoanalytics, a company that uses big data and artificial intelligence (AI) to create customer market data and leads for businesses, will be at the CeBit conference and exhibition in Hannover, Germany. CeBit is an international conference for digital business with around 3,000 exhibitors and 2,000 keynote speakers and lecturers. Turret Psychoanalytics is only one of two Canadian companies slated to exhibit.

Dr. Arishi Abdulaziz put on a headset, moved his hands slightly and immersed himself into a virtual world.

But this was no video game. Abdulaziz was "standing" in a trauma bay at OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, amid a medical team treating a car crash victim.

Years of research tells us that human error has long been the biggest factor behind road fatalities in Canada. With the Ontario government’s recent approval of a three-year self-driving car research program at the University of Waterloo, Canadian roads could become a lot safer.

“The autonomous systems … allow the car to stop and to pick up on danger before the accident happens,” says Pearl Sullivan, dean of the faculty of engineering at U of Waterloo and a researcher with the Waterloo Centre for Automotive Research, or WatCAR. The WatCAR project is the first university-based initiative to be granted permission to test self-driving cars on Ontario roads.

The largest blockchain conference ever held in the Baltic region lived up to its billing as 250 people from 20 countries traveled to Tallinn, Estonia for Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Tallinn on Mar. 9.

Event organizer Smile-Expo, which has organized similar conferences in Russia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic, said it chose Estonia because of a strong IT environment and government support of blockchain projects, especially in the govtech sector.

Whether you're thrilled or frustrated by your internet connection, the City of Ottawa wants to hear about it.

Delivered in partnership with the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, a new online portal allows Ottawa residents to put their internet connection through its paces. The tool is available on the CIRA website here.

Ohio University and Dublin are putting the finishing touches on plans that envision the city's last big expanse of undeveloped land evolving into a bustling district of people studying, researching, inventing, working and living.

What Dublin calls its West Innovation District currently is 1,100 acres that is mostly farmland, with the four buildings of Ohio University's medical campus at its center. If plans pan out over the next 30 to 50 years, that acreage could be packed with research facilities, offices, parks, light manufacturing and homes — but not the classic Dublin four-bedroom, three-car-garage variety.