Artificial intelligence is set to disrupt many industries, and the Ottawa area is poised to grab a slice of the action.

That was the message delivered Thursday to 550 attendees at Impact AI, the city's first industry conference on artificial intelligence.

"We have to put Canada on the map. AI is going to change everything," said Eli Fathi, the CEO of Ottawa-based MindBridge AI, which hosted the summit at the Woodroffe Avenue campus of Algonquin College.

Five multinational companies with an Ottawa presence are partnering with federal and provincial governments to put Ontario and Quebec on the forefront of fifth-generation network tech.

Ciena, Ericsson, Thales, IBM and CGI will spend $200 million over the next five years on research in an Ontario-Quebec corridor focused on developing 5G technology. The federal government and both provincial governments will match those funds with $67.7 million each.

An expansion of Bayview Yards, a digital business-to-business marketplace and a narrower focus on supporting specific industries are part of a new five-year plan unveiled this week by Invest Ottawa.

CEO Michael Tremblay outlined his vision Tuesday to create more “sustainable,” high-value jobs in Canada’s capital and build greater global awareness that Ottawa is “the best place to live and work.”

Unlike our fleshy human bodies, when trees break a limb, they don’t have casts put on their branches. The vital secret of plant structures lies in the cellulose – the cell walls of the organism – that form the scaffolding to rebuild what’s broken.

Ottawa startup Spiderwort believes it can take these structures found in nature and apply them to the human body with biomaterials that could regrow skin, bones and even spinal tissue – without the fear of rejection.

Digital initiatives could soon be hitting Ottawa’s streets with the goal of turning the capital into a “smart city,” according to a report going before the city’s Finance and Economic Development Committee next week.

Smart city strategies have been gaining momentum worldwide, says the report prepared by city staff, and Ottawa is well-suited to build on its existing infrastructure in developing a connected city.

BlackBerry QNX’s driverless car hit the road in suburban Ottawa yesterday.

This demonstration is said to be the first public autonomous vehicle (AV) test in Canada. The partnership with BlackBerry QNX, who opened an AV innovation centre in Ottawa last year, gave the province the facilities and technology to advance their vision of becoming a hub for developments in AV.

For most of the past 15 years — ever since Nortel began hemorrhaging jobs — the morning rush hour traffic in Kanata has largely been outbound, heading into downtown Ottawa or other parts of the region. Office buildings had floors of unused space.

That’s changed in the past few years. Both office space and talent are scarce in the Kanata tech park and, if there’s still traffic heading east, there’s an equal amount of it heading into Kanata, says Jenna Sudds, the outgoing executive director of the Kanata North Business Association.

American tech workers looking for jobs north of the border find Ottawa, a government town once voted the ‘most boring city’ in Canada, more appealing than Toronto.

U.S. tech workers are more likely to look for employment in Ottawa than Toronto, regularly named one of the best cities in the world to live in, or Kitchener-Waterloo, according to statistics released by job search website Indeed Inc.

Over 1.3 million people call the Ottawa area home, making it the fifth-largest city area in Canada. Incorporated in 1855 but actually founded in 1826 under a different name, Ottawa regularly makes the list of most livable cities. Not just in Canada or North America, but the world.

Thanks to a number of universities and cultural institutions, the city’s population has earned the tag of “most educated” in Canada. National capitals become the focus of considerable financial and political attention, but rarely does that translate to innovation and creativity like is has in Ottawa.

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.