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.

At the 650-bed Humber River Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, CIO Peter Bak has been leading an initiative that has already shown important results in terms of leveraging a variety of technologies in order to enhance clinician and staff effectiveness and improve patient outcomes. The building of a new replacement facility that consolidated what had been three separate campuses with aging legacy facilities, led to both opportunities and challenges, in terms of how the healthcare professionals at Humber River might move forward in the context of overall digital transformation. After a vendor selection process, Bak and his colleagues ended up choosing to partner with the Toronto-based vendor ThoughtWire, in order to build the kind of “app-oriented platform” that Bak was looking for in order to maximize the efficiency of physical resources and to optimize the efficiency of the physical activity of clinical and non-clinical staff in the new facility.

Like Columbus, Toronto, Ontario in Canada is a community that is part of the Great Lakes and North American rust belt, having been negatively impacted by massive manufacturing decline in the later 1900’s. Like Columbus, Toronto has leveraged education, enlightened civic institutions and private sector innovation to transform its city core, waterfront and now its entire Greater Toronto Area (GTA) for the digital era.

Through concerted collaboration executed in a spirit of co-opetition, over the last three years 11 Canadian cities have executed seven joint Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) missions with the Federal government to 12 countries. These missions have resulted in 1,706 B2B meetings, 855 leads and 59 company visits. At an event last month hosted by the Toronto Region Board of Trade and attended by representatives of Chambers of Commerce and municipal economic development leaders from Canada's largest cities, attendees learned more about how to improve these numbers and accelerate leads to investment success.

Toronto has both the assets and the liabilities that come with being Canada’s largest city. On the asset side is its diverse economy, with key clusters in finance, media, ICT and film production, and success as a magnet for immigrants that have made it one of the most multicultural cities in the world. Major carriers offer high-quality broadband to 100% of residents, and its five major universities and multiple colleges have attracted 400,000 students and helped ensure that Toronto has more residents with undergraduate degrees that London.

Improving the Urban Experience

On the liability side are the highest cost of living in Canada and transportation gridlock that gives residents of the Greater Toronto Area the world’s longest average commute times. These factors have contributed to the success of suburbs in attracting new and existing businesses, making once-sleepy cities like Mississauga into business hubs in their own right. To reverse this trend, Toronto is doubling down on the value of a dense, superbly equipped and culturally rich urban experience. The centerpiece is Waterfront Toronto, North America’s largest urban renewal project, which is revitalizing 800 hectares of brownfield shoreline with 40,000 residential units, parks and one million square meters of commercial space designed to the highest environmental standards. Offering 1 Gbps fiber-based broadband– provided at no cost to the 10% of housing set aside for low-income residents – the Waterfront is expected to offer a home to 40,000 new jobs focused on knowledge industries. Early commercial tenants include the Corus Entertainment and the George Brown College Health Sciences campus.

Future on the Waterfront

Though impressive in size and scale, the Waterfront is only the most visible of many public-private collaborations through which the city is pursuing an ICT-powered future. The MaRS Discovery District supplies housing, incubation, acceleration and investment services to hundreds of early stage portfolio companies downtown, while the Ryerson University Digital Media Zone gives entrepreneurs space and services to move great ideas to initial commercial success. The Centre for Social Innovation does the same for social innovators and its successful model has led to operations across four locations in two countries. Toronto’s libraries offer computers and training to tens of thousands, while outreach programs equip families with inexpensive IT, connectivity and training. With C$2 billion planned for transportation investment over the next 25 years, Toronto is preparing the physical, human and digital infrastructure for continued success.

In the News
Read the latest updates about Toronto.

Want to know more about Toronto?
Toronto was featured in the Intelligent Community Forum book Brain Gain.

Population: 2,791,140

Labor Force: 1,423,270

Website: www.toronto.ca

Intelligent Community of the Year 2014

Smart21 2013 | 2014

Top7 2005 | 2013 | 2014

ICF's Lou Zacharilla interviews Jennifer Keesmaat about Toronto, the 2014 Intelligent Community of the Year.

As 2015 ends I find myself wanting to write about everything which took place over the past 12 months at ICF. It is not possible. So I will hit the high notes. Do not expect a tedious elaboration about the family ski trip to Austria, poor Aunt Sissy’s fractured hip, or the barely disguised boast about how thrilled we “all are” about the youngest being accepted at that elite private school populated by fellow one-percenters. This is not one of those loopy familial annual reports that have become so common around the holidays! Although ICF is a wonderful family, and the urge is there.

ICF also presents DataWind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli with the 2014 Visionary of the Year Award

New York, NY – June 5, 2014 - The Intelligent Community Forum today named Toronto, Ontario, Canada as the 2014 Intelligent Community of the Year at its annual awards in New York City. Toronto’s win marked the conclusion of the annual Intelligent Community Summit.

Taichung City, Taiwan & New York, New York – January 23, 2014 - The Intelligent Community Forum has announced the 2014 Top7 Intelligent Communities of the Year. The Top7 list includes three from Canada, two from the United States, and two from Taiwan. "This year's Top7 group is unusual in that they represent only three nations. However, they collectively are a canvas that represents our movement. Each made it to the list by demonstrating how they have begun to fuse technology, culture and collaboration for economic sustainability. They have set a new course for other cities to follow. We look forward to welcoming them to New York in June for the selection of the Intelligent Community of the Year," said Lou Zacharilla, Intelligent Community Forum co-founder as he announced the Top7 at a conference hosted in Taichung City, Taiwan, the 2013 Intelligent Community of the Year.

Honolulu, Hawaii & New York, New York – January 23, 2013 – The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) today named the 2013 Top7 Intelligent Communities of the Year. The Top7 list includes three from North America, two from Taiwan and two from Europe. “The Top7 communities of 2013 have made innovation – based on information and communications technology –the cornerstone of their economies and fostered economic growth through high-quality employment, while increasing the quality of life of their citizens,” said Lou Zacharilla, ICF co-founder in announcing the list at the Pacific Telecommunications Council’s annual conference (PTC’13) in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.