Businesses, innovators aim to make Canada a global leader in Internet of Things

Businesses and innovation groups in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia are ramping up efforts to make Canada a global leader in Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and services.

The Ottawa-based L-SPARK accelerator has partnered with TELUS, BlackBerry Limited, and Solace to launch the Secure IoT Accelerator program, a first-of-its kind in Canada. The corporate partners will work with four selected IoT startups on a fast-track initiative to scale up IoT ventures for the global market.

“Over a four-month period, these IoT startups will go from zero to a demonstration capability that is good enough to demonstrate innovative IoT products and services on a world stage,” Leo Lax, executive managing director of L-SPARK, told RE$EARCH MONEY.

The IoT startups will each get exclusive access to new, Canadian-made technology that leverages the combined capabilities of B.C.-headquartered TELUS’s Global Connectivity and IoT Cybersecurity services, Waterloo-based BlackBerry’s secure operating system, and Ottawa-based Solace’s industry-leading data movement capabilities. This platform technology will enable development of out-of-the-box IoT capability, with built-in end-to-end security and streamlined device management, Lax says. “It is totally a one-stop-shop implementation.”

The three Canadian tech companies and one not-for-profit selected last week to participate in the Secure IoT Accelerator program are: Flosonics Medical, Canscan, Platoi Industries, and the Canadian Internet Registration Authority. Along with receiving the IoT technology, the startups will get technical mentoring from the corporate partners and business mentoring and access to the IoT tech community from L-SPARK.

“The Secure IoT Accelerator program will showcase real-life cases solving the issues of provisioning, updating and securing the IoT applications at scale,” Lax says.

Fast-growing market for IoT

The international market is seeing significant growth for IoT technologies, which connect massive amounts of data from sensors, meters and other devices. The goal is for businesses and communities to use this data to make smarter decisions and achieve operational efficiencies, improve value chains, lower costs and improve relationships with customers.

[rs_quote credit="Mark Scantlebury" source="Chair, Alberta IoT Association"]We want to create an IoT supercluster here. The real hope is that companies can grow here and become world leaders.[/rs_quote]

U.S.-based Cisco Systems predicts the number of devices connected to the internet will reach 30 billion by 2020, and jump to 500 billion by 2030. A report by the International Data Corporation forecasts worldwide spending on IoT will reach $745 billion this year (a 15.4% increase from 2018), and surpass US$1 trillion in 2022.

Another report last year by the Information and Communications Technology Council, a not-for-profit national centre of expertise for the digital economy, predicts Canada could grow its economy by about $14 billion and add 46,000 jobs by 2030 if the federal government auctions the radio spectrum frequencies required for an ultra-high speed 5G wireless network by 2021. The IoT industry needs those bandwidths to efficiently transmit massive amounts of data.

Canadian wireless carriers TELUS, Bell Canada and Rogers have already developed IoT-related solutions. One key application is asset management for resource companies, utilities, the construction industry and other sectors. Cities are using IoT in smart applications for buildings, transportation, public safety and services, utilities and environmental monitoring.

Ottawa is a growing international centre for both Canadian and foreign-based companies providing IoT devices and related software, such as ORBCOMM, Nanometrics, eSight and Wind River. Other companies in the city are working on IoT applications as well as “enabling domains” such as AI and cybersecurity.

[rs_related_article slug="digital-technology-supercluster-gearing-up-to-deliver-successes"] On the national stage, the B.C.-based Digital Technology Supercluster’s initial seven projects include the IoT-focused Forest Machine Connectivity project, to develop an IoT data collection and analysis platform to improve efficiency in the timber harvesting supply chain.

Alberta a “breeding ground” for IoT

In Alberta, the fledgling not-for-profit Alberta IoT Association has grown in the last year from eight founding member tech companies to about 65 members.

Alberta IoT’s goal is to position the province as the worldwide centre of excellence for IoT technologies, says Mark Scantlebury, association chair and president and CEO of Extreme Telematics, a Calgary company that creates IoT platforms to monitor and control oilfield assets.

“We want to create an IoT supercluster here,” Scantlebury told R$. “The real hope is that companies can grow here and become world leaders.”

Alberta IoT Association was catalyzed by Dr. Moïse Ndoh, a Calgary-based industrial technology advisor for the National Research Council of Canada’s Industrial Research Assistance Program. Ndoh noticed that many of his clients were small companies working on IoT technology, and he recommended they should get together and collaborate.

Scantlebury says Alberta has many of the attributes that led to the creation of Silicon Valley, including an entrepreneurial spirit, a skilled workforce remaining from a once-thriving telecommunications industry led by now-defunct Nortel, and a strong industrial sector driven by oil and gas. “With the emergence of demand for customers and the technology . . . what we’re seeing is that Alberta is a breeding ground for the next major tech centre focused on IoT.”

Making Alberta a global centre for IoT would help diversify the economy and create highly skilled jobs, Scantlebury says. “I think we need to show the world that we can do successful, large-scale projects with multiple stakeholders,” he adds. “If we can do that under the Alberta IoT banner that would be a huge win for the ecosystem.”

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