Canada to invest in AI-powered supply chain consortium, SCALE.AI

The Government of Canada announced it has selected SCALE.AI, the AI-powered supply chain consortium, as one of five winning industry-led proposals in its Innovation Superclusters Initiative.

Ottawa will support the five superclusters with a total investment of $950mn over five years.

Nearly 120 industrial partners, enabling organizations, and world-class research institutions have joined forces to create this innovation consortium under Canadian industry leadership. Altogether, partners have already committed $700mn in support of the ground-breaking initiative.

This represents a significant new opportunity for Canada to strengthen its leadership in AI, one of the country's most promising technological capabilities, accelerating economic growth and job creation in highly innovative industries while also positioning Canadian firms for global advantage.

Extending across industries and academia, SCALE.AI will bring together multiple parties that might not otherwise have collaborated on large-scale applied innovations. The potential applications of AI effectively represent the next frontier for breakthroughs in supply chain productivity.

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“SCALE.AI is a fantastic vehicle to rally firms of all sizes, world-leading academic institutions such as IVADO (Montreal) and the University of Waterloo, and the broader ecosystem around a shared and disruptive strategy,” said Tristan Mallet, principal at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Montreal and seconded to SCALE.AI as its interim CEO.

“We want to bolster the competitive advantages of our industry leaders in retail, manufacturing, and logistics and transportation; strengthen Canada's leadership in applied AI; and ultimately bring sustained economic impact to the country.”

BCG has been at the forefront of this initiative on a pro bono basis from the outset.

“We are proud to have been a key driver in setting up one of the most promising engines for socioeconomic growth in Canada, which will undoubtedly have positive repercussions for our globally advantaged position in leveraging AI in all sectors,” said Marc Gilbert, a senior partner at BCG in Montreal.

“With BCG Gamma, our advanced analytics and data science practice, we see the immense value-add that artificial intelligence is bringing to our clients and their ecosystems.”