Universities Canada hosted over 130 university leaders, policymakers, parliamentarians and business leaders at its annual Accelerate event at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on February 7. Through thematic sessions on housing, health care and artificial intelligence, participants collaborated across sectors to discuss innovative solutions to critical challenges facing Canada.
Accelerate brought academia, industry and government together to discuss Canada's social and economic renewal.
Guest panelists included a number of Canada's leading thinkers including Mark Daley, chief AI officer, Western University; Luigi Lepanto, investigative researcher, Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal; and Catherine McKenney, co-founder and executive director, CitySHAPES.
Canadian universities play a pivotal role in addressing the pressing challenges facing Canadians. Discussions underscored universities' roles in developing and regulating technological innovations like artificial intelligence; collaborating with the health care sector to mitigate the current medical professional shortage; and supporting Canadians in the development of sustainable, eco-friendly housing to help quell the housing crisis.
"Canada and Canadians are facing significant challenges that require collaboration from universities, businesses and all levels of government to help solve," said Philip Landon, interim president and CEO of Universities Canada. "Big challenges require big solutions, and our universities are driving those solutions forward. The discussions we had today leave me feeling optimistic about our ability to tackle the challenges to build collaborative, cross-sectoral solutions for all Canadians."
