Jaime Leverton: Digital predators and digital prey

Headquartered in Toronto, Cogeco Peer 1 provides b2b network connectivity, managed hosting, cloud and other IT services to companies ranging from early-stage startups to Fortune 100 institutions. Jaime Leverton, General Manager, VP Canada and APAC gives her thoughts on technological transformation in Canada going into 2019.  

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Forrester predicted that by 2020, every business will become either a digital predator or digital prey. This means that in order for your business to thrive, you’ll need to ensure that you are taking positive steps to become a digital leader in your industry.

Canada is in a position to lead in several advanced areas of the digital world. With strong support from the federal and provincial governments with regard to innovation, entrepreneurship and STEM education, I strongly believe Canada will experience unprecedented technological growth in the near future.

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Research labs are opening across Canada bringing more awareness to the field and providing more job opportunities for local, national and international talent. Great examples of this include Vector Institute in Toronto, Montreal’s Microsoft Research Lab and Google’s DeepMind which opened its first international hub in Edmonton. Furthermore, we are a nation that celebrates our diversity and embraces our differences, and as a country built on immigration, we can create technologies that are truly reflective of our global population without the bias of gender, age or race. Our own government recently introduced changes to the immigration policy, making it easier for companies to welcome technical talent from other countries. A fast-track visa program that offers permanent residency was introduced in June 2017, with the goal of attracting innovators from around the globe.

We have everything we need to be successful – the infrastructure, the growing investment, and the talent pool – and I believe that if we take advantage of this moment, we’re guaranteed to become the next great hub for tech innovation.