The University of Waterloo held its annual Tech Horizons Executive Forum on Tuesday, offering leaders from business to academia exclusive insights into the disruptive forces shaping technology, business strategy and global transformation.
Held at the CIBC Square auditorium in Toronto, the sold-out event drew hundreds of executives for a dynamic lineup of panel discussions and keynotes. The sessions focused on navigating global and geopolitical uncertainties and tackling the challenges of adopting and implementing artificial intelligence (AI) through a distinctly Canadian lens.
Curated by WatSPEED, Waterloo’s professional, corporate and executive education division, the forum was supported by notable sponsors, including CIBC, Microsoft, Manulife, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, Brookfield and IBM.
Highlights of the event included fireside chats featuring CIBC President and CEO Victor Dodig, who discussed strategies for accelerating prosperity in Canada, and Brookfield Asset Management CEO Bruce Flatt, who shared his vision for the future of wealth management. Unsurprisingly, AI emerged as a central topic, dominating multiple discussions with contributions from industry leaders such as Cohere co-founder Nick Frosst, Canadian Tire CITO Rex Lee, IBM Canada CTO Manav Gupta and AltaML co-CEO Nicole Janssen.
“The University of Waterloo was founded with deep ties to industry partners. These ties have grown and prospered over the past 65 years. Through talent development, partnerships and research, we've heard from industry leaders about the critical importance of understanding what the future of work, technology, and innovation will look like,” remarked Vivek Goel, president and vice-chancellor of Waterloo, in his opening address.
“This event is a cornerstone of that commitment, bringing together perspectives from academia and industry to inform and empower your decision-making.”
In a conversation with Waterloo Chancellor Jagdeep Singh Bachher, Flatt outlined Brookfield’s long-term investment strategy, highlighting digital infrastructure — such as telecom towers and data centers — and decarbonization as key priorities to accelerate Canada’s lagging productivity.
“Over the next 20 years, with those two things combined, it may lead to one of the most productive periods of time for the world that we've ever seen,” Flatt said.
Jagdeep Singh Bachher and Bruce Flatt
Meanwhile, Goel’s fireside chat with Dodig saw the CIBC executive identify the need for greater access to risk capital — often lacking in Canada — as essential to enabling more Canadian success stories, where companies in growing industries like technology can start and scale here. He urged young Canadians to advocate for policies that incentivize the deployment of such funding domestically to enable future prosperity.
“The decisions that are made today are going to chart the course of our country going forward,” Dodig said. “[Policy makers] need to hear more voices around ideas to generate the risk capital that’s needed in Canada.”
A recurring theme throughout the forum was the challenge of scaling AI adoption in Canada. In a panel discussion titled “AI applications: Insights from Canada’s top technology leaders”, Gupta and Lee were joined by Jodie Wallace, the chief analytics officer at Manulife, and Jimmy Lin, co-director or the Waterloo AI Institute, to hear how IBM Canada, Canadian Tire and Manulife are implementing AI into their business operations.
Manav Gupta, Jodie Wallace and Rex Lee
Further on implementation, Frosst and Janssen shared their insights alongside Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada associate deputy minister Francis Bilodeau and Waterloo professor Joël Blit, into the lengthy implementation process, which can take years to yield tangible results.
Frosst highlighted the untapped potential of large language models (LLMs) to enhance productivity across knowledge-based industries, while Janssen urged businesses to act decisively.
“Don’t ask the question, 'What am I going do with AI?’ but 'What am I going to do with AI by the end of the year?’” she said.
“Because if we don’t get started, we are going to fall behind and our productivity challenges are going to be so much more.”