On June 13 and 14, 2024, the Canadian Robotics Council (CRC) convened over 160 industry leaders, innovators and decision-makers from across the country at its inaugural Networking & VC Social and third annual Symposium.
The sold-out events delivered insights and actionable strategies key for navigating the current technological and economic landscape.
Building a community of robotics mentors, innovators and investors
The CRC’s June 13 Networking & VC Social brought investors together with other members of Canada’s rapidly growing robotics innovation ecosystem.
The social was hosted at BDC headquarters in downtown Toronto and featured networking, robot exhibits and a fireside chat sponsored by Inovia, which included opening remarks from Mary Ann Wenzler, Vice President, GTA West, BDC, and featured speakers Ryan Gariepy, Co-Chair, Executive Committee, CRC, Karamdeep Nijjar, Venture Capitalist, Inovia, and Thomas Park, Partner and Lead, Deep Tech Fund, BDC.
With a focus on ‘Unlocking venture capital for robotics: What do Canadian entrepreneurs want and need?’ Gariepy, Nijjar and Park discussed opportunities, challenges and solutions related to supporting the robotics innovation ecosystem and boosting Canada’s productivity in the current economic landscape.
Key themes included investing in robotics companies that are tackling a real and identifiable problem, accelerating commercialization of university research, spinoffs and startups, encouraging more companies at all scales to adopt Canadian robotics technology, and leveraging Canada’s growing robotics talent pipeline.
Strengthening Canada’s robotics ecosystem
June 14 marked the CRC’s 2024 Symposium hosted in partnership with Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen Canada) at Microsoft Canada headquarters in downtown Toronto.
In opening remarks, Hallie Siegel, Program Co-Chair, 2024 CRC Symposium, Co-Chair, CRC Executive Committee, Managing Director, Strategy and Partnerships, University of Toronto Robotics Institute, thanked the CRC’s event partners and sponsors and stressed the importance of convening and creating open dialogue among Canada’s robotics community at a time when Canada’s productivity is falling behind while other countries are embracing automation.
“Australia, the United States, China and the European Union are among the regions that have launched new robotics strategies or renewed existing frameworks,” Siegel pointed out. “This means increased competition but could also pave the way for new partnerships for robotics stakeholders in Canada,” Siegel said.
Siegel noted that stakeholders have been talking about the need for collaboration across Canada’s robotics ecosystem since 2017, which is now being realized with the formation of the CRC, and funding through NGen, to advance the Council’s mission. “We are grateful to NGen’s Christy Michalak for championing the Council as one of NGen’s cluster networks, and taking the time to co-chair this year’s third annual CRC Symposium – the largest yet.”
In an executive update, Ryan Gariepy shared updates on the council’s progress and growth over the last year. This included becoming a registered non-profit and increasing the number of organizations represented by Council membership to over 370.
The increase in engagement was reflected in event attendees and sponsorship. This included 53 per cent industry representatives, 48 per cent senior decision makers across industry, government and research, and 17 event partners and sponsors raising over $83,000 – making this the CRC’s most attended and diverse event to date.
Gariepy also announced the launch of CRC’s annual membership program for Canadian and international robotics companies. Through an annual membership, companies can support the sustainability of the Council while leveraging CRC’s network to reach members and amplify their brand. Inaugural sponsoring members include NGen, OTTO Motors, Kinova, Avidbots and Youth Culture.
Diversifying the conversation on robotics adoption
This year, attendees heard from an international keynote speaker, six expert panelists – including a landmark conversation between Canadian unions, manufacturers and members of the robotics community – and case study lightning talk participants who showcased how their robots made a difference in the organizations that adopted them.
They also experienced robot demos and had the opportunity to participate and lend their expertise to community roundtables on key topics that explored challenges facing Canada’s robotics sector and the solutions that could unlock its full potential on a global and national scale.
“The Symposium program reflected the growing diversity and level of engagement of Canada’s robotics ecosystem,” said Christy Michalak, Program Co-Chair, 2024 CRC Symposium, Director, Manufacturing Development Programs, NGen. “We were excited to include new perspectives from economists, VC investors, Canadian trade unions and The Globe and Mail.”
Here’s a recap of the main programming that brought together Canada’s robotics community and leaders:
How Denmark built a world-class robotics ecosystem
In his keynote address, Søren Elmer Kristensen, CEO of Odense Robotics, explained that collaboration between academia, industry, a trade union and local government was critical to the success of Denmark’s robotics cluster.
Located in Odense, this world-leading cluster has grown over two decades to include over 500 firms that employ over 12,000 people. This collaborative model is also advocated for by the CRC.
Signs of hope? A robotics perspective on Canada’s productivity crisis, innovation capacity and global competitiveness
Moderated by Rita Trichur, Senior Business Writer and Columnist at The Globe and Mail, panelists, John Belton, Director, Human Resources and Industrial Relations, Bombardier, Charles Deguire, CEO and Founder, Kinova, and Jayson Myers, CEO, NGen, discussed the role of automation in boosting national productivity and solutions to increase widespread adoption.
Key themes of the conversation included training and retaining robotics talent, developing automation roadmaps and creating awareness for the potential of automation.
Myers noted that one way Canada’s robotics companies can increase awareness, investments and partnerships, is to get their technology in front of an international audience at HANNOVER Messe 2025, where Canada is the partner country.
Towards union: Investing in a robot-enabled labour force
In the final panel of the day, Todd Deaville, Vice President, Advanced Manufacturing Innovation, Magna International, AJung Moon, Founder and Advisor, Open Roboethics Institute, and Kaylie Tiessen, Economist, Unifor, joined the main stage for a landmark conversation moderated by Rita Trichur.
Panelists discussed the impact of technological change in unionized environments and how all players can work together to identify shared concerns and objectives.
Solutions shared by panelists included prioritizing open lines of communication with workers, providing wraparound training and support to those impacted by technological change and collaborating with workers on system design and integration.
In her post-Symposium column on the panel, Trichur highlights the importance of consensus between companies and unions on robotics and automation at work, echoing the CRC’s call for a national robotics strategy to make widespread adoption a reality. Read the full column in The Globe and Mail.
Exploring collaborative solutions to Canada’s robotics challenges
The event concluded with 11 focused roundtables that brought together attendees from across the sector to discuss a range of themes, including international partnership with Denmark, the importance of robot and automation adoption in Canada, robot demo and testing facilities, lab-to-market IP transfer, youth outreach and developing industry-ready graduates.
The goal of the roundtable session was to bring together topic experts and diverse perspectives to explore pressing sector challenges and generate solutions to be summarized in the CRC’s upcoming 2024 What We Heard Report – launching fall 2024.
This will be CRC’s second report. In 2022, CRC launched its first What We Heard Report, which included findings from Avascent and presented the first-ever snapshot of Ontario and Canada’s robotics industry, including geography, size, sector and robot type.
Follow the CRC on LinkedIn or sign up for our mailing list for the latest updates, announcements and to be the first to get notified about the 2024 What We Heard Report.
About the Canadian Robotics Council
The Canadian Robotics Council is a non-profit that brings together leading robotics experts from across research, government and industry to amplify the voice of Canadian innovators across the international robotics value network, provide a bird’s eye view of this globally competitive enabling technology, and help Canadians understand where, how, and when is the right time to adopt robots.
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