Alberta’s AI community celebrates an exceptional year of local and global impact

Amii Impact Report demonstrates how companies are using artificial intelligence to ‘Be More’

Following on major successes this year with AI Week and the renewal of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy, Amii has released our 2021-22 Impact Report. The report details stories and statistics that demonstrate the strength of Alberta’s AI research and business community and profiles individuals and companies that are working to leverage Amii’s expertise to advance AI adoption in their fields.

“As AI and machine learning become more integral to our everyday lives, Amii is proud to lend our global leadership to guide companies and individuals in the responsible development and commercialization of these technologies,” says Cam Linke, Amii CEO. “This year's report invites the business and scientific communities to imagine how machine learning can play a part in their lives and businesses and help them be more informed, sustainable and ambitious with AI.”

Over the past year, Amii has empowered more than 70 companies to leverage machine learning to ‘Be More’, helping them grow their internal capabilities and accelerate and de-risk their AI adoption goals to achieve new competitive advantages. Companies profiled in the report this year include Blindman Brewing, a craft brewery that is working on AI for carbon capture, and Attabotics, a Calgary-based company that is using AI to revolutionize order fulfillment in supply chains.

“Our work with Amii has allowed us to realize so much systematic potential,” says Sean Murphy, Director of Innovation at Attabotics. “Our early prototypes have shown potential system speed gains of over 25% by using AI and ML to make better order management and routing decisions within our system.”

Amii is also having a significant impact in the AI research community. This past year, Amii’s 378 researchers and teams published more than 400 peer-reviewed research papers at top venues across the globe. The report highlights research contributions by several Amii Fellows, as well as the return of Dr. Ross Mitchell, who relocated to Alberta after working at some of North America's most prestigious medical research institutions, including the Mayo Clinic and the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute. Mitchell joined Amii and the University of Alberta in February as the inaugural Alberta Health Services Chair in Artificial Intelligence in Health and a Fellow of Amii.

“I’m excited to be back in Alberta because this province offers a unique opportunity to create innovative solutions that can be difficult to develop in other places,” says Dr. Mitchell. “Along with a wealth of highly-trained people and a robust public health system, Alberta has a culture of innovation, paired with access to data and technologies, which can truly help us revolutionize the way we deliver health care."

The year also saw an increase of engagement from outside the AI community as more individuals and companies began to take advantage of Alberta’s leadership in AI. Across more than 200 events workshops, conferences and training sessions, Amii helped 4168 attendees learn more about AI in Alberta and helped more than 800 individuals gain new knowledge and skills in live-online learning courses. Meanwhile, the new AI Governance Education Program, launched in partnership with the CIO Strategy Council, charts a path toward responsible AI deployment and uses in business. The report also highlights Amii’s inaugural AI Week, which saw more than 2,100 guests joining in-person and online from 33 different countries – all in celebration of 20 years of AI excellence in the province.

“I was happy to meet many friends from different countries with the same major! It was a life-changing experience for me,“ said Sujin Ahn, an AI Week attendee. “I could learn how my career should be built, and I could meet new people with various mixed career paths.”

“Amii’s latest Impact Report is more than just a celebration of Amii’s successes – it’s a demonstration of the strength of Alberta’s AI community,” says Linke. “We have so much opportunity here in the province to continue to accelerate our leadership in AI and leverage our expertise to drive economic growth and prosperity.”

Learn more about Amii’s impact and how we help companies and individuals Be More with AI – visit impact.amii.ca.

Take a closer look at two projects featured in Amii’s Impact Report at our AI Meetup on September 20! RSVP now.