Toward a Industrial & Applied AI Centre in British Columbia

Invitation to Partners

Universities, Crown corps, SMEs, Nations, and global allies are invited to critique, co-author, or claim pieces of this architecture. Everything is iterated in the open (#bc-ai-institute channel on the Vancouver AI Slack).

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The Challenge

Finance Minister Brenda Bailey, speaking at the Dillon Centre summit, sketched a tantalising but unfinished thought:

“Before we beg Ottawa for an ‘AI institute’, we need to ask: Do we actually need one? If yes, it has to be laser-specific—something only B.C. can deliver. My hunch? An institute where AI collides with industrial tech: manufacturing, resource sectors, the gritty work nobody else is optimising.”

Our community shares that hunch. This paper braids Bailey’s call for focus with the BC + AI ecosystem’s on-the-ground knowledge to articulate an idea worth co-building—first with local partners, then with provincial and federal funders when the alignment is right.

A working concept note from the BC + AI Ecosystem Think-Tank

British Columbia Launches New AI Industry Association

BC’s AI Crossroads: UBC Sauder School of Business Social Good Summit Recap

From BC to Ottawa: Let's Build Canada's AI Future Together

State of the BC + AI Economy

Accelerating British Columbia's AI Ecosystem

What’s Happening in BC

Why We Need to Double-Down

BC + AI Report 2024

What Does the Ecosystem Need?

Toward a Industrial & Applied AI Centre in British Columbia

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Strategic Thesis

A hydro-powered, Indigenous-governed Industrial AI Centre in B.C. will turn frontier algorithms into productivity and decarbonisation wins across Canada’s real-economy sectors—and give Ottawa a ready-made playbook to scale nationwide.

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Close Canada’s Productivity Gap, Sector by Sector
Leverage the “B.C. Stack” the East Can’t Replicate
Turn Frontier AI into Ground-Level Wins
Build the People Pipeline While We Build the Tech
Create a Clean-Tech Export Engine for Canada
Blueprint for the Rest of Canada

Unique Ingredients B.C. Brings

Ingredient	Detail	Why Ottawa will care
Clean-power compute	Abundant, low-carbon hydro + existing data-centre corridors.	Aligns with national net-zero and green-GDP narratives.
Industrial laboratory	Forestry, mining, shipping, film/VFX, precision ag—all within a day’s drive.	Demonstrates AI impact on GDP-heavy sectors (productivity + exports).
Indigenous data sovereignty	Established OCAP expertise; Nations already co-running tech pilots.	Embeds reconciliation in federal innovation spending.
Grassroots mycelium	2000 + member BC + AI network w/ regional nodes, open-source DNA.	Lowers project risk via ready talent and rapid feedback loops.

Core Objectives

(Principles that steer every pilot and program; specific KPIs land in the next draft.)

Productivity-First Adoption: Deploy AI where it matters most—mills, shipyards, ports, post-production bays—so B.C. firms post measurable output gains ahead of global competitors.
Decarbonisation Woven In, Not Bolted On: Treat every algorithm as a climate tool: energy-optimised code, process redesign, and carbon accounting embedded from day one.
Sovereign Data & Home-grown IP: Create legal and technical rails that let First Nations and B.C. companies own, license, and monetise the data and models they generate.