Grant: Applied Research and Technology Partnership Grants

Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology (Seneca) is establishing the Centre for Innovation in Artificial Intelligence Technologies (CIAIT). Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be defined as the computer systems that are able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence. In the last decade advances in AI algorithms and continuous increases in available computing power has led to an explosion of applications at the consumer level. In 2021 we are constantly interacting with various applications of AI, such as speech recognition, translation between languages, customer service and computer vision. It is safe to say that this proliferation of AI applications in our daily lives is going to continue in the near future, and that the adoption of AI technologies will become a critical factor in building successful economies of the future. In order for Canada, to be successful in the coming decades, most businesses will have to transition into this new digital paradigm. Seneca is very well positioned to support this transition. As a degree granting institution, the college has a large number of data scientists with terminal credentials (i.e. PhD) to support these types of research projects. In the last 3 years, close to 70% of the applied research projects initiated at Seneca in the software and information technology fields were delivered under the umbrella of AI. The proposed CIAIT is building on this established foundation. CIAIT will focus on three key application areas: business decision support, content analysis and management, and cybersecurity. All three areas of focus can be applied to a broad range of industry sectors that generate the bulk of the Ontario GDP: advanced manufacturing, commerce, agriculture and food processing, creative and media, and life sciences. The main techniques that will be used to support those three areas include: data and predictive analytics, machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision. CIAIT researchers will collaborate with industry partners on such business challenges as: improvement in live transcription through AI speech modeling, analysis of legal contracts to identify areas of concern, and prediction of battery energy storage system health and its performance optimization. Through these and future industry projects CIAIT will continue to support local SME companies interested in the development of AI technologies that support and enhance their core business outcomes.