Canada 3.0 - A major Shift in Focus

Stratford, Ontario is a picturesque small town which will today host a large congregation of leaders of the cyber community. Their purpose is to define a way forward in making the couintry a leader in the industry. If you've ever heard of RIM (Research in Motion), then you will be interested in what is about to transpire here today and tomorrow.

“We want to make Canada the first digital nation in the world,” said Ken Coates, dean of arts at the University of Waterloo. Getting there, he said, involves not just supporting high-tech tool makers, but understanding how the rising use of digital media is changing the way we communicate, do business and access news and entertainment.

The event, called Canada 3.0, has snowballed in recent weeks, attracting more than 1,000 delegates and the attention of cabinet ministers, the Premier of Ontario and a who's who of high-tech leaders, including the oft-cited poster boy for Canadian innovation, Research In Motion co-CEO Michael Lazaridis. The federal government, eager to be seen taking action on its innovation agenda and to move on from its bailout of the auto industry, has been quick to get behind the project and there is talk Prime Minister Stephen Harper will make an appearance. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty will speak tomorrow.

www.theglobeandmail.com...

Please visit their website for more information:

canada30.uwaterloo.ca...

I'll update as news materializes.

I don't see the good news in this at all other then the economy bouncing back.
Its going to be more control over our internet and the content on here.

The second last paragraph says this.....“To be a digital nation everybody has to be connected and you have to get all the content online,” Mr. Jenkins said. To do that, he said, the country must develop new regulations to govern the exchange of information.

I see nothing wrong with how we exchange information and don't see a need to be regulated by the government.
I would rather the economy tank and recover naturally instead of allowing the government to regulate our internet and content on it.
Its just more control in my eyes.
Is there something I am missing here??

“We want to make Canada the first digital nation in the world,”

Perhaps a time machine would be in order.

Canada needs this, don't get me wrong. But Canada needs to stop patting itself on the back and wake up to the fact that in terms of high tech it's WAY behind the pack. It was a leader 15 or 16 years ago. Now it's somewhere in the midfield. There's a LOT of catching up to do, in terms of funding, R&D, and above all public penetration and acceptance just to get Canada level with the current leaders.

reply to post by DrumsRfun


I agree there's an opportunity for the feds to apply controls on the internet here and that the federal regulator is already on the move in that regard.

www.crtc.gc.ca...

Old news:

The CRTC first looked into licensing new media in 1999 but with few households at the time having access to high-speed Internet it decided that licensing would not contribute to its development and that exempting it would not make it difficult for licensed broadcasters to follow the rules.

With 93 per cent of Canadian households having broadband access and anyone being able to watch videos and television shows, play games and listen to music online, the CRTC has decided to revisit the issue.

www.thestar.com...

New news:

Federal broadcast officials will continue to leave the Internet unregulated, ruling Thursday to keep it outside the gamut of rules Ottawa applies to conventional media -- for now.

Following months of deliberation, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said it would not impose the same regulation it applies to television and radio, such as the amount of domestic content that must be aired, on broadcasters online or Internet service providers.

www.nationalpost.com...

The focus in Stratford is on how business can benefit. Here's how they feel:

Old news:

A coalition of more than 70 technology companies, including internet search leader Google, online retailer Amazon and voice over internet provider Skype, is calling on the CRTC to ban internet service providers from "traffic shaping," or using technology that favours some applications over others.

www.cbc.ca...

New news:

The CRTC has stated that there isn’t a viable business model for online broadcasting, although industry reports show digital media activity in the multi-billion dollar range, and economic analysis shows the mobile media sector is approaching ‘critical mass’.

The WGC is among several organizations calling for even more data from the sector, and it says it is pleased to see that the CRTC will introduce a reporting requirement for new media services.

The CRTC says it will revisit the exemption within five years.

www.mediacastermagazine.com...

As you can see from the above, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission is stuck firmly upon the fence on how to approach regulations on the internet. This is why the Stratford conference is so important right now and why Canadians need to pay attention.

Originally posted by vox2442

It was a leader 15 or 16 years ago. Now it's somewhere in the midfield. There's a LOT of catching up to do, in terms of funding, R&D, and above all public penetration and acceptance just to get Canada level with the current leaders.

15 or 16 years ago?






I'd like to see some links backing up your statement that Canada is 'mid-field'. Not that I disagree with you, but rather that I'm interested in how the country stacks up against others. There's no doubt that Japan is a world leader.





[edit on 8/6/09 by masqua]

reply to post by masqua


LOVE that vid - been a long time since I've seen that Telix connect screen...


I should have chosen my "mid field" comment a bit better - what I meant was midfield among the nations that have significant tech in place, as opposed to midfield among all 192 ranked countries in the world. Canada has a significant lead over Guatemala, for example, but is losing ground to India.

Anyway, here's some links:
www.cbc.ca...
www.cbc.ca...
www.cbc.ca...

That's a good place to start. I don't know where to take it from there, as once we start talking applications of the tech, the picture gets completely unmanageable. But take a look at the Tom Jenkins video on the 3.0 webpage. Listen to what he's talking about. He's saying the future of the internet is video. He's saying that IN THE FUTURE people will communicate with video email instead of regular email, and that IN THE FUTURE websites will cater to video communication (which ATS has been doing for a while now), and effectively that kids today know how this stuff works, so we should learn too. And that someday the dick tracy watch will be a reality...

This is Canada 3.0?? I've been sending video emails home from my cellphone for at least 5 years now. The quality has been steadily improving. The only reason I don't use the video call function is that the infrastructure to receive a those kinds of calls doesn't exist in Canada. I can't even get a decent connection with skype in Canada because the network is so slow. no problems with europe though.. /rant

Hopefully some good will come out of this conference though - but I'd be willing to bet that it amounts to nothing more than a handful of companies trying to make a fast buck out of whatever the kids today are doing, and the usual government people trying not to look too lost by throwing a bit of cash around. Mostly though, it'll be a lot of people trying to wrap their heads around the fact that while 2.0 was a lot of fun, people are still trying to figure out how much, if anything, the big 2.0 companies are actually really worth, when you get right down to it. Regardless of where and when it happens, 3.0 will be about tacking down a proper dollar sign onto it, mark my words.

reply to post by vox2442



Thanks for those links, vox. Enlightening to say the least.




I'll keep on top of this conference, though, just in case any industry-shaking revelations come out of it. With the Premier of Ontario and the Prime Minister perhaps accompanying Minister Clements, I'm certain there will be some talking points handed out which will catch the attention of the news crews.