Digital technology supercluster announces first projects

We took a giant leap forward into the future of health care in November 2018 with the official launch of Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster (CDTS) by the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development.

Superclusters are industry-led incubators of innovation. The Government of Canada is investing up to $950 million over five years to support superclusters across the country. The The BC-led CDTS will receive $153 million of this funding. As a founding member, Providence will be part of a group tacking ambitious challenges, including transforming the delivery of health care in BC and Canada.

CDTS was created as a collaborative effort of over 200 organisations, involving some of Canada’s biggest names in healthcare, telecommunications, natural resources, computing, and transportation. As BC has the fastest-growing tech sector in Canada, the CDTS will leverage our strengths in data analytics; genomics; quantum computing; and virtual, mixed and augmented reality.

Project teams within the supercluster are comprised of five to nine partners including industry adopters, technology leaders, start-ups, small and mid-sized businesses, digital innovators and research organizations. Collectively, teams will take on technology development projects, including those addressing the most pressing concerns in health care.

One of the first projects, announced in March 2019, will help a growing number of Canadians each year who develop some form of skin cancer. A medical imaging network, powered by artificial intelligence, will enable a preliminary diagnosis within days, instead of the current wait time of about six months. This will speed up referrals and triage of urgent cases, and improve survival rates. The project is expected to roll out in different regions of BC in multiple phases in 2019 and 2020.