Ideon, Calabrio headline $53 million AI project investment from DIGITAL Innovation Cluster

Canada’s federally funded Global Innovation Cluster for digital technologies (DIGITAL) has announced an investment of $53 million across 11 projects looking to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into a variety of sectors, including subsurface imaging, patient care, and agriculture.

The projects receiving the largest amount of backing come from companies such as Ideon, Calabrio, and Agi3. DIGITAL said its co-investment joins an additional $106 million in partner backing, giving the 11 projects a total value of $162 million.

Federally funded innovation clusters like DIGITAL co-invest alongside industry partners into projects that are developing digital innovations through collaborative research and development.

“By uniting industry leaders, innovators, and academic partners, and focusing on commercialization, talent development, and AI adoption frameworks, we’re solving today’s challenges and building the environment to accelerate breakthrough innovation that keeps Canada at the cutting edge of global AI innovation,” DIGITAL CEO Sue Paish said.

The largest amount of DIGITAL funding, $16 million, is going to a project led by British Columbia (BC)-based Ideon Technologies with support from Dias Geophysical, VRIFY Technology, Fireweed Metals, and Simon Fraser University.

The $46 million project, dubbed Subsurface Intelligence to Unlock Critical Minerals Supply, aims to build, test, and deploy subsurface AI solutions that help the mining industry target and accurately map mineral deposits. The project is also expected to aid in the continuous monitoring of mine operations. Ideon raised a $21 million CAD ($16 million USD) Series A round in 2022 to help address the world’s looming critical mineral supply shortage.

DIGITAL is also providing the CareAI project from leader Calabrio Canada with $14 million. Supported by ORX AI, WELL Health, and Queen’s University, the $44 million project looks to automate and manage administrative tasks in medical settings. Calabrio Canada was formerly known as Wysdom, which provided software and services to improve AI-powered virtual agents before American support center solutions firm Calabrio acquired it in January.

A project looking to integrate AI into enterprise risk management for the agriculture sector received $7 million from DIGITAL. The $20 million project is led by Winnipeg-based Agi3 and supported by grain company G3 Canada, the University of Manitoba, and agricultural equipment dealer Enns Brothers. DIGITAL said the project will use AI to generate insights and personalized risk profiles that can be used to inform crop insurance, financing, and sustainability within the agricultural sector.

Other projects supported in this funding cohort include multiple companies working on AI applications in the medical field, mining, education, and more. Details on all of the recently funded projects can be found on DIGITAL’s website.

DIGITAL has placed a strong focus on supporting medical AI applications over the past year. In July, the innovation cluster invested $15.3 million into Health Compass II, an AI healthcare platform project from Canadian healthtech companies like ORX Surgical, Healwell AI, and WELL Health. In May, AI projects from Swift Medical, RxPx, Gotcare, and AlayaCare also received $10.5 million from DIGITAL.