What I learned about innovation from my fellow CATA award winners

Amazon should be ashamed of its opposition to Seattle’s homeless initiative

Tech has a reputation as a progressive industry, but this week Amazon.com Inc. betrayed that reputation in a big way. The Seattle-based giant has famously opposed a payroll tax approved Monday by its

MISA Prairies uses 2018 conference to rebrand itself – literally

RED DEER, Alta. - The Municipal Information Systems Association (MISA) Prairies chapter has come a long way from its humble beginnings, and its latest conference reflected that in more ways than one. The

How the City of Lethbridge prepared its Smart Cities Challenge application

RED DEER, Alta. - Public feedback played a central role in Lethbridge’s application for Infrastructure Canada’s Smart Cities Challenge, the city’s IT general manager explained during a recent presentation. During the 2018 Municipal

MISA Prairies honours former president Chris Fisher with lifetime membership

RED DEER, Alta. - Despite his protests, former City of Regina IT director and past Municipal Information Systems Association (MISA) Prairies president Chris Fisher's greatness has officially been recognized by the organization he

How social media helped save Fort McMurray residents from the 2016 wildfire

RED DEER, Alta. - As a public services veteran, Darby Allen admits he was never a fan of social media and the arguments he occasionally read on it. But when Fort McMurray's former

How the City of Mississauga uses mobile technology to engage workers and citizens alike

Calling the City of Mississauga a mobile technology-ready municipality is an understatement. For the past two years, 90 per cent of city employees have been given a virtual private network (VPN)-connected laptop, smartphone,

Sidewalk Toronto commits to Privacy by Design principles amid citizen concerns

TORONTO - Responsible data use and privacy are top priorities of Sidewalk Toronto’s smart city development project in Toronto’s Quay Side community, organizers told a public gathering on Thursday night. But developer Sidewalk

People, not technology, is Canada’s ‘secret sauce’, Bains says at Salesforce World Tour

TORONTO - Navdeep Bains' May 3 appearance at Salesforce.com Inc.'s Toronto World Tour was short, but he made it count. While discussing the CRM giant's new $100 million USD investment into Canadian startups

Solving problems, not machine learning, should be tech industry’s focus, former U.S. CTO says

A day after the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE)’s 2018 Discovery conference kicked off with a robot and her creator extolling the virtues of artificial intelligence (AI), Shift7 CEO Megan Smith told attendees

Amazon to expand Vancouver tech hub, create 3000 new jobs

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was on hand Monday to announce that Amazon Inc. would be expanding its Vancouver operations to the tune of 3000 new jobs. According an April 30 release, the Seattle-based

South Ontario’s Guelph, London, and Barrie bringing private sector into municipal planning

The southern Ontario cities of Guelph, London, and Barrie want to make it easier for businesses to contribute to municipal planning. On Thursday, the municipalities announced the three-year Municipal Innovation Exchange (MIX) project,

Hashtag Trending – Startup Genome to release 2018 report; Toronto mayor’s Silicon Valley tour; Backpage shut down

A prominent think tank is releasing the latest edition of its annual startup report; Toronto Mayor John Tory is embarking on a streaming-centric tour of Silicon Valley; and the U.S. government has forced

How Toronto-based Tap Report is transforming workplace inspections

Tap Report co-founder and CEO Paul Amendola had been managing fire and life safety inspections in Toronto's financial district for six years when he started looking for digital solutions that would help him