Energy efficiency contract awarded for 14 Wing Greenwood

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  February 23, 2018 | Local, Aerospace

  Silicon Valley-style innovation clusters to include aviation companies

  Canada's aviation and aerospace industries will play a key role in the creation of innovation superclusters similar to Silicon Valley. Air Canada and PAL Aerospace are among hundreds of companies involved in creating five superclusters across Canada, with a $950 million investment from the federal government that will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the private sector. “We think this is important for Canada,” said Catherine Dyer, chief information officer for Air Canada, in an interview with Skies. “We really view ourselves as a leader in this space, and to build capability in this part of the country, and more broadly for Canada, are two things that we think go very nicely together.” Air Canada will be part of the Quebec-based SCALE.AI supercluster, which aims to use artificial intelligence and robotics to build intelligent supply chains, making Canada a world-leading exporter. “Our hope around this is that it will help us become more efficient in how we deal in our operations excellence program, as well as in our cargo business,” said Dyer. “But from my perspective it has got probably further-reaching opportunities in terms of how we enable employees and customers in creating that Air Canada experience that we're all very focused on. “So most immediately it's going to be focused on the logistics components of our business. But we do believe that artificial intelligence, more generally, has got some fairly broad-reaching implications for our company.” Air Canada was a key player in creating the supercluster submission in late 2017 and sees its involvement as a step toward becoming a global leader in supply chain management. SCALE.AI includes 120 partners across Canada from a wide range of industries, including transportation, telecommunications, mining, food, and oil and gas. “We [Air Canada] would be looking at how we could use artificial intelligence to help us see things maybe we don't see when we're looking at it with human brains,” said Dyer. “That really is the purpose of artificial intelligence, is to take the collective wisdom of many people, and the computing power of machines, and apply it to the business problems that we have today.” Air Canada plans to use artificial intelligence to develop new tools that allow it to better manage cargo capacity, resulting in better customer service. “Timeliness is essential when shipping fresh products and employees will have better tools to forecast the need for space in temperature controlled facilities, facilitate tracking and ensure timely delivery,” said Isabelle Arthur, senior media relations manager for Air Canada, in a statement. “Air Canada already uses artificial intelligence in revenue management, to forecast aircraft maintenance, in marketing, in elevating customer experience and communications by partnering with government, universities in Toronto and Montreal to help Canada retake a leadership position.” PAL Aerospace will be part of the Ocean Supercluster in Atlantic Canada, which plans to use innovation to improve competitiveness in ocean-based industries like fisheries, oil and gas, and clean energy. The company will design and execute projects that encourage collaboration with other supercluster members, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and academic institutions, said Derek F. Scott, vice-president of program development for PAL Aerospace, in a statement to Skies. “We aim to use supercluster initiatives to advance our digitalization objectives in our modern ocean surveillance programs such as the ice management services we continue to provide the oil and gas industry today,” he said. “In addition, we intend to use the program to advance opportunities to strategically insert other entities such as SME companies into our solution and supply chain for our domestic and international customers.” He noted Canada has the longest coastline in the world, which spans some of the most challenging ocean environments, including the North Atlantic. “Innovation is a solution to challenge, and Canada has an ocean of opportunity to drive innovation into technologies and capabilities that contribute to Canada's economic growth, sustainability and export growth,” said Scott “PAL Aerospace is a leading example of how ocean innovation contributed to its success and the Ocean Supercluster initiative will now give us an opportunity to capitalize on that strength and create even more success for PAL Aerospace and for those companies and entities that work with us on the program.” Along with the SCALE.AI and Ocean superclusters, three others are planned: The Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster in Ontario, which aims to connect Canada's technology strengths to its manufacturing industry; The Protein Industries Supercluster, based in the Prairies, which intends to make Canada a leading source for plant proteins; and The Digital Technology Supercluster, based in British Columbia, which will use big data and digital technologies to unlock new potential in sectors like healthcare, forestry and manufacturing. More than 450 businesses, 60 post-secondary institutions and 180 other participants are involved in the five supercluster initiatives, according to a government news release. It's expected the superclusters will create 50,000 middle-class jobs and grow Canada's economy by $50 billion over the next 10 years. https://www.skiesmag.com/news/silicon-valley-style-innovation-clusters-include-aviation-companies/

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  April 20, 2023 | Local, Other Defence

  WEBINAR RECORDING: Do Business with NATO

  The Do Business with NATO webinar has been made available on the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI) website. https://defenceandsecurity.ca/events/details&e=566

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  January 17, 2019 | Local, Aerospace, Naval, Land

  Canadian military falling well short of its target for recruiting women

  Murray Brewster · CBC News New statistics also show efforts to bring in more Indigenous, visible minority recruits failing The Canadian military has barely moved the needle on its ambitious plan to recruit more women, just over a year after the Liberal government introduced its gender-focused defence policy, new figures reveal. The stated intention of Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jonathan Vance was to have women make up 25 per cent of the Armed Forces by 2025-26. Statistics released by the Office of the Chief of Military Personnel show that while the number of female recruits coming through the door has increased slightly, it has not been enough to boost overall representation. As of the end of April, women made up only 15.4 per cent of both the combined regular and reserve forces. The story is the same for Indigenous Canadians and visible minorities — those recruitment numbers remain just as anemic as they have been for several years. Indigenous Canadians make up about 2.8 per cent of the Armed Forces; DND has set a goal of getting that share up to 3.5 per cent. Visible minorities make up 8.2 per cent; the target percentage is 11.8. But the military and the Liberal government have more political capital invested in the effort to get more women into uniform. It's central to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's mantra of gender equality, and to Canada's desire to put women at the heart of a reformed international peacekeeping system. The drive to recruit more women comes as the military attempts to overhaul its culture in the wake of a damning report in 2015 by retired Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps, who said a "sexualized culture" within the military was behind an endemic problem with sexual harassment and misconduct. Female recruitment picking up — but slowly There were 860 women enrolled in the military in the last fiscal year, which ended on March 31 — an increase of eight per cent over the previous year. It's not enough, said the chief of military personnel. "Those are still not meeting the number we need to have in order to meet the 25 per cent target and we're conscious of that," Lt.-Gen. Chuck Lamarre told CBC News in an interview. The slow pace of female recruitment has forced senior brass to take more direct control, he said. "We recognize it's going to take a much more disciplined approach, a much more targeted approach to go get more women, more visible minority and more Aboriginal folks to come join the Canadian Armed Forces," said Lamarre, who insisted the Armed Forces can still hit the target, which was first established in early 2016. The direction from Vance back then had been to increase the representation of women in the forces by one per cent per year over a decade. The new statistics show the military has seen healthy increases in the number of women applying to be officers, or to join the navy or air force. But National Defence is having a harder time convincing women to join the army, and to become non-commissioned members of the rank and file. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said it will take time, but there signs of change, notably the desire of women to become officers and leaders, a cultural shift that the DesChamps report said is necessary. "As time goes on, I am confident we will be successful," Sajjan said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday morning from Vietnam. "We are very happy that we are recruiting women into leadership roles." Lamarre said he believes the military is fighting against perceptions about the kind of career being offered. "People have a tendency to self-select out before they give it a shot, and I think that's a mistake," he said, pointing to the military's struggle to get women to consider signing up for trades such as aircraft, vehicle and maritime mechanics. "We are attracting more women into the officer corps, but I think we need to broaden that even more. Part of it is demystifying some of those occupations. Some of them look to be hard and exclusively centred towards men. That's not the case at all. We have some great examples of women who are operating in every occupation." Military's image problem persists Others — DesChamps among them — argue that the perception of the military as a tough place to be a woman hasn't gone away. Despite the military's high-profile campaign to stamp out misconduct — known as Operation Honour — and the increasing number of sexual assault cases being tried in the military justice system, many say that little has changed when it comes to the macho nature of military culture. "In the last three years, in my opinion, more could have been done" to stop harassment and make the military a more welcoming career choice for women, Deschamps told the Senate defence committee last week. "What I have seen is, not a lot of progress has been made." The federal government has faced two class-action lawsuits launched by survivors of sexual assault and misconduct in the military. The cases entered settlement discussions last winter after it was revealed government lawyers filed a statement of defence that said National Defence "does not owe members of the Canadian Armed Forces any duty to protect them from sexual harassment and assault." https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadian-military-falling-well-short-of-its-target-for-recruiting-women-1.4691356