Between changes in our physical world and our technological needs growing all the time, it has become clear that humans are going to need to change how we do things in the future. Industries and business models are quickly becoming outdated and there are plenty of opportunities for new types of enterprises. Today we’re going to take a look at what qualities Canada has that would allow it to play a major role in a few of these new ventures.

Software Development

To be clear from the start, software development as a whole is not a new area of business and Canadians have had a long history of start-ups and companies. What is set to change in the coming years is the sheer scale of what is required. With the imminent mass adoption of AI technology, tens of thousands of additional software developers and engineers will be needed worldwide just to keep up. With a solid development base already in Canada, it is ripe for investment and growth.

Even outside of the AI juggernaut, however, other technologies are becoming more and more sophisticated. Notable examples include the world of online casinos where the underlying technology behind the games has developed substantially over the past decade to match changing software platforms. Online slots may still look similar on the surface but the mechanics behind them are very different, and that’s not even mentioning things like VR and AR integration that are slowly being introduced to the live versions of some games. This is only one example as well; a well-established development industry will be critical for dozens of sectors and there would be no downsides to helping it grow.

Cybersecurity

The best aspect of Canada expanding its cybersecurity arm is that, as a country, it is already a world leader in the field and rapidly growing. Unlike a lot of other industries, however, the rate at which the situation and standards change in cybersecurity is incredibly fast. The understanding of cyber threats and technologies can change in the space of just a few months, making it far more demanding as a research area than most.

As far as investment goes, cybersecurity is one of the few areas that is guaranteed to be big in the future. The scale of digital transactions happening every day means that the demand for newer and better security systems is constant and the risks of not keeping up are getting bigger and bigger. Moreover, cybersecurity is such a specialist field that it isn’t as though every country in the world could suddenly make a major impact. Canada is already well poised to put more into the effort, with a substantial technology infrastructure built up and years of training professionals behind it.

Environmental Tech

If there is one resource that Canada ranks amongst the greatest in the world for, is its environment. The northern and central provinces are vast, untapped and protected areas of wilderness, with many of them having minimal human populations. As such, if done with care, the Canadian wilderness could be an incredible place to experiment with new environmental technologies beyond the solar panels now common across the country.

INSERT IMAGE HERE: https://unsplash.com/photos/scenery-of-mountain-oMneOBYhJxY

The range of potential research areas out there is extensive, given the already-existing diversity in both the flora and fauna. Canada already has innovative systems for things like protecting native fish species and the impacts of climate change on tundra environments. This list could also easily include areas like sustainable farming, particularly given the vast areas of unused land, and the massive coastline of the country would lend itself perfectly to ocean conservation and sustainable fishing research. Also, given the long distances between cities, transport research is a critical area for Canada in general, and environmentally friendly transport systems like high-speed rail would be ideal both for ecology and economy.

There are certainly other areas of technology that Canada will, and often already is, getting involved with, but the examples above make the best use of the resources already at hand. It’s good to know that whichever big direction tech next moves in, Canada should be ready to work with it.