Canada Invests in First-of-its-Kind Robotic Platform at University of British Columbia
News release
November 28, 2018 Vancouver, British Columbia Natural Resources Canada
Canada is committed to the global transition to a low-carbon future. That is why we are investing in the development of new and innovative technologies that will help us fight climate change, boost the economy and create good jobs for Canadians.
Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, today announced an $8-million investment to develop a first-of-its-kind robotic platform called Ada that uses artificial intelligence to accelerate the development process for new materials to improve energy efficiency.
Funded through Canada's Energy Innovation Program, the University of British Columbia is building the new platform, which will be capable of designing, performing and learning from experiments. The robotic components for this project are also made in Canada, creating jobs for qualified personnel, increasing economic growth and positioning Canada as a global leader in this rapidly growing technology.
Ada is a Canadian-based international collaboration. It supports Canada's commitments to Mission Innovation, a global initiative involving 23 countries that have committed to doubling their clean energy investments.
Canada will host the 4th annual Mission Innovation Ministerial, alongside the 10th annual Clean Energy Ministerial in Vancouver, British Columbia, May 27–29, 2019. The event will bring together global clean energy leaders to discuss cutting-edge transformations and reinforce international collaboration in the transition to a low-carbon future.
Through Generation Energy, Canada's national energy dialogue, Canadians expressed that they want to see Canada continuing to be a leader in the transition to a clean growth economy. Canada will continue to support clean technology projects that create jobs, improve industry competitiveness, cut pollution and act on climate change.
"Canada will continue to work with partner countries, international organizations and the private sector on innovative projects that will boost economic growth and contribute to our climate change commitments. We are proud to support such an exciting, cutting-edge project that will position Canada as a leader in clean energy innovation and will bring us one step closer to the low-carbon future we all want."
Amarjeet Sohi
Canada's Minister of Natural Resources
"Prof. Jason Hein (UBC), Prof. Alán Aspuru-Guzik (University of Toronto), and I are honoured to have had our program selected by Natural Resources Canada as the lead project in Mission Innovation – Challenge #6. Our project represents a bold initiative that will accelerate the discovery and development of new clean energy technologies by leveraging cutting-edge robotics equipped with artificial intelligence. We are very excited to be at the forefront of this innovative movement in materials science. We would like to also thank North Robotics, our small business partner, and the University of British Columbia for their support."
Curtis P. Berlinguette
Professor, University of British Columbia
