Disruptors

To learn about NASA’s Lunar Gateway project — an outpost that supports a return to the lunar surface as well as deep-space exploration — click here . To see how MDA’s AI-powered Canadarm3 will work on the lunar outpost, watch this video .  Curious about what satellites the size of a grilled cheese sandwich can actually do? Follow this link to learn more about Swarm’s tiny two-way communications te...

To learn more about the companies and institutions who participated in this podcast, visit their websites: I-Think , Sheridan College , Shopify , Lululemon , and Ubisoft Montreal . Richard Florida can be contacted through the strategy firm he founded, the Creative Class Group , and you can also follow him on Twitter; @Richard_Florida. Click the following link to listen to the first episode in this...

RBC Tech for Nature is RBC’s multi-year commitment to preserving our natural ecosystem and works with partners to leverage technology and innovation capabilities to solve pressing environmental challenges. Learn more here . To read RBC’s Climate Blueprint, click here. For details on Blockchain for Climate—and how Joseph and his team are using the BITMO platform to issue and exchange climate credit...

Click the following links to learn more about Cirque du Soleil and its creative process . You can find details on the programs and streams offered by The Creative Destruction Lab HERE , or visit the Rotman School’s page on the University of Toronto’s website . Acumen Law’s homepage is vancouvercriminallaw.com , and you can also follow Kyla Lee on Twitter @IRPLawyer . Learn more about the programs...

For details on Propulsion Quebec, its mission, and its business areas, visit propulsionquebec.com . You can learn more about GBatteries and its unique, ultra-fast charging technology at gbatteries.com . Click the following links to read up on GM’s commitment to electrification , its Brightdrop announcement , and its new test track in Oshawa . RBC’s new thought leadership report, “Trading Places: C...

To learn more about DoorDash, its philosophy, and its origin story, you can visit the company’s website . For details on its revenue during the pandemic, read this recent Bloomberg article . John mentioned two previous pieces of RBC research during the podcast, including; “ Small Business, Big Pivot ” and “ Humans wanted: How Canadian Youth Can Thrive in the Age of Disruption ”. RBC has also relea...

It’s something that has the power to enable both empathy and exclusion; to provide us with new perspectives while simultaneously silencing other voices that deserve to be heard: technology. And while the tech platforms we interact with every day demonstrated their value in the lead-up to and during last year’s BLM protests, the companies and culture that created them have long-standing issues with...

It’s something that’s always been a part of the Canadian identity, but has taken on a new urgency over the past twelve months: our tendency to support charities, non-profits, and community organizations. In 2018, Canada’s charitable sector was the second largest on the planet, and we also had one of the highest rates of  volunteerism in the world, trailing only the United States, New Zealand, and...

Did anyone in your household wake up to find a new video game, virtual reality headset, or console under the tree over the holidays? Do your kids spend hours on end online, watching their favourite gamers on Twitch, Tik-Tok, or YouTube? Is your business struggling to connect with young people, those elusive members of Gen-Z who don’t watch TV, listen to radio, or read newspapers?  If your answer t...

Extraordinary. Unprecedented. Devastating. There’s no shortage of words that have been used to describe everything Canadians have endured over the past 12 months. COVID-19 has fundamentally disrupted our daily lives to such a degree that -- even though a vaccine is now being rolled out -- the ripple effects will be felt for years to come. But what will this “new normal” look like for businesses? W...

What do digital privacy and COVID-19 have in common with climate change, Kompromat, counter-espionage hackers, and the new Netflix movie “The Social Dilemma”? They’re just a few of the many topics that come up in a timely and compelling conversation with Canada’s so-called “Hacker King”, on the latest episode of Disruptors, an RBC podcast. On the heels of new federal privacy legislation, host John...

It’s a term that’s been front and centre this fall, as the federal government considers ways to shepherd Canada out of the economic downturn caused by COVID: intellectual property. But what exactly is IP -- and how could it be central to the recovery? On this episode of Disruptors, an RBC podcast, host John Stackhouse sits down for a no-holds-barred conversation with one of Canada’s most outspoken...

There’s been no shortage of hype. Now, after years of headlines heralding it as a transformative technology, an evolution in wireless service, even a “game changer for humanity,” 5G is finally being rolled out across Canada by the big three telecom providers. But are we ready to make the most of it? And what does 5G’s arrival really mean for consumers and businesses? The possibilities are legitima...

From facial recognition software that fails to recognize women and people of colour, to Twitter algorithms which seem to prefer white faces in photo previews, there’s been no shortage of negative headlines about artificial intelligence over the past few months. But whether we like it or not, AI is at work all around us, all the time, and there’s a growing movement to make sure it’s being used in a...

It was already a challenge, even before the pandemic: helping young people and their families navigate Canada’s complex, fragmented mental health system. But experts say COVID could also serve as a catalyst for much-needed change, an opportunity to make meaningful improvements. Just like the rest of us, young people are spending more time than ever in front of screens; up to 7.5 hours per day, in...

Canadian women entrepreneurs are a dynamic and powerful economic force. After all, women own and operate almost one-third of all firms in Canada, and they start businesses one-and-a-half times more often than men, driving more than 117-billion dollars of economic activity per year. In other words -- if we want full economic recovery, we need to make sure female entrepreneurs are being given the to...

The past eight months have been an unprecedented time of disruption in Canada. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everything from how we work, learn, and shop to how we travel, entertain ourselves, and obviously, take care of ourselves when we get sick. Businesses have been forced to adapt almost overnight or close. Entire industries have been forced to pivot, and supply chains around the world ha...

When others see obstacles, entrepreneurs see opportunities. Nowhere is that more true than the up-and-coming generation of business minds, many fostered through NEXT Canada . The organization gives entrepreneurs a boost through education, mentorship, funding, and access to a strong entrepreneurial network. In this episode of RBC Disruptors , host John Stackhouse speaks with three members of NEXT’s...

COVID lockdown restrictions have boosted the desire to consume creative content higher than ever. What’s new about this era is where the content is coming from -- a diversity of voices from around the globe, not originally directly linked to traditional publishing firms, production companies, or movie studios.   We explore this phenomenon in this episode of RBC Disruptors by looking into the origi...

It's a branch of molecular biology that humans have been harnessing for centuries, but has come to carry a negative connotation for many Canadians due to concerns about genetically modified organisms: Genomics. A recent report from the McKinsey Global Institute suggests that as much as 60% of the physical inputs to the global economy could be produced biologically, with potential savings of up to...

The world is on track to add as many people to cities in the next 40 years as we have in the last 40 centuries. Those new buildings and roads will require a lot of concrete, which historically was an economically and environmentally inefficient building material. However, new innovators are leveraging technology to tackle both of those problems. The challenge they face, though, is around policy an...

Following last week’s International Youth Day, Canadian youth might feel like they have few things to celebrate. As one of the hardest-hit groups in the COVID-induced economic decline, they’re faced with a staggering 30% unemployment rate and potential long-term career setbacks. Youth need support more than ever, and the economy needs them. To rebuild, we need to tap into the energy and creativity...

Oceans provide safety, a way of life, economic sustainability, and food for the entire planet, yet over 80% of the world’s oceans are unmapped and unexplored. Now, we have the tools and technology to empower true ocean discovery. The limited knowledge we have of oceans has already produced trillions of dollars in economic benefit and insight that led to life-saving medications. With data and a ren...

Nearly 10 years ago, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen famously claimed that “software is eating the world.” But today, a new crop of “frontier innovators” are straying away from disrupting existing industries with software in favour of building new industries, improving current innovation models, and addressing market gaps that Silicon Valley ignored. In his new book, Out-Innovate: How Global En...

To succeed in the post-COVID economy, businesses will need more than just a pivot to digital – they’ll need to lean into and harness data to gain an advantage. As the COVID crisis disrupts traditional business models, it’s more important than ever for companies to understand how to leverage data on user behaviour, sales trends, and other variables to re-position themselves for the future. In this...