Explained : India-based IT giant to establish AI centre in Calgary amid recent Canada-India deal and Its Impact

India-based IT giant HCL Technologies is looking to establish an AI Collaboration Centre in Calgary amid a recent Canada-India deal that saw several commercial agreements made between the two nations.

“This is a space to think and innovate,” said Dave Chopra, executive vice-president and Canada country head at HCL Technologies, speaking with The Calgary Eyeopener’s Loren McGinnis. 

“It is our foray into AI-specific solutions for predominantly asset-heavy industries. And when I say ‘asset-heavy industries,’ we’re talking about oil, gas, energy, resources, mining, travel, transportation, hospitality, so on and so forth.

“This particular centre is going to be a collaboration space … for our customers to learn together in the world of rapidly-evolving AI.”

The centre is already operational, Chopra said, with a potential hard launch including demos and customer interaction sessions planned for June.

Once fully up-and-running, Chopra expects the centre to host about 30 AI experts, who will work with HCL Technology’s customers from its existing downtown Calgary office, which opened last November in the Ampersand building.

“We will have footfall from the other institutions within Alberta,” Chopra said. Those include the Alberta Institute of Machine Learning (Amii), University of Calgary, University of Alberta, and others.

Based in Edmonton, Amii is a non-profit organization established in 2002 and one of Canada’s three national centres of AI excellence under the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy.

“It’s wonderful to see new investments in the region that draw on our shared AI excellence for even greater local benefit,” said Stephanie Enders, Amii’s chief delivery officer, in a statement, in addition to the many Calgary-based startups, scaling firms, and small businesses leveraging AI.

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Chopra said policies from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government, such as removing the carbon tax and working to simplify interprovincial trade, are “fantastic initiatives” for a business like his.

He added that seeing Ottawa reach out to the Indian government and work to improve bilateral relationship and foster an economic corridor is a positive sign for business.

“From a technology and a business perspective, we were very humbled to see us being acknowledged and notified on the fact sheet from the Prime Minister.”

Calgary’s AI appeal

For Chopra, Calgary is a clear choice for business because of its proximity to the energy industry and AI hubs in Edmonton and B.C., along with the city’s ability to attract talent from various academic institutions. 

“It just became a natural place for us to expand on the AI agenda,” Chopra said. 

“From our perspective, from a technology standpoint, we believe that sovereignty in three domains — which is data, AI and cyber — is going to be a long-term prudent strategy for companies like us to focus on.

“We are very bullish about the talent market in the Calgary region, specifically Calgary and Edmonton … We currently have about, I would say, shy of 300 resources and we are very pleased with the talent and the culture of people we get in that region.”