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Vancouver (Canada), AI data centres, and the Mayor’s 11 AI agents (3 of 3)

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The first two parts of this three-part series on AI data centres focused on environmental issues (Environmental impact of AI data center(re) boom: a roadmap [1 of 3]} a May 20, 2026 posting and (AI climate impact much smaller than many feared? So says a study from University of Waterloo, Canada [2 of 3]) a May 21, 2026 posting. This last part brings it home.

Featured in my May 8, 2026 posting, the 2026 Web Summit has provided an unexpected bonanza of fodder for local gossip about technology (AI data centres), local real estate problems, a glimpse into federal/provincial/municipal politics, and the Mayor.

AI data centres in Vancouver

One more AI data centre is being planned for Vancouver but first a little history. There was an AI data centre announcement in January 2026, from my February 6, 2026 posting, Note: My February 6 posting was a deepish dive into energy and water vis-à-vis data centres, which included some local nnews,

… as data centres become more important in their real estate markets as this January 31, 2026 article by Kenneth Chan for the Daily Hive could be said to hint at, Note: Links have been removed,

One of downtown Vancouver’s largest office development projects, first planned during the pre-pandemic office market boom, will not proceed as originally approved [emphasis mine], given the prevailing weak office market conditions.

Westbank’s major downtown Vancouver office tower project at steam plant site pivots to hotel, residential, and data centre uses

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Westbank, a real estate developer, also features in the latest announcement about two more AI data centres (a second one at another Westbank property in Vancouver and a third in Kamloops at an unnamed property), from a May 11, 2026 article by Kenneth Chan for the Daily Hive, Note 1: NVDIA “is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California” according to its Wikipedia entry; Note 2: A link has been removed from the following excerpt,.

Telus to build massive AI data centres at two Westbank properties in Vancouver

Canadian telecommunications giant Telus is moving ahead with plans to build a major sovereign artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure network in British Columbia, following overwhelming demand for its first AI supercomputing facility in Quebec.

The Vancouver-based company announced today that it is working with the Government of Canada and local developer Westbank on a proposed cluster of AI-focused data centres designed to keep Canadian AI computing power and sensitive data within the country. The project forms part of the federal government’s Enabling Large-Scale Sovereign AI Data Centres initiative, aimed at strengthening Canada’s domestic AI infrastructure.

Telus notes the three-site B.C. network will eventually scale to more than 60,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) and 150 megawatts of computing capacity by 2032. The facilities are planned for Kamloops, which is expected to launch later this year, and two locations in Vancouver, which will be fully operational before the end of this decade.

The infrastructure will be powered by advanced computing systems from NVIDIA [emphasis mine], including the company’s latest AI hardware and networking technologies. Telus emphasized that Canadian businesses, post-secondary institutions, governments, and other organizations will be able to train and deploy AI models domestically instead of relying on foreign cloud infrastructure.

The announcement comes less than a year after Telus opened its first Sovereign AI Factory in Rimouski, Quebec. According to the company, the facility is already fully booked by customers and has been recognized on the TOP500 list of the world’s fastest supercomputers.

The company’s Sovereign AI Factory platform is designed to support the full AI development process — from training large-scale models to deploying AI applications — entirely within Canadian-owned and operated infrastructure.

“We are incredibly proud to be working with the Government of Canada to help build Canada’s sovereign AI infrastructure [emphasis mine],” said Darren Entwistle, the outgoing president and CEO of Telus, in a statement. Entwistle will retire at the end of June 2026.

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Both facilities in Vancouver are being pursued as a direct partnership with Westbank.

The first new Vancouver AI data centre facility will be achieved at the 1977-built, six-storey M3 office building at 111 East 5th Ave. — home to a portion of Hootsuite’s headquarters office for more than a decade. It will see an initial launch in late 2026, with a gradual expansion through 2028 to reach its ultimate on-site size of 77,000 sq. ft. data centre — achieved from the full conversion of the building’s office levels and two underground parking levels, plus the creation of a ground-level restaurant to better serve the area’s office workers.

As part of Westbank’s cluster of buildings in this Mount Pleasant area that form the developer’s Main Alley tech campus of mixed-use office and residential buildings, M3 was originally slated for an eventual renovation for its continued and expanded office uses, including the vertical construction of three additional office floors above the 1970s-built structure. But this pre-pandemic plan is no longer being pursued, with the building’s long-term use pivoting to the Telus AI utility strategy.

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“People toss around the word innovation lightly, but this is a story of true Canadian innovation,” said Ian Gillespie, founder and CEO, Westbank.

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Canada’s sovereign AI infrastructure, eh? Well, the first AI data centre in Vancouver (announced in January 2026) is expected to come online in 2029 at 150 West Georgia St., formerly 720 Beatty St.

Pushback (and some context)

A May 12, 2026 article by Amir Ali in the Daily Hive provides some context both pro and con (resistance to the Vancouver AI data centres is in the following excerpt), Note: Links have been removed,

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Telus suggests the project could generate $9 billion in economic activity in the province [emphasis mine], and create over 1,000 construction jobs, with hundreds more in long-term tech and operation roles.

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In 2024, the Harvard Business Review compiled some data on the environmental costs of AI [emphasis mine].

“The training process for a single AI model, such as a large language model, can consume thousands of megawatt hours of electricity and emit hundreds of tons of carbon [emphasis mine],” the report said.

“All these environmental impacts are expected to escalate considerably, with the global AI energy demand projected to exponentially increase to at least 10 times the current level and exceed the annual electricity consumption of a small country like Belgium by 2026.[emphasis mine]”

The review concluded that AI’s environmental impacts have to resonate with the priorities and interests of local regions.

EarthJustice, a reputable non-profit public interest environmental law organization, also shared some insights on data centres late last month.

“Unchecked electricity demand from data centers threatens to increase health and climate-harming pollution, deplete water supplies [emphasis mine], and undermine our transition to clean energy,” it said.

EarthJustice says that nearby communities suffer from an increase in local air and water pollution, electronic waste, and noise pollution. It also said that data centres require around one to five million gallons of water per day.

“Although less water-intensive technologies are available, most data centers still rely on inefficient evaporative cooling.”

“Data center companies often negotiate secretive, special contracts for discounted power rates with utilities that shift costs onto regular household utility bills,” EarthJustice suggests, and we’ve reached out to BC Hydro for more information relating to local rates.

According to Telus, the Vancouver AI data centres, which work differently from traditional data centres, would be powered by 98 per cent renewable energy. [emphasis mine]

“A closed-loop liquid cooling system will reduce cooling energy consumption by 80 per cent [emphasis mine] compared to traditional data centres.”

“Importantly, in the age of AI, these data centres address Canada’s growing need for security and a Sovereign AI Solution – by providing 100% Canadian controlled infrastructure, data protection, domestic oversight and zero foreign dependency,” Telus said in its media release.

Westbank told Daily Hive that the M3 data centre’s site in Mount Pleasant currently hosts an existing data centre.

“There is no change in use, this is a case of adaptive reuse to support upgraded infrastructure. The urban locations of both data centres allow for the connection to district energy, which is what allows the projects to achieve low carbon outcomes,” Westbank added.

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Ali’s May 12, 2026 article does a good job of noting the advantages and disadvantages; he also presents some reaction/pushback from politicians and from the community, Note: Links have been removed,

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Many have weighed in on the development, including new federal NDP Leader Avi Lewis, who said we should be building affordable homes, a network of public grocery stores, electric buses and an east-west clean energy grid.

“Not massive corporate AI data centres unleashed without any democratic debate,” Lewis said in a post on X.

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Lewis wasn’t the only political leader weighing in.

At the provincial level, Emily Lowan, the leader of the B.C. Greens said while data sovereignty is important, handouts for big AI isn’t the way to get there.

Others responded with shock at the proposed Mount Pleasant location.

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Some brought up water restrictions, making points about how much water will be needed for these centres. Vancouver City Councillor Peter Meiszner responded to that concern.

Peter Meiszner @PeterMeiszner

Water consumption will be 90% lower than traditional data centres, with plans to incorporate recycled water from BC Place. (source @TELUS)

3,308 Views

Lowan responded to the environmental claims in a statement to Daily Hive Urbanized.

“TELUS’s claim that their centres will be powered by 98% clean energy is dubious at best. We’re already importing American coal-powered electricity to deal with our energy crisis. This energy crisis is caused by drought conditions, which will only be made worse by the extensive water usage of data centres,” she said.

Lowan said, “We need a moratorium on AI data centres.”

“Our government should not be celebrating a handout to TELUS to build AI data centres in the heart of Vancouver. Billionaires are hoarding our wealth, and now, our government is letting them hoard even more of our resources.”

Daily Hive Urbanized heard from Councillor Sean Orr about the development, too.

He said, “If we were to ask the people of Vancouver how we should use our infrastructure, our energy, and our space, would they pick data centres or would they pick something else?”

Orr wondered what the impact would be on the Vancouver electrical grid, and whether the corporations and private companies would be paying for additional infrastructure or whether that cost would fall on residents. 

“Currently, my understanding is that data centers have a short shelf life before being out of date with newer chips, and the chips themselves don’t last five years. We are building something that will require billions in assets but may become outdated three years after its built,” Orr said.

“Say what you will about pipelines, but they don’t become irrelevant after three years. Is it sovereign infrastructure to keep building something that is extremely expensive, and becomes outdated a year or two after construction completes?”

“Is it sovereign infrastructure to build something that may become a stranded asset very soon? I believe a bunch of data center construction projects are being paused for these very concerns right now,” Orr said. 

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On the Vancouver subreddit, most of the opposition seems to be in regard to the chosen locations.

“It seems absolutely nutso to use this sort of transit accessible downtown real estate for something that would mostly house computers and generate relatively few jobs,” a Redditor said, adding, “Next to BC Place, that should be a hotel or office tower. You could put a data centre anywhere else in Metro Vancouver. Baffling.”

Someone else asked, “Doesn’t Vancouver already have water problems?”

What BC Hydro is saying

According to BC Hydro, the utility and the Province are taking a “managed and phased approach to serving these large new loads to protect affordability and reliability for residential customers.”

When it comes to high-demand projects like data centres, BC Hydro says there’s a structured and “competitive” process with capped power allocations, rather than unlimited first-come access.

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[Comments]

AliasCapricious 2 days ago

People complain we have an economy overly reliant on real estate, then turn around and complains about frontier economic infrastructure. The job part isn’t the main thing, but rather Canadian tech companies have the infrastructure needed to be not dependent on US data infra. It keeps our start ups here and thus grow our high-margin tech sector.

The location is somewhat dubious, but these are the sort of thing we need in the next decades. If we are short on water and power we should be doubling down on renewables (wind/solar/hydro) and water infrastructure, since both will be required anyways. Energy demand is what drive further investments in those sectors.

Tin Man 2 days ago

A few years back, the news outlets warned (prepared?) the citizens of the Divided States of America, that there would be “rolling blackouts” due to the high energy demands of local AI data centers.

Is this what B.C. has to look forward to?

Refrigerators, ovens, heating, air conditioners and all the other devices that families depend on will be powered down so that the wealthy owners of these data centers can continue reaping massive wealth?

Jim Bob 2 days ago

No.

We are already looking at water shortages this year. BC Hydro is also under strain. Allowing these data centers to be built here in Vancouver is only going to cause skyrocketing bills for everyone living here.

They should be building these in remote areas, where they don’t need additional cooling and they can build out their own power. Alberta should have plenty of suitable locations. Why not go there?

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cccccc 2 days ago

Residents are split on this? I’ve yet to see someone supporting it. Bad idea, bad locations, bad use of tax payer money.

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Steven Zur 2 days ago

In the news this month – Westbank lawsuits and court documents indicating close to insolvent, Westbank towner nearly complete on Joyce Street goes into receivership, and then out of the blue the Federal government is support Telus’s building datacenters on two Westbank properties. Nothing more than a government handout to a poorly managed property development company.

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Owen 3 days ago

I’d rather see entertainment uses at both locations

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Sovereign data centres in Canada and a real estate developer in trouble

How can a data centre be made sovereign? That is a tricky question; something I’ve already hinted at. Kyle Bakx’s May 14, 2026 article for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) news online website details more of the issues,

Canada wants to build data centres that are not just physically located here, but controlled here — a distinction experts say could determine whether the country can reduce its dependence on U.S. tech giants and keep Canadian data subject to Canadian rules.

But as Ottawa reviews more than 160 data-centre proposals to support the growing demands of artificial intelligence, the promise of “sovereign” infrastructure is already running into a harder question: how much control Canada can really have over data centres [emphasis mine] that may still rely on foreign hardware, foreign customers and digital networks that do not always respect national borders.

“This is probably going to be one of the single biggest tech issues that we are going to deal with as a country,” said Ritesh Kotak, a Toronto-based lawyer and technology advisor.

Many countries, including Canada, are heavily dependent on U.S. firms for digital and cloud services [emphasis mine] — the remote computing and data storage offered by technology giants such as Amazon and Microsoft.

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There are other problems too. For example, data centres are considered energy and water hogs (see my February 6, 2026 posting “AI is an energy/water hog. Where is all the power coming from? plus UN defines new ‘era of global water bankruptcy’, ” which also mentions the January 2026 announcement of the first data centre in one of Vancouver’s downtown buildings being developed by Westbank.

Before moving onto the Westbank issues, you might be interested in this 8 mins. interview (aired May 19, 2026) with Chris Madan, Telus (former) Vice-President of Digital Sales & Service; (current) Vice–President Digital Product and Head of AI Factories..Here’s how the segment is described on the CBC Radio’s Early Edition with Stephen Quinn webspace.

Chris Madan, the Telus head of AI factories, responds to concerns over health and environmental impacts surrounding the three-site AI data centre cluster set for construction in B.C.

Madan is a salesman determined to minimize any concerns and promote the company’s interests. Consequently, the value is in hearing how he deflects all the criticisms. (I don’t have a lot of patience with puffery but it can be useful.)

For a contrasting view, there’s Simon Enoch, Andrew Longhurst, and Rachel Pettigrew’s May 18, 2026 article “Vancouver Is Getting AI Data Centres. That’s Not Good” for The Tyee. While I am more sympathetic to their approach, it is unrelentingly negative and fails to mention any possible benefits.

Noise as a problem with data centres was news to me and is mentioned both in the CBC interview and in The Tyee article.

Now, onto the real estate developer.

Westbank towers in receivership

Both Vancouver properties being rezoned to allow the data centres are being developed by Westbank, which is currently experiencing money difficulties, from a May 12, 2026 posting on cityhallwatch.wordpress.org, Note: Links have been removed,

Westbank tower in receivership (5055-5083 Joyce St)

Westbank’s rental tower at 5055-5083 Joyce Street is now under receivership. KSV Advisory Inc. is the receiver and a number of documents and court filings are available on their website. OPTrust was owed approximately $109,211,965. Secured and unsecured creditors have claims of $292,993,043. We’ll include additional links and details as this story unfolds. Included below are several photos of the rental tower at 5083 Joyce Street and the surrounding context.

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This May 11, 2026 article by Liezel Once for CMP magazine dives deeper into the developer’s money woes, Note: A link has been removed,

Westbank’s Joyce tower placed in receivership

Court oversight, $274 million in debt, and a former executive’s sworn claims paint a troubling portrait of a once-iconic developer

A 35-storey rental tower in east Vancouver associated with one of Canada’s most prominent development firms has been placed under court-supervised receivership, adding fresh urgency to a deepening cycle of real estate insolvencies.

The B.C. Supreme Court granted a receivership order on April 27, 2026, over two corporate entities — 5055 Joyce Holdings Inc. and 5055 Joyce Property Inc. — tied to a near-complete mixed-use rental development at 5083 Joyce Street in Vancouver, known informally as “Joyce 2.”

The application was brought by OPTrust [Ontario Public Service Employees Union and Government of Ontario pension fund] Joyce Financing Corp., which is owed approximately $109.2 million on a loan that matured without repayment on December 31, 2025.

The project, developed by Vancouver-based Westbank Holdings Ltd. — a firm founded in 1992 by CEO Ian Gillespie that built some of the city’s most architecturally ambitious buildings over three decades, including the Shangri-La hotels in Vancouver and Toronto — consists of 360 residential rental units, roughly 4,500 square feet of retail space, and 87 underground parking stalls.

Leases have already been executed with commercial and residential tenants, and certain units are occupied.

Court filings show OPTrust’s loan originated in May 2021, initially advanced at $40 million and later increased to $85 million.

The financing carried an interest rate that escalated to 11% after September 2024 and was secured by mortgages, personal property security, share pledges, and guarantees from related parties, including Westbank Holdings Ltd. and founder Ian Gillespie personally.

OPTrust issued a demand for repayment on January 13, 2026.

OPTrust, officially the OPSEU Pension Trust, is one of Canada’s largest defined-benefit pension funds, managing over $27.2 billion in net assets as of year-end 2025 and administering retirement benefits for 118,000 members, primarily Ontario public service employees.

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The receivership is not the only legal matter Westbank is managing.

In a sworn affidavit filed April 29 [2026] in B.C. Supreme Court as part of a continuing breach-of-contract action, former employee Rhiannon Mabberley alleged that Westbank is in a “financially precarious position” and has laid off nearly half of its workforce, and that multiple real estate holdings have been liquidated to cover accumulated debts.

None of these claims have been proven in court [emphasis mine]. Westbank declined to confirm the layoff allegation.

“We cannot comment on matters before the courts, but we would note that none of these claims have been proven,” Westbank spokesperson Ariele Peterson told media.

Mabberley is suing Westbank for $1.2 million she alleges is owed under an employment agreement. Westbank has countered in court that the payment was conditional on project profits that were not achieved.

Her lawyers sought pretrial garnishing orders against Westbank’s corporate bank accounts; an affidavit states that a $1.2 million order ultimately yielded just $32,025.37, which Mabberley says she believes suggests the company has moved funds to protect assets from creditors.

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For anyone unfamiliar with Vancouver and its relationship to real estate developer’s, it’s an important, some might say vital, one, which may explain why Justin McElroy, the CBC’s local municipal affairs reporter wrote this February 24, 2026 article (CBC news online) about Westbank’s legal fracas with one of its former VPs, Note: Links have been removed,

A lawsuit by a former vice-president of a prominent Vancouver development company appears to be revealing more details of many of its biggest projects taking a turn for the worse.

In December [2025?], Rhiannon Mabberley filed a civil claim against Westbank Project Corp., suing for a breach of contract when she left her role as vice-president of development in the first half of 2025.

Mabberley argued Westbank owed her $1.2 million, based on a previous employment agreement, in her claim.

In its response, Westbank says those payments were “dependent on the profits received by Westbank” on projects she was a part of, and those profits were not met.

The response by Westbank does not go into details as to why those profits were not met.

But an affidavit filed by Mabberley, which was first reported by Bloomberg News, reveals what she says is a text message to her from Westbank founder Ian Gillespie — and provides an intimate and stark commentary on the state of his company.

The allegations laid out in the affidavit and wider statement of claim have not been proven in court.

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The alleged text was sent by Gillespie to Mabberley in September, four months after Mabberley left Westbank and three months before she took legal action.

In it, Gillespie references several high-profile development projects in Vancouver that are or formerly were under Westbank’s responsibility, and says that they are not profitable, including:

  • The Sen̓áḵw complex [emphasis mine] at the foot of the Burrard Bridge, which was originally a 50/50 partnership with the Squamish Nation before Westbank sold its share to Ontario Pension Trust [emphasis mine]. Gillespie texts that “the last minute negotiations resulted in me having to accept a 30% haircut from the original price … which itself was 50% less than we had agreed to last year.”
  • The recently opened Alberni and Butterfly buildings in downtown Vancouver. Gillespie texts that “Alberni still has many unsold units and … Butterfly is well over budget and closings are slow and uncertain.”
  • The massive Oakridge Park complex, which began in 2019 and has yet to open. Gillespie texts that “Oakridge is way behind schedule.”

The text ends with Gillespie saying he would offer Mabberley $200,000 “and then we can both go our separate ways,” adding that “it’s unfortunate but it’s the reality of the industry these days.”

In a statement, Westbank would not comment on the veracity of the text messages, saying it has not been proven in court.

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The politics: Westbank, the federal/provincial/municipal governments, and AI data centres

Purely speculation on my part but I wonder if there’s hope that the AI data centres will help Westbank with its current financial woes. Westbank isn’t the only real estate developer experiencing problems as this May 19, 2026 posting on City Hall Watch makes clear,

City Council Preview May 19-20, 2026: Electronic billboards, Developer bailouts (CAC deferrals), 3 Broadway Plan rezonings, Italian Day grant and more

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Staff are asking Council to again extend CAC payment [Community Amenity Contributions (CACs) are in-kind or cash contributions provided by property developers when Vancouver City Council grants development rights through rezoning.] deadline for 4 downtown tower sites (1450 West Georgia St $8,900,000, 1157 Burrard St $10,600,000, 1640-1650 Alberni St $32,700,000 & 1668-1684 Alberni St $37,041,000). This is the third time the request to extend the timeline for CAC payments has gone to Council, with the last extension set to lapse on May 31, 2026. The new target is suggested as May 31, 2028, which is well into the next term of a future Council. Should Council be allowing agreed-upon CAC payments slide again? Is this another developer bailout? [emphasis mine]

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Vancouver’s city hall is not the only government lending assistance to developers. Way back in time there was this September 7, 2022 posting on Bob Mackin’s The Breaker pointing to a cozy relationship between Westbank’s Ian Gillespie and the federal Liberal government then lead by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Note: Links have been removed,

Ian Gillespie, the Westbank Corporation CEO, accepted a token 50 cent payment from members of the Squamish Nation during a ceremony under the Burrard Bridge on Sept. 6 [2022], where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau broke ground to begin the four-phase, 11-tower Senakw condo project. [emphases mine]

Squamish Nation members agreed to a 50-50 partnership in 2019 with Westbank to build 6,000 units on 4.7 hectares of Kitsilano Indian Reserve 6 regained through court settlements. Since then, Westbank’s share was reduced to 30% and OP Trust [emphasis mine], the Ontario Public Service Employees Union and Government of Ontario pension fund, now holds 20%. 

By 2029, up to 10,000 people could be living in the rental towers on either side of the bridge. A consultant’s estimate from 2019 suggested the deal could generate as much as $12.7 billion in cashflow for the band and developer [emphasis mine]. 

Trudeau was accompanied by four cabinet ministers, Patty Hajdu (Indigenous services), Ahmed Hussen (housing), Marc Miller (Crown-Indigenous relations) and Jonathan Wilkinson (natural resources). Before the start of their three-day cabinet retreat in Vancouver, Trudeau announced a $1.4 billion loan through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to finance half the units, touting it as the largest loan in the Crown corporation’s history [emphasis mine]. CMHC spokesman Leonard Catling said the Rental Construction Financing Initiative is providing $668 million for phase one and $745 million for phase two. The loan is on a 10-year term, fixed interest rate and 50-year amortization. 

“While we cannot comment on the interest rate for any specific RCF loan, our interest rate generally is lower than alternative financing available in the market,” Catling said.

Gillespie, a Liberal Party supporter and proprietor of Trudeau’s preferred luxury hotel [emphasis mine], the Fairmont Pacific Rim, sat beside NDP Vancouver-Point Grey MLA David Eby [emphasis mine]. Though the construction site is in the Vancouver-False Creek provincial riding, Eby is the frontrunner to replace John Horgan as Premier this fall [Eby is now Premier of BC]. The Squamish Nation is a partner in the MST Development company with the Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh nations in the Jericho lands project in Eby’s riding. Some of that land is proposed for an Olympic Village, if the NDP government backs the Canadian Olympic Committee bid for the 2030 Games and the International Olympic Committee chooses Vancouver next May. 

Seated nearby were directors of the Squamish Nation’s economic development company, Nch’kay, including Mike Magee, former Mayor Gregor Robertson’s chief of staff [emphasis mine], and NDP insider Joy MacPhail.

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To sum up, Gillespie/Westbank gets a huge loan at low cost from the federal liberal government and runs into financial trouble a few years later. A former partner agency, OP Trust, forces one of Westbank’s housing projects (not the 11-tower Senakw condo project) into receivership. Meanwhile, Vancouver city hall rezones a couple of Westbank projects so the projects can now house AI data centres. Rather timely, given that there’s a federal Liberal government push for ‘sovereign data centres’ in Canada.

It’s almost like a fairy tale where magical characters pop in and out of the story and wondrous coincidences occur. The Justin Trudeau character transforms into Mark Carney who now leads the federal Liberal government. Gregor Robertson (former Vancouver mayor) transforms into a federal Liberal Minister of Housing [emphasis mine] and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada [emphasis mine]. And of course, there’s the previously mentioned transformation of development projects into housing for data centres at a time when a shortage of housing for people has become a national issue.

The magic doesn’t stop. My May 8, 2026 posting about the 2026 summit notes the presence of Robertson, Eby (current BC Premier), and Ken Sim, current Vancouver mayor at the 2026 Web Summit along with Canada’s federal Liberal Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, Evan Solomon in what has been touted a great opportunity for local business and startups. Not surprisingly, AI became a major topic of conversation (more about Sim and AI coming in the next subsection).

I have expressed some doubt about the claims made by boosters and politicians about business opportunities and innovation being good for the local economy. It seems I’m not the only one. Dan Burgar, CEO of Frontier Collective.wrote this “Opinion: Vancouver is hosting the future, but we’re not keeping any of it” in a May 19, 2026 posting on the Daily Hive, Note: A link has been removed,

Last week, the second annual Web Summit conference in Vancouver brought over 20,000 people from around the world to the city. They came for our talent, our companies, and our setting. They’ll leave with deals signed, partnerships formed, and ideas that will turn into businesses somewhere else.

That last part is the problem we keep refusing to talk about.

Vancouver is great at hosting innovation. We’re terrible at keeping it.

Slack was built here. It was scaled in San Francisco. Hootsuite, AbCellera, General Fusion, and Clio: every one of them globally significant, and every one of them has had to look outside this city, this province, and often this country for the capital, the customers, and the conditions to grow. The pattern is so consistent it’s stopped being a pattern and started being the model.

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Burger’s point is well taken (although he doesn’t mention D-Wave Systems). He goes on to suggest this,

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The Mayor of Vancouver’s office, the Government of British Columbia, and the Government of Canada all have a role to play, and none of them should wait for the others.

Vancouver should treat innovation infrastructure the same way it treats public transit infrastructure: as a non-negotiable public good that catalyzes everything around it.

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Mayor Sim took another approach at the 2026 Web Summit.

Sim and his AI minions (all 11 of them)

Sim’s missteps at the 2026 Web Summit are in keeping with his current policy of achieving an unbreakable streak (I exaggerate … a little bit) of own goals (even I’m affected by the sports fever of living in a 2026 World Cup city).

For anyone who might like to see a listing for the five months of this year, there’s the Ken SIm webpage on Global News. which as of May 22, 2026 includes these gems, “Report finds Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim misused influence, harassed councillor Sean Orr,” “Vancouver recovery advocate returning honour to city over mayor, council’s actions,” “Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says comments about councillor Sean Orr [accusing Orr of openly selling drugs on Christmas Day 2026] came from an unverified photo,” “Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim files defamation lawsuit against 2 men,” and more.

I have never really recovered from reading Matt O’Grady’s October 4, 2023 article for Vancouver Magazine “A Year In, How’s Mayor Ken Sim Actually Doing?” It provides an unexpected view of our current mayor,

I’m sitting on a couch in the mayor’s third-floor offices, and Ken Sim is walking over to his turntable to put on another record. “How about the Police? I love this album.”

With the opening strains of  “Every Breath You Take” crackling to life, Sim is explaining his approach to conflict resolution, and how he takes inspiration from the classic management tome Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In.

“The way they approach things is, instead of having an adversarial relationship in every decision we look at, imagine you’re two judges on the same side of the table, trying to opine on a very difficult case and get to the best answer,” he says. “We’re just looking for the best answer.”

Suddenly, the office door swings open and Sim’s chief of staff, Trevor Ford, pokes his head in (for the third time in the past 10 minutes). “We have to go. Now.”

“Okay, okay,” says Sim, turning back to address me. “Do you mind if I change while we’re talking?” And so the door closes again—and, without further ado, the Mayor of Vancouver drops trou and goes in search of a pair of shorts, continuing with a story about how some of his west-side friends are vocally against the massive Jericho Lands development promising to reshape their 4th and Alma neighbourhood.

“And I’m like, ‘Let me be very clear: I 100-percent support it, this is why—and we’ll have to agree to disagree,’” he says, trading his baby-blue polo for a fitted charcoal grey T-shirt. Meanwhile, as Sim does his wardrobe change, I’m doing everything I can to keep my eyes on my keyboard—and hoping the mayor finds his missing shorts.

It’s fair to assume that previous mayors weren’t in the habit of getting naked in front of journalists. At least, I can’t quite picture Kennedy Stewart doing so, or Larry or Gordon Campbell either. 

But it also fits a pattern that’s developing with Ken Sim as a leader entirely comfortable in his own skin. He’s in a hurry to accomplish big things—no matter who’s watching and what they might say (or write). And he eagerly embraces the idea of bringing Vancouver’s “swagger” back—outlined in his inaugural State of the City address, and underlined when he shotgunned a beer [later reporting indicated a vodka cream soda was shotguneed] at July’s [2023] Khatsahlano Street Party.

…

Flying free to the wind, eh?

Moving onto Sim’s latest gaffe in what appears to be an ill advised attempt at impressing an audience of tech innovators, this happened (you can find the story in the headlines),

For anyone who’d like to hear the story, there’s an 11 mins. interview (aired May 14, 2026) with Justin McElroy, CBC’s municipal affairs reporter for BC..Here’s how the segment is described on the CBC Radio’s Early Edition with Stephen Quinn webspace

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is clarifying his comments about having 11 different AI agents doing work for him — but it’s just one of many stories about artificial intelligence that have come this week in Vancouver.

Sim is up for re-election on October 17, 2026. There are seven candidates currently vying to be mayor (Wikipedia entry for 2026 Vancouver municipal election). It should be interesting.

Final thoughts

AI data centres are, generally speaking, not popular. The exception being the folks making money from them or, at least in Vancouver, hoping that their businesses (e.g., Westbank) can be saved by them. There’s been a lot of concern over electricity and water use.

The University of Waterloo’s claim that AI’s climate impact is much smaller than many feared is based on some data from 2016 and earlier. This April 16, 2026 International Energy Agency (IEA) press release about a new report notes this about AI energy use,

…

According to the report – Key Questions on Energy and AI – power consumption per AI task is declining rapidly, with efficiency improving at a rate unprecedented in energy history. However, more people are using AI, and energy-intensive uses – such as AI agents – are on the rise [emphasis mine]. As a result, electricity consumption from data centres is set to double by 2030, and power use from those focused on AI is poised to triple.

…

Sim and his 11 AI agents (personal use only) not withstanding, it would be interesting to know how much AI is being deployed in city departments, including the police, and plans for AI deployment. (Just an idle thought)

While I have been critical of Simon Enoch, Andrew Longhurst, and Rachel Pettigrew’s May 18, 2026 article “Vancouver Is Getting AI Data Centres. That’s Not Good” for The Tyee, they make some useful points about noise (an issue when these centres are in urban areas) and environmental standards.

I expect unfettered enthusiasm and boosterism from the technology community at something like the Web Summit; it’s disconcerting when found in the city’s mayor. But much more disquieting was this, “Far-Right Speakers Given a Perch at Vancouver’s Web Summit,” May 18, 2026 article by Jen St. Denis for The Tyee. (I’ve added a link and an excerpt from the article at the end of my May 8, 2026 posting about the summit.) There were a lot of politicians at the 2026 summit, maybe next time they’ll check with the organizers about who’s being invited to speak.

AI data centres aren’t just a technology story, they’re also an energy story, a water story, a political story, and, in some cases, a neighbourhood story.

ETA May 22, 2026 at 1530 hours: Massive protest march against Vancouver AI data centres tomorrow (May 23, 2026)

I don’t usually write about issues that are this dynamic but Daniel Chai’s May 22, 2026 article for the Daily Hive features news of a protest. Interestingly, there were no protests when the first AI data centre was announced in January 2026. It seems the Web Summit stimulated an opposition movement, Note: Links have been removed,

A huge demonstration against the proposed cluster of AI data centres in Vancouver will take place on Saturday, May 23, and traffic may be impacted throughout downtown.

A group behind the Instagram page @no.ai.vancouver was formed shortly after news broke that Telus was moving ahead with plans to build a major sovereign artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure network in British Columbia.

This includes new AI data centres at two Westbank properties in Vancouver that could become fully operational before the end of this decade.

“No.ai.vancouver is trying to spread awareness about the impact of AI data centres on the environment, help in halting the construction of these AI data centres, and looking out for the people who call this place home,” said Torin LaRocque, an 18-year-old student living in Vancouver who founded the group.

“I was inspired to create this movement after seeing all the devastation these centres are causing to people living nearby.”

For LaRocque, one of the top negative issues surrounding the proposed facilities is their impact on the environment.

“Telus states that the new AI Data Centres use 90 per cent less energy than the average centre,” said the Vancouver resident. “However, they also state that they will have more than 60,000 GPUs on the conservative side.

“[If] each GPU will process an AI prompt a day, that is still over 1400 litres of water being used a day. Vancouver is already under stage two water restrictions. Why should we let these data centres use the water that Vancouver’s population needs?”

The demonstration on Saturday, May 23, begins with poster-making at Victory Square at 11 a.m., with some supplies provided.

Participants in the protest against the AI Data Centres will meet at Waterfront Station at 1 p.m., with plans to march down Granville Street starting at 1:30 p.m.

The march, which LaRocque said could draw a large procession, will continue over the bridge until it reaches Granville Island.

Officers from the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) will be on site during the demonstration.

…

LaRocque, who describes himself as an initiator of the group, shared that the positive response from the community has been honestly shocking.

“I am confident that if enough people show up and demand change, either by protesting or signing the petition, we can bring this to the city with more than just one person backing it up. The more signatures and protesters we have, the more the City will be unable to ignore.”

The group has also shared a link to a petition calling for a stop to the Vancouver AI Data Centre, which has garnered over 1,400 signatures as of press time.

Daily Hive reached out to the City for comment on the protest, with a representative responding, “The City of Vancouver recognizes and upholds the right to free speech and peaceful protest.” [almost like an AI agent wrote the reply]

…

Should you be interested in going to the protest, Victory Square’s address is: 200 W Hastings St.

AI is an energy/water hog. Where is all the power coming from? plus UN defines new “era of global water bankruptcy”

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I’ve touched on the topic of AI (artificial intelligence) and water consumption before, notably in my October 16, 2023 posting “The cost of building ChatGPT” where most of the focus is on the US. I now have some Canadian stories but first, there’s the United Nations University (UNU).

Global water bankruptcy

From a January 20, 2026 United Nations University press release (also on EurekAlert), Note 1: In the front pages, there’s this unexpected link to Canada : “UNU-INWEH [United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health] gratefully acknowledges its host, the Government of Canada, and ongoing financial support from Global Affairs Canada.” Note 2: Links have been removed,

Amid chronic groundwater depletion, water overallocation, land and soil degradation, deforestation, and pollution, all compounded by global heating, a UN report today declared the dawn of an era of global water bankruptcy, inviting world leaders to facilitate “honest, science-based adaptation to a new reality.”

“Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era,” argues that the familiar terms “water stressed” and “water crisis” fail to reflect today’s reality in many places: a post-crisis condition marked by irreversible losses of natural water capital and an inability to bounce back to historic baselines.

“This report tells an uncomfortable truth: many regions are living beyond their hydrological means, and many critical water systems are already bankrupt,” says lead author Kaveh Madani, Director of the UN University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), known as ‘The UN’s Think Tank on Water.’

Expressed in financial terms, the report says many societies have not only overspent their annual renewable water “income” from rivers, soils, and snowpack, they have depleted long-term “savings” in aquifers, glaciers, wetlands, and other natural reservoirs.

This has resulted in a growing list of compacted aquifers, subsided land in deltas and coastal cities, vanished lakes and wetlands, and irreversibly lost biodiversity.

The UNU report is based on a peer-reviewed paper in the journal of Water Resources Management that formally defines water bankruptcy as

1) persistent over-withdrawal from surface and groundwater relative to renewable inflows and safe levels of depletion; and

2) the resulting irreversible or prohibitively costly loss of water-related natural capital.

By contrast:

  • “Water stress” reflects high pressure that remains reversible
  • “Water crisis” describes acute shocks that can be overcome

The report is issued prior to a high-level meeting in Dakar, Senegal (26–27 Jan.) to prepare the 2026 UN Water Conference, to be co-hosted by the United Arab Emirates and Senegal 2-4 Dec. in the UAE. 

While not every basin and country is water-bankrupt, Madani says, “enough critical systems around the world have crossed these thresholds. These systems are interconnected through trade, migration, climate feedbacks, and geopolitical dependencies, so the global risk landscape is now fundamentally altered.”

Madani underlines the following four essential points:

  • Water cannot be protected if we allow the hydrological cycle, the climate, and the underlying natural capital that produces water to be interrupted or damaged. The world has an important and still largely untapped strategic opportunity to act.
  • Water is an issue that crosses traditional political boundaries. It belongs to north and south, and to left and right. For that reason, it can serve as a bridge to create trust and unity between and within nations. In the fragmented world we live in, water can become a powerful focus for cooperation and for aligning national security with international priorities.
  • Investment in water is also investment in mitigating climate change, biodiversity loss, and desertification. Water should not be treated only as a downstream sector affected by other environmental crises. On the contrary, targeted investment in water can address the immediate concerns of communities and nations while also advancing the objectives of the Rio Conventions (climate, biodiversity, desertification).
  • A renewed global emphasis on water could help reaccelerate stalled negotiations and potentially reenergize halted international processes. A practical and cooperative focus on water offers a way to connect urgent local needs with long-term global goals.

Hotspots

In the Middle East and North Africa region, high water stress, climate vulnerability, low agricultural productivity, energy-intensive desalination, and sand and dust storms intersect with complex political economies;

In parts of South Asia, groundwater-dependent agriculture and urbanization have produced chronic declines in water tables and local subsidence; and

In the American Southwest, the Colorado River and its reservoirs have become symbols of over-promised water.

A world in the red

Drawing on global datasets and recent scientific evidence, the report presents a stark statistical overview of trends, the overwhelming majority caused by humans:

50%: Large lakes worldwide that have lost water since the early 1990s (with 25% of humanity directly dependent on those lakes)

50%: Global domestic water now derived from groundwater

40%+: Irrigation water drawn from aquifers being steadily drained

70%: Major aquifers showing long-term decline

410 million hectares: Area ofnatural wetlands – almost equal in size to the entire European Union – erased in the past five decades

30%+: Global glacier mass lost since 1970, with entire low- and mid-latitude mountain ranges expected to lose functional glaciers altogether within decades

Dozens: Major rivers that now fail to reach the sea for parts of the year

50+ years: How long many river basins and aquifers have been overdrawing their accounts

100 million hectares: Cropland damaged by salinization alone

And the human consequences:

75%: Humanity in countries classified as water-insecure or critically water-insecure

2 billion: People living on sinking ground.

25 cm: Annual drop being experienced by some cities

4 billion: People facing severe water scarcity at least one month every year

170 million hectares: Irrigated cropland under high or very high water stress – equivalent to the areas of France, Spain, Germany, and Italy combined

US$5.1 trillion: Annual value of lost wetland ecosystem services

3 billion: People living in areas where total water storage is declining or unstable, with 50%+ of global food produced in those same stressed regions.

1.8 billion: People living under drought conditions in 2022–2023

US$307 billion: Current annual global cost of drought

2.2 billion: People who lack safely managed drinking water, while 3.5 billion lack safely managed sanitation

Says Madani: “Millions of farmers are trying to grow more food from shrinking, polluted, or disappearing water sources. Without rapid transitions toward water-smart agriculture, water bankruptcy will spread rapidly.”

A new diagnosis for a new era

A region can be flooded one year and still be water bankrupt, he adds, if long-term withdrawals exceed replenishment. In that sense, water bankruptcy is not about how wet or dry a place looks, but about balance, accounting, and sustainability.

Says Madani: As with global climate change or pandemics, a declaration of global water bankruptcy does not imply uniform impact everywhere, but that enough systems across regions and income levels have become insolvent and crossed irreversible thresholds to constitute a planetary-scale condition.

“Water bankruptcy is also global because its consequences travel,” Madani explains. “Agriculture accounts for the vast majority of freshwater use, and food systems are tightly interconnected through trade and prices. When water scarcity undermines farming in one region, the effects ripple through global markets, political stability, and food security elsewhere. This makes water bankruptcy not a series of isolated local crises, but a shared global risk that demands a new type of response: Bankruptcy management,  not crisis management.”

A call to reset the global water agenda

The report warns that the current global water agenda – largely focused on drinking water, sanitation, and incremental efficiency improvements – is no longer fit for purpose in many places and calls for a new global water agenda that:

  • Formally recognizes the state of water bankruptcy
  • Recognizes water as both a constraint and an opportunity for meeting climate, biodiversity, and land commitments
  • Elevates water issues in climate, biodiversity, and desertification negotiations, development finance, and peacebuilding processes.
  • Embeds water-bankruptcy monitoring in global frameworks, using Earth observation, AI, and integrated modelling
  • Uses water as a catalyst to accelerate cooperation between the UN Member States

In practical terms, managing water bankruptcy requires governments to focus on the following priorities:

  • Prevent further irreversible damage such as wetland loss, destructive groundwater depletion, and uncontrolled pollution
  • Rebalance rights, claims, and expectations to match degraded carrying capacity
  • Support just transitions for communities whose livelihoods must change
  • Transform water-intensive sectors, including agriculture and industry, through crop shifts, irrigation reforms, and more efficient urban systems
  • Build institutions for continuous adaptation, with monitoring systems linked to threshold-based management

The report underlines that water bankruptcy is not merely a hydrological problem, but a justice issue with deep social and political implications requiring attention at the highest levels of government and multilateral cooperation. The burdens fall disproportionately on smallholder farmers, Indigenous Peoples, low-income urban residents, women and youth while the benefits of overuse often accrued to more powerful actors.

“Water bankruptcy is becoming a driver of fragility, displacement, and conflict,” says UN Under-Secretary-General Tshilidzi Marwala, Rector of UNU. “Managing it fairly – ensuring that vulnerable communities are protected and that unavoidable losses are shared equitably – is now central to maintaining peace, stability, and social cohesion.”

“Bankruptcy management requires honesty, courage, and political will,” Madani adds. “We cannot rebuild vanished glaciers or reinflate acutely compacted aquifers. But we can prevent further loss of our remaining natural capital, and redesign institutions to live within new hydrological limits.”

Upcoming milestones —  the 2026 and 2028 UN Water Conferences, the end of the Water Action Decade in 2028, and the 2030 SDG deadline, for example — provide critical opportunities to implement this shift, he says.

“Despite its warnings, the report is not a statement of hopelessness,” adds Madani. “It is a call for honesty, realism, and transformation.  Declaring bankruptcy is not about giving up — it is about starting fresh. By acknowledging the reality of water bankruptcy, we can finally make the hard choices that will protect people, economies, and ecosystems. The longer we delay, the deeper the deficit grows.”

Here’s a link to and a citation for the report,

Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era (or the PDF) by Kaveh Madani. Contributors: Mir Matin, Aria Farsi, Luying Wang, Amir AghaKouchak, Mohammed Azhar, Jenna Elshurafa, Sogol Jafarzadeh, Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi, Ali Mirchi, Abraham Nunbogu, Mojtaba Sadegh, Robert Sandford, Manoochehr Shirzaei, William Smyth, Hossein Tabari, MJ Tourian, Farshid Vahedifard. 2026, University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, DOI: 10.53328/INR26KAM001

AI data centre building spree in Canada (special emphasis: British Columbia [BC])

An October 18, 2025 article (with embedded videos) by Jonathan Montpetit and Yvette Brend with files from Tara Carman on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) news online website,

On a dry, hot day this summer, Kathryn Barnwell, a retired English professor, marched up the road from her home in Nanaimo, B.C [British Columbia]., to take another crack at the mayor.

Leonard Krog, a longtime friend of Barnwell’s, was standing by the entrance to a parched wooded lot, the proposed site for a data centre Krog has been backing. 

“I really, really enjoin you to think about what this [data centre] could mean for your political career,” Barnwell said, barely looking him in the eye.

Krog, who has been mayor since 2018, sees the project as a chance to modernize the city’s economy.

“The kind of jobs that would be attracted to this kind of facility are the jobs of the future,” he said.

Until three years ago, Barnwell knew little about data centres, which house the computer servers that power much of the online world. But when the plot of land near her home was rezoned for one, she began researching. She’s now one of the loudest opponents of the project in Nanaimo.

Her main concern, shared by other local opponents, is the amount of municipal drinking water the 200,000-square foot data centre would need for its cooling system. In a region beset by drought, Barnwell says similar-sized facilities can churn through 70,000 litres of potable water a day.

“Life on this planet is sustained by water. It is not sustained by data. We don’t need data the way we need water,” Barnwell said. “And we in Canada have been pretty blithe about our natural resources.”

Barnwell sees herself as part of a global resistance movement drawing attention to the environmental impact of data centres, at a moment when the tech industry is spending dizzying sums to build them. 

It’s not just BC according to the October 18, 2025 article, Note: A link has been removed,

…

Canada is poised to join the data centre boom. The federal government, and some provinces, have been actively courting investors, vaunting the country’s cheap electricity (much of it hydro power) and cool climate. 

At least eight projects are underway to build hyperscale data centres in Canada, according to the federal government. But as such projects face greater scrutiny around the world, Canada is jumping into the AI construction race with few mechanisms to protect its water supply.

“There’s barely any regulation in place,” said Geoff White, executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, an Ottawa-based consumer protection group.

…

Microsoft builds out in Canada

Among the big tech companies, Microsoft has taken the lead in building data centres with AI capacity in Canada. The Washington-based corporation purchased seven large tracts of land in 2021, including a golf course near Quebec City and a former department store in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke. 

It’s in the process of turning the sites into data centres capable of powering its AI-enabled products like Azure and Copilot, an investment worth at least $1 billion.

At least two of the Microsoft data centres in Ontario have been cleared by municipal authorities to consume vast amounts of municipal drinking water.

The Etobicoke data centre, dubbed YTO 40, was approved to use up to 39.75 litres of water per second for cooling purposes, according to planning documents submitted to the city. That would be the equivalent of around 1.2 billion litres a year, or 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools. 

A Microsoft data centre complex in nearby Vaughan, a city spokesperson said, is expected to consume 730 million litres of water annually. 

But according to Microsoft, its new Canadian data centres will only use a fraction of that amount, because of design features that allow them to be cooled using outdoor air and recycled rainwater. 

Alistair Speirs, general manager of Microsoft’s Azure global infrastructure, acknowledges traditional industrial cooling has “been a very water-intensive process.” He says the way Microsoft is building its data centres today is “with really that in mind.” 

“One of the great things about building in Canada, and in colder climates, is that we can just use free air cooling from outside air temperatures.”

The company said its data centres will only draw municipal water when outside temperatures are above 29.4 C or when indoor humidity levels drop below five per cent. 

Microsoft has made similar promises elsewhere. The company built a data centre in the northwestern Netherlands despite opposition from local farmers, promising it would only need between 12 and 20 million litres of water annually. 

Dutch media later revealed the data centre was consuming more than four times that — as locals were being asked to limit their own water use. 

In its response to Dutch media, Microsoft said the initial estimate had been based on “consumption at that time,” but did not specify what time period it was referring to.

…

Growing concerns and protests but not so much in Canada, from the October 18, 2025 article, Note: A link has been removed,

…

The new Microsoft data centres in Canada, which are slated to come online in the coming months, have faced no discernible opposition from the public. One Etobicoke city councillor wasn’t even aware of the YTO 40 project before CBC News contacted him.

That’s in stark contrast to communities in the United States, Europe and Latin America, where concerns about water scarcity have sparked protests.

Last month, Google shelved plans to build a $1-billion US data centre in Indianapolis, Ind., after residents organized a months-long campaign against the project. When a lawyer representing Google abruptly announced the decision at a city council meeting, the room erupted in applause that lasted for nearly a minute.

A growing number of jurisdictions in the U.S. and Europe are also seeking to pass regulations that would limit data centre water consumption or force companies to be more transparent about how much they’re using. 

Canada’s federal government has set aside $700 million to fund data centre projects here. But aside from energy regulators, who review data centre applications to connect to power grids, there is little industry oversight.

“If we’re racing ahead and thinking only about the economic benefits, and not thinking about the downstream impacts to our environment, that’s negligent,” said White with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre. “I think Canadians ought to be concerned. Our water is highly sought after, and will be as the world gets hotter.”

…

Elsewhere in the October 18, 2025 article, there’s information about water use in data centres,

How much water do chatbots drink?

Data centres are as old as computers and until recently were relatively uncontroversial — boring bits of IT infrastructure tucked away in non-descript office spaces.

But with the advent of cloud computing in the mid-2000s, they dramatically increased in size. 

These data centres — buildings ranging anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 square feet — required upwards of 100 megawatts of power and millions of litres of water annually for their cooling systems.

…

These demands have only been turbocharged by artificial intelligence, which requires data centres that house thousands of densely packed high-performance chips, operating around the clock — and generating heat.

A study done in 2023 estimated that generating between 10 and 50 medium-sized responses in ChatGPT — the AI-powered chatbot — consumed about 500 millilitres of water. That accounts for both the water required to produce the electricity needed to run the data centre (435 millilitres) and cool it down (the remaining 65 millilitres).

A separate study, conducted by the International Energy Agency, estimated that in 2023, data centres around the world consumed around 140 billion litres of water just for cooling. 

Much of that was potable water pulled from municipal utilities. (Because data centres generally use evaporative cooling systems, untreated water can damage the sensitive computer equipment inside.)

…

If you have time, the October 18, 2025 article is worth reading in its entirety.

This October 15, 2025 article by Amanda Follett Hosgood for The Tyee is focused on BC’s approach to AI water consumption, Note: Links have been removed,

B.C. recently saw its first AI data centres open in Prince George and Kamloops, and more are on the way. AI centres have been touted as a way to grow the economy while ensuring data sovereignty by storing information within our borders.

“AI is everywhere. It’s changing how we work. It’s changing how we learn. It’s changing how we do business,” said Port Moody-Burquitlam MLA Rick Glumac, who this summer became B.C.’s minister of state for artificial intelligence and new technologies. The position comes with a mandate to expand B.C.’s AI sector.

“There’s a lot of good work ahead,” Glumac, who comes from a tech background [emphases mine], told The Tyee.

But there’s a hitch. AI is just one of various potential boom industries vying for a piece of B.C.’s limited electricity supply.

AI data centres are energy intensive, requiring immense amounts of electricity for power and cooling. B.C.’s hydroelectric grid, which is fed almost entirely by renewable sources, offers a clean — but limited — energy source that’s attractive to businesses seeking to market themselves as environmentally conscious.

As the province looks to green the existing economy, transition to electric vehicles and expand industries like LNG using cleaner energy, AI is fast becoming one more customer seeking a piece of the power pie.

…

Glumac’s technical background? From the Rick Glumac Wikipedia entry, Note: Links have been removed,

…

Glumac worked much of his career in the field of computer graphics as a software developer, visual effects artist, and computer graphics supervisor.[8]  He worked on the first computer-animated TV show ReBoot, and later worked for companies such as DreamWorks and Electronic Arts on well-known Hollywood films such as Shrek 2, Madagascar, and Over the Hedge.[8] Following this he developed apps for the iPhone.[7]

That’s a bit of leap for Mr. Glumac. Developing computer graphics is not the same thing as shepherding new and emerging technologies through government regulations and creating new regulations, deaing with public hopes/fears, anticipating energy needs, and dealing with any unintended consequences of the technologies themselves.

Follett Hosgood’s October 15, 2025 article provides an overview of the energy and data centre situation in BC,

B.C. is the first province in Canada to create a cabinet position dedicated to AI. But the province isn’t alone in signalling its interest in the industry.

The federal government created its own minister of artificial intelligence and digital innovation following the spring election, tapping former broadcaster Evan Solomon for the position.

…

B.C.’s parallel cabinet position “gives us the opportunity to really put a focus on this and to partner with the federal government,” Glumac told The Tyee.

In an email, B.C.’s Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions said the province groups data centres into three categories: conventional data centres, cryptocurrency mining and AI data centres.

It added that there are currently 12 “notable” conventional data centres in the province and three more requesting a power connection. If approved, the combined operations would draw nearly 40 megawatts of power — a small slice of the province’s 12,000-megawatt power supply.

AI data centres, however, can each draw more than 100 megawatts of power.

Two of Canada’s largest telecommunications companies recently announced plans to open AI data centres in B.C.

In May [2025], Bell Canada said it would open an AI “data centre supercluster” that is expected to use upwards of 500 megawatts, or about five per cent of the province’s current power supply.

Its first AI data centre, a seven-megawatt facility in Kamloops, opened in June. A second seven-megawatt facility is slated to open in Merritt by the end of next year.

The company is planning two additional 26-megawatt data centres in the near future, one in partnership with Thompson Rivers University and the other with the Upper Nicola Band. It says another two data centres with a combined capacity of more than 400 megawatts are in “advanced planning stages.”

Bell declined to provide detailed timelines, confirming in an email only that its Kamloops site is currently operational. “We remain on track and more sites will open in the coming months,” a spokesperson wrote.

The company also faces competition.

In April [2025], Telus announced two Canadian data centres, one in B.C., touting the operations as “fully owned, operated and secured on Canadian soil by a Canadian company” — a nod to national concerns over data sovereignty.

The Kamloops operation will be “powered by 99 per cent renewable energy,” Telus said, but how much power it will draw is unclear. The company didn’t respond to The Tyee’s questions about capacity or when it might come online.

Asked about how these data centres will fit into B.C.’s power grid, Glumac said that “BC Hydro is monitoring this very closely and planning accordingly.” The industry is evolving quickly, he added, and he wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the province would need to regulate expansion as it did with cryptocurrency mining.

“We want to make sure that clean energy supports not just data centres but supports the people in British Columbia and supports economic opportunities and job opportunities,” Glumac said. “It’s very important to monitor that and to balance all of that, and BC Hydro is doing that.”

BC Hydro directed The Tyee’s questions to B.C.’s Energy Ministry, which also provided an emailed statement.

“BC Hydro continues to look at how the growth in the industry could impact future demand, and will adjust its forecasts and planning accordingly,” a ministry spokesperson wrote, adding that the province is committed to “balancing energy demand with economic priorities.”

“We recognize that the AI industry is evolving rapidly, and we are closely monitoring how advancements in AI infrastructure may impact future energy needs.”

…

AI data centres don’t have to be a problem

It’s not all doom and gloom, from Follett Hosgood’s October 15, 2025 article,

…

Last year, the province [BC] imported a quarter of its electricity needs, most of it from the United States and Alberta, where it was generated using fossil fuels. In both 2024 and earlier this year, BC Hydro put out calls for power in an effort to make up the shortfall with clean, locally produced power.

Kate Harland is the research lead for clean growth at the Canadian Climate Institute. In an interview with The Tyee, she said that now is the time for governments to plan for the expected spike in energy demand from AI data centres.

“There is a lot of interest right now across Canada in having AI-enabled data centres,” Harland said. But she added that there’s likely to be a “tipping point” where AI’s benefits might not outweigh its demands on the power grid.

“If suddenly data centres are 20 per cent or 30 per cent of your total electricity demand, then you get into a new territory of questions,” she said.

While provinces such as B.C. and Quebec have traditionally taken a “first come, first served” approach to industrial power requests, some jurisdictions are implementing new rules to ensure limited power supply is allocated fairly and for the greatest overall benefit, Harland said.

Last year [2024], Quebec began requiring any projects requesting more than five megawatts of power to get ministerial approval. The approval considers factors such as economic impact, social impact and power requirements.

In 2023, Quebec’s government also signed an agreement with Microsoft as it launched four new data centres in the province. The tech giant agreed to reduce its energy consumption by 30 per cent during times of peak power use.

Harland said the pressure to meet power demand could be approached as an opportunity to build out renewables and increase supply. If data centres become more efficient over time, that would free up renewable power for domestic uses like electric vehicles and heat pumps, she said.

AI is also credited with identifying efficiencies, including in power use, which could help to offset its draw on the grid, Harland said. (Glumac also pointed to a recent study indicating that it could drive $200 billion in productivity improvements nationally.)

The technology’s practical uses tend to set it apart from cryptocurrency in the discussion about which industries get priority to grid access, Harland said.

The potential for data sovereignty is another argument in its favour.

But Harland emphasized that now is the time for governments to be proactive in forming AI policies.

…

If you have the time, do read Follett Hosgood’s October 15, 2025 article in its entirety.

If you have even more time, I provided some detail about the federal government and its new Minister of AI Digital Innovation in an October 17, 2025 posting (scroll down to the Canada and its Minister of AI and Digital Innovation subhead for information about Evan Solomon, the new minister. If you continue further in the posting.

What about local governments?

Municipalities may also have a role to play as data centres become more important in their real estate markets as this January 31, 2026 article by Kenneth Chan for the Daily Hive could be said to hint at, Note: Links have been removed,

Westbank’s major downtown Vancouver office tower project at steam plant site pivots to hotel, residential, and data centre uses

One of downtown Vancouver’s largest office development projects, first planned during the pre-pandemic office market boom, will not proceed as originally approved [emphasis mine], given the prevailing weak office market conditions.

Instead, the office tower project previously approved for 150 West Georgia St. (formerly addressed as 720 Beatty St.) — situated at the southwest corner of Beatty Street and West Georgia Street, immediately adjacent to BC Place Stadium’s northeast corner — is now in the very early stages of being repositioned as a mixed-use hotel and residential tower with a data centre [emphases mine], based on an all-new architectural design concept that also adds density and height.

A number of preliminary conceptual artistic renderings also show this drastic pivot.

All of this will be integrated into the district utility company Creative Energy’s new on-site replacement and expanded steam plant facilities, which have incurred major cost increases and experienced delays, including factors related to local developer Westbank’s liquidity challenges.

…

Pivot to a new tower with hotel, residential, and data centre uses on top of the Creative Energy facility

In October 2020, Vancouver City Council approved Westbank’s original rezoning application for redeveloping this site into an office tower and a standalone entertainment pavilion building, with below-grade parking and a new replacement steam plant.

Moving forward, essentially everything below grade — including the new vehicle parking and the Creative Energy facility — as well as the new entertainment pavilion building, will remain unchanged, while the office tower project above grade will not proceed.

Instead, the previous 264-ft.-tall, 17-storey, bulky, S-shaped office tower concept — designed by Bjarke Ingels Group and HCMA — with 583,000 sq. ft. of office space and 12,000 sq. ft. of additional ground-level retail/restaurant space has been completely scrapped and is now envisioned to become a 450-ft-tall, 48-storey, mixed-use hotel and residential tower with a data centre and ground-level retail/restaurant space, for a total of roughly 700,000 sq. ft. of building floor area.

The significantly increased height for added density is made possible by City Council’s July 2023-approved sweeping city-wide changes [emphasis mine] to the protected mountain view cones. Design revisions for taller heights are also set to occur for the nearby future Plaza of Nations and Concord Landing projects, made possible by these view cone changes.

…

… a Westbank spokesperson previously confirmed to Daily Hive Urbanized that they are looking into adding major data centre uses [emphasis mine] to the 1977-built, six-storey office building at 111 East 5th Ave. This distinctive brick building — part of Westbank’s Main Alley tech campus of new and renovated office buildings in the vicinity of the intersection of Main Street and East 5th Avenue in Mount Pleasant — is perhaps best known for being one of Hootsuite’s office locations since 2014. Westbank noted that at this time, Hootsuite is still the building’s primary tenant.

How will these and future data centres affect Vancouverites’ energy needs and access to water?.Hopefully, someone in Vancouver’s city government is doing some thinking on these matters.

Web Summit in Vancouver, Canada from May 27 – 30, 2025 (it was formerly the Collision Conference in Toronto)

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Here’s more about the Web Summit in Vancouver, Canada from May 27 – 30, 2025,

“The world’s premier tech conference” – Politico

In May 2025, thousands of international entrepreneurs, investors, media outlets, and leaders will gather at the Vancouver Convention Centre for our newest event: Web Summit Vancouver.

What is Web Summit Vancouver?

The Guardian called us “Glastonbury for geeks”, the Atlantic [magazine] “where the future goes to be born”, and Inc. “the best technology conference on the planet”.

This year, we’re excited to welcome the world’s tech community to the first Web Summit in North America. Vancouver [emphasis mine] is ready.

The tech world will gather in Vancouver

Web Summit Vancouver will take over from Collision in Toronto [emphasis mine], continuing our mission to connect the global technology ecosystem. Vancouver is one of the world’s most beautiful cities, with a flourishing tech community that connects the Americas, Asia and the Canadian West Coast.

…

So they’ve rebranded ‘Collision’ in Toronto as the ‘Web Summit’ for the move to Vancouver?

A May 22, 2025 news item on DailyHive.com provides information that looks like it was regurgitated from the organizer’s news release,

Over 100 of the world’s top leaders in tech will be attending the highly anticipated Web Summit Vancouver next week, and it’s not too late to get your ticket.

Web Summit Vancouver will take place from May 27 to 30 [2025] and is known as the “Olympics of Tech.”

…

Some notable speakers include:

  • Jay Graber – CEO, BlueSky
  • Brad Smith – Vice Chair and President, Microsoft
  • Max Lytvyn – Co-founder, Grammarly
  • Gary Marcus – Professor, scientist, bestselling author, entrepreneur, and AI contrarian, NYU
  • May Habib, Co-founder and CEO, Write [s.b. Writer]
  • Raquel Urtasun – Founder and CEO, Waab [s.b. Waabi]
  • Qasar Younis – Co-founder and CEO, Applied Intuition
  • Laura A. Clayton – President, Corporates, Thomson Reuters
  • Nicole Parlapino – Chief Marketing Officer, Tubi
  • Neil Patel – Founder, Neil Patel Digital
  • JaVale McGee – 3x NBA Champion, Olympic Gold Medallist, Grammy Nominated Producer
  • Peter Montopoli -Chief Tournament Officer, Canada FIFA World Cup 2026 [emphasis mine]

…

The event is organized by Web Summit, which also holds large-scale technology conferences worldwide in cities like Lisbon [emphasis mine], Rio de Janeiro, and Doha. Vancouver’s event will be the first Web Summit in North America.

It’s not just global names that will be attending, as over 300 B.C. companies [emphasis mine] will be showcased, highlighting how important the tech sector is to the province’s economic and innovative growth.

…

The cheapest ticket (from the https://vancouver.websummit.com/tickets/attendees/ webpage) is $835.00 CAD including tax. You will be allowed to wander around for four days. Not included are: Speaker lounge access, Fast-tracked registration, Evening receptions, Meeting spaces, Delicious catered food and drinks, or Access to all exhibition floor lounges. In short, more money = more access.

$$$ and other matters

The promise is that there will be some sort of economic benefit to the local economy. The promise is made over and over again in the June 2024 coverage of the announcement that the Web Summit was coming to Vancouver.

This June 12, 2024 article by Kenneth Chan for the Daily Hive provides what seems to be an insider’s view of the announcement,

It is now confirmed that the massive annual Collision Conference, one of the world’s largest tech conferences, will be leaving Toronto for its new home of Vancouver in 2025.

…

It is deemed to be North America’s fastest-growing tech conference, with over 40,000 attendees from more than 130 countries. The conference assembles high-profile individuals from around the world, bringing together thousands of international thought leaders in tech, unicorn founders, investors, startups, and media.

“Vancouver is ready to welcome the world. We’re a young, energetic city full of opportunity,” said Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim in a statement today.

“Nowhere is that more obvious than in our thriving tech scene, where we’re advancing leading edge technology like virtual reality and augmented reality. Vancouver is attracting highly skilled people from around the world drawn here by our lifestyle, incredible natural surroundings, and the chance to be part of something exciting.”

This follows a concerted effort by levels of government and the business and tourism community to woo event organizer Web Summit to keep the event in Canada, and choose Vancouver as the conference’s new permanent home.

The effort was led by local tourism authority Destination Vancouver, in partnership with the federal government’s Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCan), the Government of British Columbia’s Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation, the City of Vancouver, and local tech industry leaders, including the Frontier Collective.

Web Summit is also behind other major tech conferences such as Web Summit Lisbon [emphasis mine], Web Summit Rio de Janeiro, Web Summit Doha, Rise Hong Kong, and MoneyConf Dublin.

The decision to move Collision Conference to Vancouver also comes as a big nod to the city’s tech industry, which has seen wildly exponential growth over the past decade to become one of BC’s largest economic sectors in terms of the number of jobs the industry supports, with many of these jobs being high paying.

“We can’t wait to gather the tech world in Vancouver and take over the city next year. Last month I flew to Vancouver to check out the city and meet Mayor Ken Sim and Destination Vancouver. I was so blown away by its beauty and tech scene. It’s the perfect place to bring the tech world,” said Paddy Cosgrave, CEO of Web Summit.

“Similar to Lisbon [emphasis mine], Vancouver and British Columbia might seem like the underdogs at first, but the energy and drive to build on an already very fast-growing technology ecosystem blew me away.”

…

Destination Vancouver estimates Web Summit Vancouver will produce substantial local economic spinoffs, with nearly $57 million in direct spending and over $93 million in overall economic impact for British Columbia in its first year [*emphasis mine*].

Throughout its life in Toronto, starting with the inaugural Toronto conference in 2019 and the event’s post-pandemic return in 2022 and 2023, the event had a cumulative three-year local economic impact of $189 million [emphases mine].

…

“We knew Vancouver was the right place for Web Summit,” said Royce Chwin, president and CEO of Destination Vancouver. “A transformational event of this calibre will continue to build our reputation as an exceptional host city and sharpen Vancouver’s global destination competitiveness.”

…

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) [emphasis mine] will host its 2025 International Convention from July 3 to 6 [2025] at the Vancouver Convention Centre and BC Place Stadium. This will be AA’s first International Convention in a decade, as the 2020 convention in Detroit was cancelled due to the pandemic. The convention is held once every five years in a new destination, and about 50,000 attendees from around the world are expected for the first convention in a decade in Vancouver.

…

I will get to Lisbon later. First, I’d like to know how they derived the numbers for the economic benefits they’re claiming for Toronto and how they’ve used that information to make estimates for Vancouver and British Columbia. I’d also like to know who benefits? As for the Alcoholics Anonymous gathering, it seems like an odd addition (other than it’s another large gathering) to Chan’s article, which was titled “Collision Conference moving to Vancouver from Toronto in 2025.”

Then, there’s the June 12, 2024 Destination Vancouver news release, which adds little information but does provide Mayor Ken Sim’s full quote,

…

“Vancouver is ready to welcome the world,” said Mayor Ken Sim. “We’re a young, energetic city full of opportunity. Nowhere is that more obvious than in our thriving tech scene, where we’re advancing leading edge technology like virtual reality and augmented reality. Vancouver is attracting highly skilled people from around the world drawn here by our lifestyle, incredible natural surroundings, and the chance to be part of something exciting.”

…

I’m not sure what the mayor knows about Vancouver technology scene given that he’s an accountant by trade and is an entrepreneur who founded Nurse Next Door (a home nursing business) and Rosemary Rock Salt (a bagel business). As far as I’m aware there’s not a single person with a science/technology degree/background on city council.

Waiting almost a week to make its own announcement Web Summit issued a June 18, 2024 news release with a few interesting additional details,

…

In the last two years, Web Summit has introduced three brand new events, including Web Summit Rio in South America, which has gathered more than 60,000 attendees in its first two years, and Web Summit Qatar in the Middle East, which drew 15,000 attendees in its first year.

Web Summit’s flagship event in Lisbon is set to bring more than 70,000 attendees from 150-plus countries to Lisbon this November. In total, participation at Web Summit events has increased by 51 percent since 2022, and by the end of the year, our 2024 events will have drawn more than 160,000 attendees.

Web Summit aims to bolster this growth further as it takes over Vancouver in May 2025. With more than 11,000 tech companies, technology has become the fastest-growing sector in the province [emphases mine]. The tech sector is growing at twice the rate of the overall economy, and Vancouver ranks first in high tech job growth in North America. Home to six unicorns, including Dapper Labs, Blockstream, Trulioo, LayerZero Labs, Visier, the city also hosts major tech companies Salesforce, Apple and Amazon.

…

“We are now in four continents and have every intention to bring something to Africa very soon, as we continue our ambition to connect the tech world and build meaningful and lasting communities around the world,” he [Paddy Cosgrave, founder and CEO of Web Summit] added.

…

Destination Vancouver anticipates that Web Summit Vancouver will generate CA$172 million in direct spending and CA$279 million in overall economic impact for British Columbia over three years. Web Summit’s direct economic impact can be worth €200 million annually in cities such as Lisbon, where it hosts its flagship event.

Web Summit has played a critical role in bolstering the tech landscape in its host cities and countries. Since Web Summit’s arrival in Lisbon, the Portuguese startup economy has grown significantly, influencing many young startups to relocate to Lisbon and major companies such as Mercedes, Revolut, and Google to open offices there.

…

Over 300 BC tech companies being showcased when there are over 11,000 in the province? It must have been an interesting (money, personal contacts) selection process.

How much are we paying for this economic windfall?

A June 19, 2024 article by Josh Scott for BetaKit.com gives readers a sense of some of what went into luring Collision/Web Summit to Vancouver, Note: Links have been removed,

BetaKit has been tracking Vancouver as a possible Collision destination for over a year since reporting on the myriad issues casting doubt on the conference’s long-term viability in Toronto. Last week, following prodding from BetaKit, Web Summit confirmed that Vancouver reached a three-year deal to host a rebranded event dubbed Web Summit Vancouver, funded by up to $14.8 million CAD combined from the federal, provincial, and municipal governments. The first Web Summit Vancouver will be held at the Vancouver Convention Centre from May 27 to 30, 2025.

“Knowing that we have this incredible tech scene that doesn’t seem to be really known in some corners of the world, this was a perfect opportunity to marry what we do in terms of building the visitor economy and Web Summit, which is truly an experience,” Destination Vancouver president and CEO Royce Chwin said during a June 14 event hosted by KPMG celebrating the successful bid.

The celebration carried into Collision’s opening night on June 17 at the Frontier Collective “Vancouver Takeover” event, which featured Web Summit head of Asia Pacific Casey Lau [emphasis mine], Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, tech leaders from across the country, including the people behind the winning bid. “Vancouver is literally taking Collision from Toronto to the West Coast,” said Ali Clarke, the event’s MC.

“The cool thing about Collision is most people outside of tech—in fact, almost everyone outside of tech—don’t have a fucking clue as to what’s going on, but they will because we have three years to wave the flag,” Sim said on stage [emphasis mine]. That flag, he said, represents that Vancouver is “open for business,” understands tech, and has a strong and growing innovation ecosystem.

Speaking on stage alongside Sim at the Vancouver Takeover, Lau said, “It’s just a fantastic city and I think that it’s a great backdrop for a conference, and what is going on in Vancouver is great for people to see.”

“We’re just really happy that we’re able to keep [the event] in Canada because it was leaving the country,” Sim told BetaKit in an interview following his remarks, pointing out that Vancouver beat other possible host cities, including international candidates like Mexico City. Sim previously told BetaKit that the priority was keeping the conference in Canada, a sentiment that Chwin echoed in his own comments to BetaKit.

In an interview with BetaKit, Lau singled out Vancouver’s growing tech ecosystem, beautiful natural landscape, proximity to the San Francisco Bay Area, and Sim’s support for the tech sector as some of the factors that brought the tech conference west.

…

Last summer [2023], investigative reporting from BetaKit revealing the extent of municipal support for the original Collsion Toronto bid, as well as the ask to renew for another three years at a much higher price, kickstarted a national debate on government support of international ventures versus home-grown alternatives. This time, the supporting governments have been proactive in disclosing how much has been committed to bringing the conference to Vancouver, as well as its value proposition relative to local events like INNOVATEwest.

…

The City of Vancouver is providing Web Summit Vancouver with up to $1.6 million over three years, including a $250,000 first-year cash grant via Destination Vancouver, waiving permits worth up to $355,000 annually to host events in city-owned outdoor areas, and up to $75,000 in-kind annually to offset safety and running costs incurred for providing those venues.

Through PacifiCan, the Government of Canada is providing Web Summit Vancouver with up to $6.6 million over three years. The Government of BC has also pledged $6.6 million over three years to the event.

These federal, provincial, and municipal commitments total up to $14.8 million over three years, less per year than the $6.5 million BetaKit previously reported Collision was receiving annually in Toronto and a far cry from the north of $40 million over three years that BetaKit previously reported that Collision had once sought to stay in Toronto.

…

Web Summit Vancouver 2025 is expected to be much smaller than Collision 2024. While the parties involved are not yet willing to share attendance expectations, the event will need to contend with the same issues that undermined Vancouver’s original push for Collision—namely, the city’s lack of hotel space.

…

Nearly six months after resigning following his controversial statements about the Israel-Hamas war on social media, Web Summit co-founder Paddy Cosgrave returned as CEO this April. Asked how Cosgrave’s behaviour and association factored into the process, Chwin indicated that the economic and socioeconomic impact of an event like Web Summit Vancouver “outweighed” the controversy associated with Cosgrave.

For his part, during a press conference today at Collision, Sim said, “I do want to thank Paddy, you, Casey, [and] your entire Web Summit team for giving us the opportunity to host Web Summit and to show the world why Vancouver is the best city on the planet.”

Asked what tangible impact he expects Web Summit Vancouver to have, Sim told BetaKit that the numbers are evolving but noted he anticipates “hundreds of millions of dollars” of investment into the local economy and more tech organizations to set up shop in the city, among other benefits.

…

Casey Lau (emphasized in the article) shows up again in another article further on. As for how much this Web Summit will cost Vancouver, there’s more coming in the next section.

I recommend Scott’s June 19, 2024 article; it provides an insightful read.

A local critique

A June 14, 2024 article by Dan Fumano for the Vancouver Sun newspaper offers more detail about just what taxpayers will be spending and how this web summit was secured,

The two former schoolmates [emphasis mine] embraced tightly and slapped each other’s backs.

“We did it. We did it,” said Casey Lau [emphasis mine], head of Asia Pacific for Web Summit, one of the world’s top tech-conference organizers. As Lau hugged Ken Sim [emphasis mine], with whom he attended Vancouver’s Churchill Secondary School decades ago, he told the now-mayor: “I’m super-proud of the city.”

Lau and Sim were among a crowd of excited government officials and business people at an event Friday in KPMG’s downtown Vancouver office tower, toasting the week’s news: Web Summit is coming to Vancouver for three years starting in 2025, slated to bring tens of thousands of delegates and hundreds of millions in economic impact for the city.

Getting the event to the West Coast required a lot of behind-the-scenes work among different levels of government and private-sector actors — and at least $14 million of public funds.

…

This was interesting, from Fumano’s June 14, 2024 article,

The event, formerly known as Collision Conference and sometimes described as “the Olympics of tech,” was held in Las Vegas in past years, and then New Orleans, and most recently in Toronto from 2019 until this year’s [2024] edition, which later this month marks its final time in Canada’s most-populous city before moving west next year.

“The Toronto deal was ending,” explained Lau, who is now based in Hong Kong [emphasis mine]. “I said: ‘I know this guy in Vancouver,’” meaning Sim, “and then that’s how it started.”

It didn’t happen overnight. Sim said he has had his eye on bringing this event to his hometown since soon after being sworn into office in late 2022.

Sim, an entrepreneur before getting into politics, is a major booster of Vancouver’s tech scene. He seems to love big business conferences and international events [Note: Remember Peter Montopoli, a Web Summit Vancouver 2025 speaker from the Canada FIFA World Cup 2026 organization, which will hold some of its World Cup soccer matches in Vancouver? See this November 19, 2022 article “Who’s going to Qatar for the FIFA World Cup?” by Bob Mackin for more about Sim, attendance at meetings, and the world cup], especially those that shine a spotlight on Vancouver and boost the city’s international profile. When the news broke earlier this week about Web Summit Vancouver 2025, Sim was in London for a tech event there. [emphases mine]

…

Regarding the London Tech event, from the https://www.showsbee.com/fairs/40328-London-Tech-Week-2024.html,

London Tech Week 2024 Shape the Future Uniting global tech to drive sustainable innovation Dates: Monday, June 10, 2024 – Wednesday, June 12, 2024

London Tech Week is a global celebration of tech, uniting the most innovative thinkers and talent of tomorrow in a week-long festival. Showcasing how tech is transforming business and society, London Tech Week drives thought provoking conversations around innovation, diversity and transformation, providing a platform for the tech ecosystem to come together to drive change.

And there’s this from the 2025 London Tech Week homepage,

London Tech Week is where the UK’s biggest businesses, most creative innovators and smartest investors converge with global tech leaders. For over 10 years it has been a meeting place where strategies are set, policies are announced and business gets done.

Why did the mayor of Vancouver (accountant and founder of a home nursing business and bagel business) need to attend the 2024 London Tech Week and how did it or will it benefit the city and provincial economy?

According to a December 15, 2024 article by Dan Fumano for the Vancouver Sun newspaper, Mayor Ken Sim had a very high rate of absenteeism from city council meetings (2022 – 2024),

…

Since being elected in October 2022, Sim has been [sic] missed 36 per cent of council votes — not attending in person or online. [emphasis mine]

That is more than double the rate of his predecessors, Kennedy Stewart and Gregor Robertson. Stewart, mayor from 2018 to 2022, was absent for 16 per cent of votes. Robertson, mayor from 2008 to 2018, missed 14 per cent between 2016 and 2018, the only part of his time in office for which figures were available.

…

Where is the value for people in Vancouver? *ETA May 25, 2025: When Mayor Sim went to Quatar for a World Cup game? From Mackin’s “Who’s going to Qatar for the FIFA World Cup?,”

“Just two weeks after being sworn-in [emphasis mine], [first time ever elected to public office] Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is jetting off to Qatar to enjoy the FIFA World Cup. … Neither Toronto Mayor John Tory nor Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell are traveling to Qatar, according to their respective press secretaries.” [Both Toronto and Seattle will be hosting 2026 World Cup games.]*

Getting back to Fumano’s June 14, 2024 article, which offers greater detail about the deal (money) required to lure Web Summit to Vancouver, Note: A link has been removed,

…

Long before this week’s headlines, government officials, private-sector players and lobbyists were working toward this result.

B.C.’s lobbyist registry shows that last year, Destination Vancouver enlisted the services of Thoughtbridge Management Consultants, led by Bill Tam, to help Vancouver’s work putting together a competitive bid to attract what was then known as Collision Conference.

The province contributed $200,000 to support Destination Vancouver’s bid development efforts, said a spokesperson for B.C.’s Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation.

Later, the B.C. government put up $6.6 million to secure Web Summit for three years — $3 million in cash for the organizers and $3.6 million for “in-kind contributions,” the details of which are still to be determined, the ministry spokesperson said.

The federal government also kicked in $6.6 million to support the hosting of Web Summit Vancouver, said a spokesperson for Pacific Economic Development Canada.

Brenda Bailey, B.C.’s minister of jobs, economic development and innovation, says this public investment will provide a great return for B.C.

“It’s very appropriate for people to ask that question. This is money that belongs to the public [true!], and we have to spend it very carefully,” Bailey said. “You can imagine the level of analysis that goes into making a decision like this [and yet you don’t share any details about it], to support such a thing as a splashy conference. But it’s not the splash that attracts me, it’s the investment community and opportunities that will come out of this.”

…

… in April [2024], council conditionally approved a cash grant of $250,000 to the event organizers, along with up to $1.32 million in “value-in-kind offset grants” over three years, including waiving fees for operational and public safety costs, street banners and permits for Web Summit to host events on outdoor city-owned public spaces. [emphases mine]

…

While Web Summit has grown over the years, the firm and its CEO, Paddy Cosgrave, have also drawn controversy and criticism. Not everyone in Torontos’ tech industry was sad to see Collision leave town. [emphasis mine] In a commentary last year in The Globe and Mail, Philippe Telio, founder of Canadian tech conference Startupfest, argued that public money would be better directed to homegrown Canadian organizations. Collision was receiving about $6.5 million a year in public funds, Telio wrote, and was asking for even more money to stay in Toronto, a request the government should reject.

Vancouver’s bid was also supported by Frontier Collective, a not-for-profit working to boost Vancouver’s high-tech sector. Frontier Collective co-founder and CEO Dan Burgar said Web Summitt will be “a game-changer” for the city.

The Lisbon connection?

The mention of Lisbon in the various articles caught my eye due to a local scandal regarding Metro Vancouver and employee travel, from a November 18, 2024 article by Catherine Urquhart for Global TV news online,

In recent days Metro Vancouver staff posted a video and photos from a trip to the Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal [emphasis mine].

Metro Vancouver staffer Sue Mah boasted about Stella the robotic dog, killer yoga moves, and a reception they attended.

The trip comes just a few months after a Global News freedom of information request uncovered how Metro Vancouver spent more than $64,000 taxpayer dollars on fancy food and alcohol at a conference in Toronto.

…

Travel spending continues even as Metro Vancouver residents face huge tax increases connected to the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant, estimated to be about $3 billion over budget.

…

The staff member who travelled to Lisbon is with Invest Vancouver, promoted as Metro Vancouver’s regional economic development service.

The agency was launched about five years ago, even though Metro Vancouver lists its core mandate as providing regional utility services related to drinking water, liquid waste, and solid waste [emphasis mine].

“Based on what I can see, and based on what I have read, this looks like a lot of scope creep and looks like a lot of duplication,” Fontaine [New Westminster, a Metro Vancouver municipality member, councillor Daniel Fontaine] said.

…

It’ s not clear what value Metro Vancouver would received from this junket, from Urquhart’s November 18, 2024 article, “Global News emailed Metro Vancouver communications staff with a number of questions. They have not provided any answers.”

A few thoughts

Something like the Web Summit in Vancouver is not an inherently bad idea. I’ve been to trade shows and international meetings and they can be very exciting … for the attendees. I spent my money on lodgings, food and, maybe, some sightseeing and souvenirs. It’s not clear to me what the economic benefit would have been for the average person living in the city.

Of course, an individual attendee is not going to light up the local economy. The hope is that businesses will be enticed into opening up offices in the locale, that entrepreneurial types will find investors and found startups, and that those who have startups will attract more investment and grow.

It’s disconcerting to see elected officials and civil servants who may or may not have any relevant expertise jumping on the hype bandwagon. Yes, the latest technology can be very exciting but you’re using money from taxpayers and that should require some thought and care.

Mayor Sim’s trip to the 2024 London Tech Week might have been good idea but it’s hard to tell when no information is offered. As for the Web Summit, we’ll be hosting a smaller event than the previous Collision in Toronto and we’re paying more for the privilege.

As for Metro Vancouver’s investment agency staff taking a trip to Web Summit Lisbon on the taxpayers’ dime? At best, it seems odd.

In the end, I hope I’m wrong and that this turns out to be a bonanza for the local economy stretching beyond the hotel and restaurant and other tourist industries.

*May 8, 2026 ‘miine’ corrected to ‘mine’ in this passage “$57 million in direct spending and over $93 million in overall economic impact for British Columbia in its first year [emphasis mine].”

General Fusion: update to October 10, 2023

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It seems that Canadian nuclear energy company General Fusion has finally moved from Burnaby to Richmond (both are part of the Metro Vancouver Region). The move first announced in 2021 (see my November 3, 2021 posting for the news and a description of fusion energy; Note: fission is a different form of nuclear energy, fusion is considered clean/green).

I found confirmation of the move in an August 9, 2023 article by Kenneth Chan for the dailyhive.com

If all goes as planned, a major hurdle in fusion-based, zero-emission clean energy innovation could be produced on Sea Island in Richmond in just three years from now.

BC-based General Fusion announced today it has plans to build a new magnetized target fusion (MTF) machine at the company’s global headquarters at 6020-6082 Russ Baker Way [emphasis mine] near the South Terminal of Vancouver International Airport (YVR). [Note: YVR is located in Richmond, BC]

…

Chan goes on to note (from his August 9, 2023 article), Note: A link has been removed,

This machine will be designed to achieve fusion conditions of over 100,000,000°C by 2025, with “scientific breakeven” conditions by 2026. This will “fast-track” the company’s technical progress.

More specifically, this further proof-of-concept will show General Fusion’s ability to “symmetrically compress magnetized plasmas in a repeatable manner and achieve fusion conditions at scale.”

General Fusion’s technology is designed to be lower cost by avoiding other approaches that require expensive superconducting magnets or high-powered lasers.

…

The YVR machine is intended to support further work and investment and reduce the risk of General Fusion’s commercial-scale demonstration test plan in Culham Campus of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) — located just outside of Oxford, west of London. The UK plant has effectively been delayed, [emphasis mine] with the goal now to provide electricity to the grid with commercial fusion energy by the early to mid-2030s.

“Our updated three-year Fusion Demonstration Program puts us on the best path forward to commercialize our technology by the 2030s,” said Greg Twinney, CEO of General Fusion, in a statement. “We’re harnessing our team’s existing strengths right here in Canada and delivering high-value, industry-leading technical milestones in the near term.”

…

Canada, always a colony

I wonder what happened to the UKAEA deal. In my October 28, 2022 posting (Overview of fusion energy scene) General Fusion was downright effusive in its enthusiasm about the joint path to commercialization with a demonstration machine to be built in the UK. Scroll down to my ‘Fusion energy explanation (2)’ subhead for more details.

It now looks as if the first demonstration will be build and tested in Canada, from an August 9, 2023 General Fusion news release,

General Fusion announced a new Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) machine that will fast-track the company’s technical progress. To be built at the company’s new Richmond headquarters, this ground-breaking machine is designed to achieve fusion conditions of over 100 million degrees Celsius by 2025, [emphasis mine] and progress toward scientific breakeven by 2026. In addition, the company completed the first close of its Series F raise for a combined $25 million USD (approximately $33.5 million CAD) of funding. The round was anchored by existing investors, BDC Capital and GIC. It also included new grant funding from the Government of British Columbia, which builds upon the Canadian government’s ongoing support through the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF). 

This machine represents a significant new pillar to accelerate and de-risk [emphasis mine] General Fusion’s Demonstration Program, designed to leverage the company’s recent technological advancements and provide electricity to the grid with commercial fusion energy by the early to mid-2030s.  

…

Over the next two to three years, General Fusion will work closely with the UK Atomic Energy Authority [UKAEA] to validate the data gathered from [Lawson Machine 26] LM26 and incorporate it into the design of the company’s planned commercial scale demonstration in the UK.

…

So, the machine is being ‘de-risked’ in Canada first, eh?

September 2023

There was an interesting UK addition to General Fusion’s board of directors according to a September 6, 2023 news release,

Today [September 6, 2023], General Fusion announced the appointment of Norman Harrison to its Board of Directors. Norman is a world-class executive in the energy sector, with 40 years of unique experience providing leadership to both the fusion energy and nuclear fission communities.

His experience includes serving as the CEO of the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) from 2006 to 2010 [emphasis mine], when he oversaw the groundbreaking research being conducted by the Joint European Torus (JET), the world’s largest fusion experiment and the only one operating using deuterium-tritium fuel, as it pushed the frontiers of fusion science. Norman’s expertise will support General Fusion as the company completes its Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) demonstration, LM26 [scroll up to August 9, 2023 news release in the above for details] , at its Canadian headquarters. LM26 is targeting fusion conditions of 100 million degrees Celsius by 2025 and is charting a path to scientific breakeven equivalent by 2026. The results achieved by LM26 will be validated by the UKAEA and incorporated into the design of the company’s near-commercial machine, which is planned to be built at the UKAEA’s Culham Campus. 

Norman’s background also includes leading the construction and operations of large-scale power plants. As a result, his guidance will benefit General Fusion as it progresses to commercializing its MTF technology by the early to mid-2030s.

“I’ve been a part of the fusion energy industry for many years now. General Fusion’s unique technology stands out and has exciting promise to put fusion energy onto the electricity grid,” said Norman Harrison. “I am thrilled to join the General Fusion team and be a part of the company’s progress.”

“Norman’s wealth of expertise in advancing fusion technology and operating large electricity infrastructure provides us with meaningful insight into what is required to effectively bring Magnetized Target Fusion to the energy grid in a cost-effective, practical way,” said Greg Twinney, CEO, General Fusion. “We look forward to working with him as General Fusion transforms the commercial power industry with reliable fusion power.”

About General Fusion

General Fusion is pursuing a fast and practical approach to commercial fusion energy and is headquartered in Richmond, B.C. The company was established in 2002 and is funded by a global syndicate of leading energy venture capital firms, industry leaders and technology pioneers. …

So, after postponing plans to build a build a demonstration plant with UKAEA and deciding to build it in Canada where it can be ‘de-risked’ here first, General Fusion adds a former UKAEA CEO to their company board. This seems a little strategic to me.

October 2023

Here’s the latest from an October 10, 2023 news release,

Today [October 11, 2023], General Fusion and Kyoto Fusioneering announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to accelerate the commercialization of General Fusion’s proprietary Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) technology, aiming for grid integration in the early to mid-2030s. The companies will collaborate to advance critical systems for MTF commercialization, including the tritium fuel cycle, liquid metal balance of plant, and power conversion cycle.

Tritium, a hydrogen isotope and key fusion fuel, does not occur naturally and must be produced or “bred” in the fusion process. General Fusion’s game-changing commercial power plant design features a proprietary liquid metal wall that compresses plasma to fusion conditions, protects the fusion machine’s vessel components, and breeds tritium upon interacting with the fusion products. This design allows the machine to be self-sustaining, generating fuel for the life of the power plant while facilitating efficient energy extraction from the fusion reaction through a liquid metal loop to a heat exchanger.

Kyoto Fusioneering specializes in fusion power plant systems that complement the plasma confinement core, are applicable to various fusion confinement concepts, such as MTF, and are on the critical path for fusion commercialization. The complementary capabilities of both organizations will enable parallel development of key systems supporting MTF commercialization. Initial collaboration under this MOU will focus on liquid metal experimentation and fuel cycle system development at both the General Fusion and Kyoto Fusioneering facilities, such as establishment of balance of plant and power conversion test facilities, liquid metal loops, and vacuum systems.

Quotes:

“Currently, our new machine, LM26, is on-track to achieve fusion conditions by 2025, and progress towards scientific breakeven by 2026,” said Greg Twinney, CEO, General Fusion. “Harnessing the unique technological and engineering expertise of Kyoto Fusioneering will be instrumental as we translate LM26’s groundbreaking results into the world’s first Magnetized Target Fusion power plant.”

“We’re thrilled to join forces with General Fusion. Our combined expertise will accelerate the path to commercial fusion energy, a critical step toward a sustainable, decarbonized future,” said Satoshi Konishi, Co-founder and Chief Fusioneer, Kyoto Fusioneering.

Quick Facts:

Magnetized Target Fusion [prepare yourself for 1 min. 21 secs. of an enthusiastic Michel Laberge, company founder and chief science officer] uniquely sidesteps challenges to commercialization that other technologies face. The proprietary liquid metal liner in the commercial fusion machine is mechanically compressed by high-powered pistons. This enables fusion conditions to be created in short pulses rather than creating a sustained reaction. General Fusion’s design does not require large superconducting magnets or an expensive array of lasers.

General Fusion’s design will use deuterium-tritium fuel for its commercial power plant. Both are isotopes of hydrogen. Deuterium occurs naturally and can be derived from seawater. Tritium needs to be produced, which is why General Fusion’s unique and proprietary technology that breeds tritium as a byproduct of the fusion reaction is a game-changer.

Kyoto Fusioneering was spun out of Kyoto University. It is home to world-class R&D facilities, and its team has a combined total of approximately 800 years of experience [emphasis mine].

…

About Kyoto Fusioneering

Kyoto Fusioneering, established in 2019 [emphasis mine], is a privately funded technology startup with facilities in Tokyo and Kyoto (Japan), Reading (UK), and Seattle (USA). The company specialises in developing advanced technologies for commercial fusion power plants, such as gyrotron systems, tritium fuel cycle technologies, and breeding blankets for tritium production and power generation. Working collaboratively with public and private fusion developers around the world, Kyoto Fusioneering’s mission is to make fusion energy the ultimate sustainable solution for humanity’s energy needs.

800 years of experience seems to be a bit of a stretch for a company established four years ago with 96 employees as of July 1, 2023 (see Kyoto Fusioneering’s Company Profile webpage) but hat’s off for the sheer gutsiness of it.

Hydrogen In Motion (H2M), its solid state hydrogen storage nanomaterial, and running for Vancouver (Canada) City Council?

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Vancouver city politics don’t usually feature here. but this June 13 ,2022 article by Kenneth Chan for the Daily Hive suggests that might be changing,

Colleen Hardwick’s TEAM for a Livable Vancouver party has officially nominated six candidates to fill Vancouver city councillor seats in the upcoming civic election.

….

Grace Quan is a co-founder and the head of Hydrogen In Motion, which specializes in developing a nanomaterial to store hydrogen [emphasis mine]. She previously worked for the Canadian International Development Agency and in the Foreign Service and served as a senior advisor to the CFO of the Treasury Board of Canada.

…

There’s not a lot of detail in the description which is reasonable considering five other candidates were being announced.

Since this blog is focused on nanotechnology and other emerging technologies, the word ‘nanomaterial’ popped out. Its use in the candidate’s description is close to meaningless, similar to saying that your storage container is made from a material. In this case, the material (presumably) is exploiting advantages found at the nanoscale. As for Quan, the work experience cited highlights experience working in government agencies but doesn’t include any technology development.

My main interest is the technology followed by the business aspects. As for why Quan is running for political office and how she will find the time; I can only offer speculation.

Hydrogen in Motion’s storage technology

Obviously the place to look is the Hydrogen in Motion (H2M) website. Descriptions of their technology are vague (from the company’s Hydrogen page),

…

Hydrogen In Motion solution is leading a breakthrough in solid state hydrogen storage nanomaterial. H2M hydrogen storage redefines the use of hydrogen fuel technologies and simplifying its logistical applications. Our technology offers hydrogen energy solution that has positive economic and environmental impact and provides an infinite source of constant energy with no emissions, low cost commitment and versatility with compact storage. Our technology solution has resolved the constraints currently burdening the hydrogen economy, making it the most viable solution for commercialization of future clean energy.

…

Which nanomaterial(s) are they using? Carbon nanotubes, graphene, gold nanoparticles, borophene, perovskite, fullerenes, etc.? The company’s Products page offers a little more information and some diagrams,

…

H2M fuel cell technology is well-adapted for a wide range of applications, from nomadic to stationary, enabling for easy transition to emission free systems. As the H2M nanomaterial is conformable, H2M hydrogen storage containers can be shaped to meet the application requirements; from extending flight duration for drones to grid scale renewable energy storage for solar, wind, and wave. H2M is the most effective Hydrogen storage ever designed.

…

There are no product names nor pictures of products other than this, which is in the banner,

[downloaded from https://www.hydrogeninmotion.com/products/]

No names, no branding, no product specifications.

Unusually for a startup, neither member of the executive team seems to have been the scientist who developed or is developing the nanomaterial for this technology. Also unusual, there’s not a scientific advisory board. Grace Quan has credentials as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and holds a Master of Business Administration (MB). Plus there’s this from the About Us page,

Grace has over 25 years of experience spanning a wealth of sectors including government – Federal Government of Canada, the Provincial Government (Minister’s Office) of Alberta; Academia – University of British Columbia, and Management of a Flying School; Not-for-Profit / Research Funding Agency – Genome British Columbia; and private sector with various management positions. Grace is well positioned to lead H2M in navigating the complicated world of Federal and Provincial politics and program funding requirements. At the same time Grace’s skills and expertise in the private sector will be invaluable in providing strategic direction in the marketing, finance, human resource, and production domains.

The other member of the executive team, Mark Cannon, the chief technical officer, has a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Mathematics. Plus there’s this from the About Us page,

Mark has over thirty years of experience commercializing academic developments, covering such diverse fields as: real time vision analysis, electromagnetic measurement and simulation, Computer Aided Design of printed circuit boards and microchips, custom integrated semiconductor chips for encryption, optical fibre signal measurement and recovery, and building energy management systems. He has worked at major research and development companies such as Systemhouse, Bell-Northern Research (later absorbed by Nortel), and Cadence Design Systems. Mark is very familiar with technology startups, the exigencies of entrepreneurship, and the business cycle of introducing new products into the market having cofounded two successful start-ups: Unicad Inc. (bought by Cooper & Chyan Technologies) and Viewnyx Corporation. He has also held key roles in two other start-ups, Chrysalis ITS and Optovation Inc.

His experience seems almost entirely focused on electronics and optics. It’s not clear to me how this experience is transferable to hydrogen storage and nanomaterials. (As well, his TechCrunch profile lists him as having founded one company rather than the three listed in his company’s profile.)

The company’s R&D page offers an overview of the process, the skills needed to conduct the research, and some quite interesting details about hydrogen storage but no scientific papers,

Conceive/Improve Theoretical Modelling

The theoretical team uses physical chemical theory starting at the quantum level using density functional theory (DFT) to model material composed of the elements that provide a structure and attract hydrogen. Once the theoretical material has been tested on that scale, further models are built using Molecular dynamics, thermodynamic modeling and finally computational fluid dynamic modeling. The team continuously provide support by modeling the different stages of synthesis to determine the optimal parameters required to achieve the correct synthesis.

Material Synthesis

The synthesis team uses a variety of chemical and physical state alteration techniques to synthesize the desired material. Series of experiments are devised to build the desired material usually one stage at a time. Usually a series of experiments are planned to determine key synthesis parameters that effect the material. Once a base material is completed, a series of experiments is devised and repeated to bring it to the next stage.

Characterization

…

Test Hydrogen Absorption & Desorption

Ultimately, the material’s performance is based on the results from the H2MS hydrogen measurement system. Once a material has been successfully synthesized and validated using the H2MS, multiple measurements are made at different temperatures for multiple cycles. This validates the robustness, operating range, and re-usability of the hydrogen storage material. For our first material [emphasis mine], a scale up plan is being developed. Moving from laboratory scale to manufacturing scale [emphasis mine] introduces several challenges in the synthesis of material. This includes equipment selection, fluid and thermal dynamic effects at a larger scale, reaction kinetics, chemical equilibrium and of course, cost.

At what stage is this company?

The business

There are a couple of promising business developments. First, there’s a September 1, 2021 Hydrogen in Motion news release (Note: Links have been removed),

Loop Energy (TSX: LPEN), a developer and manufacturer of hydrogen fuel cell-based solutions, and Hydrogen In Motion (H2M), a leading provider of solid state hydrogen storage, announce their plans to collaborate on converting  a Southern Railway of BC owned and operated diesel electric switcher locomotive to hydrogen electric.

The two British Columbia-based companies will use locally developed technology, including Loop Energy’s 50kw eFlow™ fuel cell system and a low pressure solid state hydrogen storage tank developed by H2M. The project signifies the first instance of Loop supplying its products for use in a rail transport application.

“This is an exciting phase for the hydrogen fuel cell industry as this proves that it is technically and economically feasible to convert diesel-powered switcher locomotives to hydrogen fuel cell-based power systems,” said Grace Quan, CEO of Hydrogen-in-Motion. “The introduction of a hydrogen infrastructure into railyards reduces air contaminants and greenhouse gases and brings clean technologies, job growth and innovation to local communities.”

…

A few months before, a July 30, 2021 Hydrogen in Motion news release announced an international deal,

Hydrogen In Motion (H2M) announced a collaboration with H2e Power [h2e Power Systems] out of Pune, India for a project to assess, design, install and demonstrate a hydrogen fuel cell 3-Wheeler using H2e PEM Fuel Cell integrated with Hydrogen In Motion’s innovative solid state hydrogen storage technology onboard. This Indo-Canadian collaboration leverages the zero emission and hydrogen strategies released in India and Canada. Hydrogen In Motion is receiving advisory services and up to $600,000 in funding support for this project through the Canadian International Innovation Program (CIIP). CIIP is a funding program offered by Global Affairs Canada [emphasis mine] and is delivered in collaboration with the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP). Respectively in India, H2e’s contributions towards this collaboration are supported by the Department of Science & Technology (DST) in collaboration with Global Innovation and Technology Alliance (GITA).

About This Project – This project will install a hydrogen fuel cell range extender using H2M low pressure hydrogen storage tanks on an electric powered three-wheeled auto rickshaw. Project goal is to significantly extend operational range and provide auxiliary power for home use when not in service.

…

The lack of scientific papers about the company’s technology is a little concerning. It’s not unheard of but combined with not identifying the scientist/inventor who developed the technology or identifying the source for the technology (in Canada, it’s almost always a university), or giving details about the technology or giving product details or noting that their products are being beta tested (?) in two countries India and Canada, or information about funding (where do they get their money?), or having a scientific advisory board, raises questions. The answer may be simple. They don’t place much value on keeping their website up to date as they are busy.

I did find some company details on the Companies of Canada.com website,

Hydrogen In Motion Inc. (H2M) is a company from Vancouver BC Canada. The company has corporate status: Active.

This business was incorporated 8 years ago on 8th January 2014

Hydrogen In Motion Inc. (H2M) is governed under the Canada Business Corporations Act – 2014-01-08. It a company of type: Non-distributing corporation with 50 or fewer shareholders.

The date of the company’s last Annual Meeting is 2021-01-01. The status of its annual filings are: 2021 -Filed, 2020 -Filed, 2019 -Filed.

Kona Equity offers an analysis (from the second quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2020),

Hydrogen In Motion

Founded in 2014

Strengths

There are no known strengths for Hydrogen In Motion

Weaknesses

Hydrogen In Motion has a very small market share in their industry

Revenue generated per employee is less than the industry average

Revenue growth is less than the industry average

The number of employees is not growing as fast as the industry average

Variance of revenue growth is more than the industry average

…

7 employees

Employee growth rate from first known quarter to current -69.6%

…

I’d love to see a more recent analysis taking into account the 2021 business deals.

It’s impossible to tell when this job was posted but it provides some interesting insight, All the emphases are mine,

We are looking for an accomplished Chemical Process Engineer to lead our nanomaterial and carbon-rich material production, development and scale-up efforts. The holder of this position will be responsible for leading a team of engineers and technicians in the designing, developing and optimizing of process unit operations to provide high quality nanomaterials at various scales ranging from Research and Development to Commercial Manufacturing with good manufacturing practices (cGMP). The successful candidate is expected to independently strategize, analyze, design and control product scale-up to meet volume and quality demands.

…

Finally, there’s a chemical engineer or two. Plus, according to the company’s LinkedIn profile, there’s a theoretical physicist, Andrey Tokarev. Two locations are listed for Hydrogen in Motion, the Cordova St. office and something at 12388 88 Ave, Surrey. The company size is listed at 11 to 50 employees.

Grace Quan is good at getting government support for her company as this February 2019 story on the Government of Canada website shows,

Mark Cannon, Hydrogen in Motion CTO, Quak Foo Lee, chemical engineer, Angus Hui, co-op student, Dr. Pei Pei, research associate, Grace Quan, CEO, Sahida Kureshi PhD Candidate, and Dr. Andrey Tokerav, theoretical physicist. [downloaded from https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/stories-histoires/2019/CPTPP-hydrogen.aspx?lang=eng]

Canada in Asia-Pacific

Trade diversification | February 2019

Grace Quan’s goal is to deliver hydrogen around the world to help the environment and address climate change.

Quan is the CEO of Vancouver-based Hydrogen in Motion, a clean-tech company leading the way in hydrogen storage.

…

The number one problem with hydrogen is how to store it, which is why Quan founded Hydrogen in Motion. She set out to find a way to get hydrogen to people around the world.

Quan’s company has figured out how to do this. By using a material that soaks up hydrogen like a sponge, more of it can be stored at a lower pressure and at lower cost.

In the future, clean energy, including hydrogen, should become the method of choice to power anything that requires gas or electricity. For example, vehicles, snow blowers and drones could be powered by hydrogen in the future. Hydrogen is an infinite source of clean energy that can lessen the environmental impact from other sources of energy.

Thanks to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Quan says she can explore new markets in the Asia-Pacific region for hydrogen export.

…

Japan is a new market that Quan’s company will explore as a result of the CPTPP. There’s a lot of opportunity there, with Tokyo hosting the 2020 Olympics, which are expected to be powered by hydrogen.

…

Quan recently returned from a trade mission to India [emphasis mine], where local trade commissioners helped her set up a meeting with a major auto maker.

…

In 2020, Hydrogen in Motion was a ‘success story‘ for Canada’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Tax Incentive Program (Note: A link has been removed),

…

H2M was selected for the free in-person First-time claimant advisory service when filing its first scientific research and experimental development (SR&ED) claim. Since then, the SR&ED tax incentives have had a significant impact on the company’s work. The company is not only thankful for the program’s funding, but also to the SR&ED staff for their hard work and assistance, especially during the pandemic.

The company’s Chief Executive Officer, Grace Quan, had the following comments:

“In the context of COVID-19 shutdowns and general business disruption, the SR&ED tax incentives have become a critical source of funds as other sources were put on hold due to the pandemic and the financial uncertainty of the times. I wish to express my extreme gratitude for the consideration, efforts and support, as well as thanks, to the Canadian government, the SR&ED Program and its staff for their compassionate and empathetic treatment of individuals and businesses. The staff was friendly, professional, prompt and went above and beyond to help a small business like Hydrogen In Motion. They were a pleasure to work with and were extremely effective in problem resolution and facilitating processing of our SR&ED refund to provide much needed cash flow during these difficult times.”

As you might expect from someone running for political office, Quan is good at promoting herself. From her Advisory Board profile page for the Vancouver Economic Commission,

As President & CEO of Hydrogen In Motion Inc. (H2M), Grace brings fiduciary accountability and strategic vision to the table with her CPA/CMA [certified management accountant] and MBA credentials. Grace has a vast range of financial and managerial experience in private and public sectors from managing a Flying School, to working in a Provincial Minister’s office, to helping to manage the $250 billion dollar budget for the Treasury Board Secretariat of the Government of Canada. 

…

In 2018 Grace Quan, CEO was recognized by BC Business magazine as one of the 50 Most Influential Women In STEM. [emphasis mine]

July 28, 2021 it was announced that Quan became a member of the World Hydrogen Advisory Board of the Sustainable Energy Council (UK).

Speculating about a political candidate

Grace Quan’s electoral run seems like odd timing. If your company just signed two deals less than a year ago during what seems to be an upswing in its business affairs then running for office (an almost full time job in itself) as a city councillor (a full time job, should you be elected) is an unexpected move from someone with no experience in public office.

Another surprising thing? The British Columbia Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE) announced a new consortium according to a Techcouver.com June 9, 2022 news item (about four days before the announcement of Quan’s political candidacy on the Daily Hive),

The British Columbia Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE) is partnering with businesses and government organizations to drive B.C.’s low-carbon hydrogen economy forward, with the launch of the B.C. Hydrogen Changemakers Consortium (BCHCC).

The partnership was announced at last night’s official Consortium launch event hosted by CICE and attended by leading B.C. hydrogen players, investors, and government officials. The Consortium launch is part of CICE’s previously announced Hydrogen Blueprint Investment, which will lay a foundation for the establishment of a hydrogen hub in Metro Vancouver, co-locating hydrogen supply and demand.

…

The group is expected to grow as projects and collaborations increase. To date, the Consortium members include: Ballard Power Systems, Capilano Maritime Design Ltd., Climate Action Secretariat, Fort Capital, FortisBC, Geazone Eco-Courier, Hydra Energy, HTEC, Innovative Clean Energy Fund, InBC Investment Corp., Modo, Parkland Refining, Powertech Labs, and TransLink.

Hydrogen in Motion doesn’t seem to be one of the inaugural members, which may mean nothing or may hint at why Quan is running for office.

Three possibilities

Perhaps the company is not doing so well? There’s a very high failure rate with technology companies. The ‘valley of death’ is the description for taking a development from the lab and turning it into a business (which is almost always highly dependent on government funding). Assuming the company manages to get something to market and finds customers, the next stage, growing the company from a few million in revenues to 10s and 100s of millions of dollars is equally fraught.

Keeping the company afloat for eight years is a big accomplishment especially when you factor in COVID-19 which has had a devastating impact on businesses large and small.

Alternatively, the company is being acquired (or would that be absorbed?) by a larger company. Entrepreneurs in British Columbia have a long history of growing their tech companies with the goal of being acquired and getting a large payout. Quan’s co-founder certainly has experience with growing a company and then selling it to a larger company.

Finally, the company is doing just fine but Quan is bored and needs a new challenge (which may be the case in the other two scenarios as well). if you look at her candidate profile page, you’ll see she has a range of interests.

Note: I am not offering an opinion on Quan’s suitability for political office. This is neither an endorsement nor an ‘anti-endorsement’.

Going blind when your neural implant company flirts with bankruptcy (long read)

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This story got me to thinking about what happens when any kind of implant company (pacemaker, deep brain stimulator, etc.) goes bankrupt or is acquired by another company with a different business model.

As I worked on this piece, more issues were raised and the scope expanded to include prosthetics along with implants while the focus narrowed to neuro as in, neural implants and neuroprosthetics. At the same time, I found salient examples for this posting in other medical advances such as gene editing.

In sum, all references to implants and prosthetics are to neural devices and some issues are illustrated with salient examples from other medical advances (specifically, gene editing).

Definitions (for those who find them useful)

The US Food and Drug Administration defines implants and prosthetics,

Medical implants are devices or tissues that are placed inside or on the surface of the body. Many implants are prosthetics, intended to replace missing body parts. Other implants deliver medication, monitor body functions, or provide support to organs and tissues.

As for what constitutes a neural implant/neuroprosthetic, there’s this from Emily Waltz’s January 20, 2020 article (How Do Neural Implants Work? Neural implants are used for deep brain stimulation, vagus nerve stimulation, and mind-controlled prostheses) for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Spectrum magazine,

A neural implant, then, is a device—typically an electrode of some kind—that’s inserted into the body, comes into contact with tissues that contain neurons, and interacts with those neurons in some way.

…

Now, let’s start with the recent near bankruptcy of a retinal implant company.

The company goes bust (more or less)

From a February 25, 2022 Science Friday (a National Public Radio program) posting/audio file, Note: Links have been removed,

Barbara Campbell was walking through a New York City subway station during rush hour when her world abruptly went dark. For four years, Campbell had been using a high-tech implant in her left eye that gave her a crude kind of bionic vision, partially compensating for the genetic disease that had rendered her completely blind in her 30s. “I remember exactly where I was: I was switching from the 6 train to the F train,” Campbell tells IEEE Spectrum. “I was about to go down the stairs, and all of a sudden I heard a little ‘beep, beep, beep’ sound.’”

It wasn’t her phone battery running out. It was her Argus II retinal implant system powering down. The patches of light and dark that she’d been able to see with the implant’s help vanished.

Terry Byland is the only person to have received this kind of implant in both eyes. He got the first-generation Argus I implant, made by the company Second Sight Medical Products, in his right eye in 2004, and the subsequent Argus II implant in his left 11 years later. He helped the company test the technology, spoke to the press movingly about his experiences, and even met Stevie Wonder at a conference. “[I] went from being just a person that was doing the testing to being a spokesman,” he remembers.

Yet in 2020, Byland had to find out secondhand that the company had abandoned the technology and was on the verge of going bankrupt. While his two-implant system is still working, he doesn’t know how long that will be the case. “As long as nothing goes wrong, I’m fine,” he says. “But if something does go wrong with it, well, I’m screwed. Because there’s no way of getting it fixed.”

…

Science Friday and the IEEE [Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers] Spectrum magazine collaborated to produce this story. You’ll find the audio files and the transcript of interviews with the authors and one of the implant patients in this February 25, 2022 Science Friday (a National Public Radio program) posting.

Here’s more from the February 15, 2022 IEEE Spectrum article by Eliza Strickland and Mark Harris,

Ross Doerr, another Second Sight patient, doesn’t mince words: “It is fantastic technology and a lousy company,” he says. He received an implant in one eye in 2019 and remembers seeing the shining lights of Christmas trees that holiday season. He was thrilled to learn in early 2020 that he was eligible for software upgrades that could further improve his vision. Yet in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, he heard troubling rumors about the company and called his Second Sight vision-rehab therapist. “She said, ‘Well, funny you should call. We all just got laid off,’ ” he remembers. “She said, ‘By the way, you’re not getting your upgrades.’ ”

These three patients, and more than 350 other blind people around the world with Second Sight’s implants in their eyes, find themselves in a world in which the technology that transformed their lives is just another obsolete gadget. One technical hiccup, one broken wire, and they lose their artificial vision, possibly forever. To add injury to insult: A defunct Argus system in the eye could cause medical complications or interfere with procedures such as MRI scans, and it could be painful or expensive to remove.

…

The writers included some information about what happened to the business, from the February 15, 2022 IEEE Spectrum article, Note: Links have been removed,

After Second Sight discontinued its retinal implant in 2019 and nearly went out of business in 2020, a public offering in June 2021 raised US $57.5 million at $5 per share. The company promised to focus on its ongoing clinical trial of a brain implant, called Orion, that also provides artificial vision. But its stock price plunged to around $1.50, and in February 2022, just before this article was published, the company announced a proposed merger with an early-stage biopharmaceutical company called Nano Precision Medical (NPM). None of Second Sight’s executives will be on the leadership team of the new company, which will focus on developing NPM’s novel implant for drug delivery.The company’s current leadership declined to be interviewed for this article but did provide an emailed statement prior to the merger announcement. It said, in part: “We are a recognized global leader in neuromodulation devices for blindness and are committed to developing new technologies to treat the broadest population of sight-impaired individuals.”

…

It’s unclear what Second Sight’s proposed merger means for Argus patients. The day after the merger was announced, Adam Mendelsohn, CEO of Nano Precision Medical, told Spectrum that he doesn’t yet know what contractual obligations the combined company will have to Argus and Orion patients. But, he says, NPM will try to do what’s “right from an ethical perspective.” The past, he added in an email, is “simply not relevant to the new future.”

…

There may be some alternatives, from the February 15, 2022 IEEE Spectrum article (Note: Links have been removed),

Second Sight may have given up on its retinal implant, but other companies still see a need—and a market—for bionic vision without brain surgery. Paris-based Pixium Vision is conducting European and U.S. feasibility trials to see if its Prima system can help patients with age-related macular degeneration, a much more common condition than retinitis pigmentosa.

Daniel Palanker, a professor of ophthalmology at Stanford University who licensed his technology to Pixium, says the Prima implant is smaller, simpler, and cheaper than the Argus II. But he argues that Prima’s superior image resolution has the potential to make Pixium Vision a success. “If you provide excellent vision, there will be lots of patients,” he tells Spectrum. “If you provide crappy vision, there will be very few.”

Some clinicians involved in the Argus II work are trying to salvage what they can from the technology. Gislin Dagnelie, an associate professor of ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has set up a network of clinicians who are still working with Argus II patients. The researchers are experimenting with a thermal camera to help users see faces, a stereo camera to filter out the background, and AI-powered object recognition. These upgrades are unlikely to result in commercial hardware today but could help future vision prostheses.

…

The writers have carefully balanced this piece so it is not an outright condemnation of the companies (Second Sight and Nano Precision), from the February 15, 2022 IEEE Spectrum article,

Failure is an inevitable part of innovation. The Argus II was an innovative technology, and progress made by Second Sight may pave the way for other companies that are developing bionic vision systems. But for people considering such an implant in the future, the cautionary tale of Argus patients left in the lurch may make a tough decision even tougher. Should they take a chance on a novel technology? If they do get an implant and find that it helps them navigate the world, should they allow themselves to depend upon it?

Abandoning the Argus II technology—and the people who use it—might have made short-term financial sense for Second Sight, but it’s a decision that could come back to bite the merged company if it does decide to commercialize a brain implant, believes Doerr.

…

For anyone curious about retinal implant technology (specifically the Argus II), I have a description in a June 30, 2015 posting.

Speculations and hopes for neuroprosthetics

The field of neuroprosthetics is very active. Dr Arthur Saniotis and Prof Maciej Henneberg have written an article where they speculate about the possibilities of a neuroprosthetic that may one day merge with neurons in a February 21, 2022 Nanowerk Spotlight article,

For over a generation several types of medical neuroprosthetics have been developed, which have improved the lives of thousands of individuals. For instance, cochlear implants have restored functional hearing in individuals with severe hearing impairment.

Further advances in motor neuroprosthetics are attempting to restore motor functions in tetraplegic, limb loss and brain stem stroke paralysis subjects.

Currently, scientists are working on various kinds of brain/machine interfaces [BMI] in order to restore movement and partial sensory function. One such device is the ‘Ipsihand’ that enables movement of a paralyzed hand. The device works by detecting the recipient’s intention in the form of electrical signals, thereby triggering hand movement.

Another recent development is the 12 month BMI gait neurohabilitation program that uses a visual-tactile feedback system in combination with a physical exoskeleton and EEG operated AI actuators while walking. This program has been tried on eight patients with reported improvements in lower limb movement and somatic sensation.

Surgically placed electrode implants have also reduced tremor symptoms in individuals with Parkinson’s disease.

Although neuroprosthetics have provided various benefits they do have their problems. Firstly, electrode implants to the brain are prone to degradation, necessitating new implants after a few years. Secondly, as in any kind of surgery, implanted electrodes can cause post-operative infection and glial scarring. Furthermore, one study showed that the neurobiological efficacy of an implant is dependent on the rate of speed of its insertion.

But what if humans designed a neuroprosthetic, which could bypass the medical glitches of invasive neuroprosthetics? However, instead of connecting devices to neural networks, this neuroprosthetic would directly merge with neurons – a novel step. Such a neuroprosthetic could radically optimize treatments for neurodegenerative disorders and brain injuries, and possibly cognitive enhancement [emphasis mine].

A team of three international scientists has recently designed a nanobased neuroprosthetic, which was published in Frontiers in Neuroscience (“Integration of Nanobots Into Neural Circuits As a Future Therapy for Treating Neurodegenerative Disorders“). [open access paper published in 2018]

An interesting feature of their nanobot neuroprosthetic is that it has been inspired from nature by way of endomyccorhizae – a type of plant/fungus symbiosis, which is over four hundred million years old. During endomyccorhizae, fungi use numerous threadlike projections called mycelium that penetrate plant roots, forming colossal underground networks with nearby root systems. During this process fungi take up vital nutrients while protecting plant roots from infections – a win-win relationship. Consequently, the nano-neuroprosthetic has been named ‘endomyccorhizae ligand interface’, or ‘ELI’ for short.

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The Spotlight article goes on to describe how these nanobots might function. As for the possibility of cognitive enhancement, I wonder if that might come to be described as a form of ‘artificial intelligence’.

(Dr Arthur Saniotis and Prof Maciej Henneberg are both from the Department of Anthropology, Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences; and Biological Anthropology and Comparative Anatomy Research Unit, Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide. Abdul-Rahman Sawalma who’s listed as an author on the 2018 paper is from the Palestinian Neuroscience Initiative, Al-Quds University, Beit Hanina, Palestine.)

Saniotis and Henneberg’s Spotlight article presents an optimistic view of neuroprosthetics. It seems telling that they cite cochlear implants as a success story when it is viewed by many as ethically fraught (see the Cochlear implant Wikipedia entry; scroll down to ‘Criticism and controversy’).

Ethics and your implants

This is from an April 6, 2015 article by Luc Henry on technologist.eu,

Technologist: What are the potential consequences of accepting the “augmented human” in society?

Gregor Wolbring: There are many that we might not even envision now. But let me focus on failure and obsolescence [emphasis mine], two issues that are rarely discussed. What happens when the mechanisms fails in the middle of an action? Failure has hazardous consequences, but obsolescence has psychological ones. …. The constant surgical inter­vention needed to update the hardware may not be feasible. A person might feel obsolete if she cohabits with others using a newer version.

T. Are researchers working on prosthetics sometimes disconnected from reality?

G. W. Students engaged in the development of prosthetics have to learn how to think in societal terms and develop a broader perspective. Our education system provides them with a fascination for clever solutions to technological challenges but not with tools aiming at understanding the consequences, such as whether their product might increase or decrease social justice.

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Wolbring is a professor at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine (profile page) who writes on social issues to do with human enhancement/ augmentation. As well,

Some of his areas of engagement are: ability studies including governance of ability expectations, disability studies, governance of emerging and existing sciences and technologies (e.g. nanoscale science and technology, molecular manufacturing, aging, longevity and immortality, cognitive sciences, neuromorphic engineering, genetics, synthetic biology, robotics, artificial intelligence, automatization, brain machine interfaces, sensors), impact of science and technology on marginalized populations, especially people with disabilities he governance of bodily enhancement, sustainability issues, EcoHealth, resilience, ethics issues, health policy issues, human rights and sport.

He also maintains his own website here.

Not just startups

I’d classify Second Sight as a tech startup company and they have a high rate of failure, which may not have been clear to the patients who had the implants. Clinical trials can present problems too as this excerpt from my September 17, 2020 posting notes,

This October 31, 2017 article by Emily Underwood for Science was revelatory,

“In 2003, neurologist Helen Mayberg of Emory University in Atlanta began to test a bold, experimental treatment for people with severe depression, which involved implanting metal electrodes deep in the brain in a region called area 25 [emphases mine]. The initial data were promising; eventually, they convinced a device company, St. Jude Medical in Saint Paul, to sponsor a 200-person clinical trial dubbed BROADEN.

This month [October 2017], however, Lancet Psychiatry reported the first published data on the trial’s failure. The study stopped recruiting participants in 2012, after a 6-month study in 90 people failed to show statistically significant improvements between those receiving active stimulation and a control group, in which the device was implanted but switched off.

…

… a tricky dilemma for companies and research teams involved in deep brain stimulation (DBS) research: If trial participants want to keep their implants [emphases mine], who will take responsibility—and pay—for their ongoing care? And participants in last week’s meeting said it underscores the need for the growing corps of DBS researchers to think long-term about their planned studies.”

Symbiosis can be another consequence, as mentioned in my September 17, 2020 posting,

From a July 24, 2019 article by Liam Drew for Nature Outlook: The brain,

“It becomes part of you,” Patient 6 said, describing the technology that enabled her, after 45 years of severe epilepsy, to halt her disabling seizures. Electrodes had been implanted on the surface of her brain that would send a signal to a hand-held device when they detected signs of impending epileptic activity. On hearing a warning from the device, Patient 6 knew to take a dose of medication to halt the coming seizure.

“You grow gradually into it and get used to it, so it then becomes a part of every day,” she told Frederic Gilbert, an ethicist who studies brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia. “It became me,” she said. [emphasis mine]

…

Symbiosis is a term, borrowed from ecology, that means an intimate co-existence of two species for mutual advantage. As technologists work towards directly connecting the human brain to computers, it is increasingly being used to describe humans’ potential relationship with artificial intelligence. [emphasis mine]

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It’s complicated

For a lot of people these devices are or could be life-changing. At the same time, there are a number of different issues related to implants/prosthetics; the following is not an exhaustive list. As Wolbring notes, issues that we can’t begin to imagine now are likely to emerge as these medical advances become more ubiquitous.

Ability/disability?

Assistive technologies are almost always portrayed as helpful. For example, a cochlear implant gives people without hearing the ability to hear. The assumption is that this is always a good thing—unless you’re a deaf person who wants to define the problem a little differently. Who gets to decide what is good and ‘normal’ and what is desirable?

While the cochlear implant is the most extreme example I can think of, there are variations of these questions throughout the ‘disability’ communities.

Also, as Wolbring notes in his interview with the Technologist.eu, the education system tends to favour technological solutions which don’t take social issues into account. Wolbring cites social justice issues when he mentions failure and obsolescence.

Technical failures and obsolescence

The story, excerpted earlier in this posting, opened with a striking example of a technical failure at an awkward moment; a blind woman depending on her retinal implant loses all sight as she maneuvers through a subway station in New York City.

Aside from being an awful way to find out the company supplying and supporting your implant is in serious financial trouble and can’t offer assistance or repair, the failure offers a preview of what could happen as implants and prosthetics become more commonly used.

Keeping up/fomo (fear of missing out)/obsolescence

It used to be called ‘keeping up with the Joneses, it’s the practice of comparing yourself and your worldly goods to someone else(‘s) and then trying to equal what they have or do better. Usually, people want to have more and better than the mythical Joneses.

These days, the phenomenon (which has been expanded to include social networking) is better known as ‘fomo’ or fear of missing out (see the Fear of missing out Wikipedia entry).

Whatever you want to call it, humanity’s competitive nature can be seen where technology is concerned. When I worked in technology companies, I noticed that hardware and software were sometimes purchased for features that were effectively useless to us. But, not upgrading to a newer version was unthinkable.

Call it fomo or ‘keeping up with the Joneses’, it’s a powerful force and when people (and even companies) miss out or can’t keep up, it can lead to a sense of inferiority in the same way that having an obsolete implant or prosthetic could.

Social consequences

Could there be a neural implant/neuroprosthetic divide? There is already a digital divide (from its Wikipedia entry),

The digital divide is a gap between those who have access to new technology and those who do not … people without access to the Internet and other ICTs [information and communication technologies] are at a socio-economic disadvantage because they are unable or less able to find and apply for jobs, shop and sell online, participate democratically, or research and learn.

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After reading Wolbring’s comments, it’s not hard to imagine a neural implant/neuroprosthetic divide with its attendant psychological and social consequences.

What kind of human am I?

There are other issues as noted in my September 17, 2020 posting. I’ve already mentioned ‘patient 6’, the woman who developed a symbiotic relationship with her brain/computer interface. This is how the relationship ended,

… He [Frederic Gilbert, ethicist] is now preparing a follow-up report on Patient 6. The company that implanted the device in her brain to help free her from seizures went bankrupt. The device had to be removed.

… Patient 6 cried as she told Gilbert about losing the device. … “I lost myself,” she said.

“It was more than a device,” Gilbert says. “The company owned the existence of this new person.”

…

Above human

The possibility that implants will not merely restore or endow someone with ‘standard’ sight or hearing or motion or … but will augment or improve on nature was broached in this May 2, 2013 posting, More than human—a bionic ear that extends hearing beyond the usual frequencies and is one of many in the ‘Human Enhancement’ category on this blog.

More recently, Hugh Herr, an Associate Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), leader of the Biomechatronics research group at MIT’s Media Lab, a double amputee, and prosthetic enthusiast, starred in the recent (February 23, 2022) broadcast of ‘Augmented‘ on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) science programme, Nova.

I found ‘Augmented’ a little offputting as it gave every indication of being an advertisement for Herr’s work in the form of a hero’s journey. I was not able to watch more than 10 mins. This preview gives you a pretty good idea of what it was like although the part in ‘Augmented, where he says he’d like to be a cyborg hasn’t been included,

At a guess, there were a few talking heads (taking up from 10%-20% of the running time) who provided some cautionary words to counterbalance the enthusiasm in the rest of the programme. It’s a standard approach designed to give the impression that both sides of a question are being recognized. The cautionary material is usually inserted past the 1/2 way mark while leaving several minutes at the end for returning to the more optimistic material.

In a February 2, 2010 posting I have excerpts from an article featuring quotes from Herr that I still find startling,

Written by Paul Hochman for Fast Company, Bionic Legs, iLimbs, and Other Super-Human Prostheses [ETA March 23, 2022: an updated version of the article is now on Genius.com] delves further into the world where people may be willing to trade a healthy limb for a prosthetic. From the article,

There are many advantages to having your leg amputated.

Pedicure costs drop 50% overnight. A pair of socks lasts twice as long. But Hugh Herr, the director of the Biomechatronics Group at the MIT Media Lab, goes a step further. “It’s actually unfair,” Herr says about amputees’ advantages over the able-bodied. “As tech advancements in prosthetics come along, amputees can exploit those improvements. They can get upgrades. A person with a natural body can’t.”

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Herr is not the only one who favours prosthetics (also from the Hochman article),

This influx of R&D cash, combined with breakthroughs in materials science and processor speed, has had a striking visual and social result: an emblem of hurt and loss has become a paradigm of the sleek, modern, and powerful. Which is why Michael Bailey, a 24-year-old student in Duluth, Georgia, is looking forward to the day when he can amputate the last two fingers on his left hand.

“I don’t think I would have said this if it had never happened,” says Bailey, referring to the accident that tore off his pinkie, ring, and middle fingers. “But I told Touch Bionics I’d cut the rest of my hand off if I could make all five of my fingers robotic.”

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But Bailey is most surprised by his own reaction. “When I’m wearing it, I do feel different: I feel stronger. As weird as that sounds, having a piece of machinery incorporated into your body, as a part of you, well, it makes you feel above human.[emphasis mine] It’s a very powerful thing.”

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My September 17, 2020 posting touches on more ethical and social issues including some of those surrounding consumer neurotechnologies or brain-computer interfaces (BCI). Unfortunately, I don’t have space for these issues here.

As for Paul Hochman’s article, Bionic Legs, iLimbs, and Other Super-Human Prostheses, now on Genius.com, it has been updated.

Money makes the world go around

Money and business practices have been indirectly referenced (for the most part) up to now in this posting. The February 15, 2022 IEEE Spectrum article and Hochman’s article, Bionic Legs, iLimbs, and Other Super-Human Prostheses, cover two aspects of the money angle.

In the IEEE Spectrum article, a tech start-up company, Second Sight, ran into financial trouble and is acquired by a company that has no plans to develop Second Sight’s core technology. The people implanted with the Argus II technology have been stranded as were ‘patient 6’ and others participating in the clinical trial described in the July 24, 2019 article by Liam Drew for Nature Outlook: The brain mentioned earlier in this posting.

I don’t know anything about the business bankruptcy mentioned in the Drew article but one of the business problems described in the IEEE Spectrum article suggests that Second Sight was founded before answering a basic question, “What is the market size for this product?”

On 18 July 2019, Second Sight sent Argus patients a letter saying it would be phasing out the retinal implant technology to clear the way for the development of its next-generation brain implant for blindness, Orion, which had begun a clinical trial with six patients the previous year. …

“The leadership at the time didn’t believe they could make [the Argus retinal implant] part of the business profitable,” Greenberg [Robert Greenberg, Second Sight co-founder] says. “I understood the decision, because I think the size of the market turned out to be smaller than we had thought.”

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The question of whether a medical procedure or medicine can be profitable (or should the question be sufficiently profitable?) was referenced in my April 26, 2019 posting in the context of gene editing and personalized medicine

Edward Abrahams, president of the Personalized Medicine Coalition (US-based), advocates for personalized medicine while noting in passing, market forces as represented by Goldman Sachs in his May 23, 2018 piece for statnews.com (Note: A link has been removed),

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Goldman Sachs, for example, issued a report titled “The Genome Revolution.” It argues that while “genome medicine” offers “tremendous value for patients and society,” curing patients may not be “a sustainable business model.” [emphasis mine] The analysis underlines that the health system is not set up to reap the benefits of new scientific discoveries and technologies. Just as we are on the precipice of an era in which gene therapies, gene-editing, and immunotherapies promise to address the root causes of disease, Goldman Sachs says that these therapies have a “very different outlook with regard to recurring revenue versus chronic therapies.”

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The ‘Glybera’ story in my July 4, 2019 posting (scroll down about 40% of the way) highlights the issue with “recurring revenue versus chronic therapies,”

Kelly Crowe in a November 17, 2018 article for the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) news writes about Glybera,

It is one of this country’s great scientific achievements.

“The first drug ever approved that can fix a faulty gene.

It’s called Glybera, and it can treat a painful and potentially deadly genetic disorder with a single dose — a genuine made-in-Canada medical breakthrough.

But most Canadians have never heard of it.

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Here’s my summary (from the July 4, 2019 posting),

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It cost $1M for a single treatment and that single treatment is good for at least 10 years.

Pharmaceutical companies make their money from repeated use of their medicaments and Glybera required only one treatment so the company priced it according to how much they would have gotten for repeated use, $100,000 per year over a 10 year period. The company was not able to persuade governments and/or individuals to pay the cost

In the end, 31 people got the treatment, most of them received it for free through clinical trials.

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For rich people only?

Megan Devlin’s March 8, 2022 article for the Daily Hive announces a major research investment into medical research (Note: A link has been removed),

Vancouver [Canada] billionaire Chip Wilson revealed Tuesday [March 8, 2022] that he has a rare genetic condition that causes his muscles to waste away, and announced he’s spending $100 million on research to find a cure.

His condition is called facio-scapulo-humeral muscular dystrophy, or FSHD for short. It progresses rapidly in some people and more slowly in others, but is characterized by progressive muscle weakness starting the the face, the neck, shoulders, and later the lower body.

“I’m out for survival of my own life,” Wilson said.

“I also have the resources to do something about this which affects so many people in the world.”

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Wilson hopes the $100 million will produce a cure or muscle-regenerating treatment by 2027.

“This could be one of the biggest discoveries of all time, for humankind,” Wilson said. “Most people lose muscle, they fall, and they die. If we can keep muscle as we age this can be a longevity drug like we’ve never seen before.”

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According to rarediseases.org, FSHD affects between four and 10 people out of every 100,000 [emphasis mine], Right now, therapies are limited to exercise and pain management. There is no way to stall or reverse the disease’s course.

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Wilson is best known for founding athleisure clothing company Lululemon. He also owns the most expensive home in British Columbia, a $73 million mansion in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood.

Let’s see what the numbers add up to,

4 – 10 people out of 100,000

40 – 100 people out of 1M

1200 – 3,000 people out of 30M (let’s say this is Canada’s population)\

12,000 – 30,000 people out of 300M (let’s say this is the US’s population)

42,000 – 105,000 out of 1.115B (let’s say this is China’s population)

The rough total comes to 55,200 to 138,000 people between three countries with a combined population total of 1.445B. Given how business currently operates, it seems unlikely that any company will want to offer Wilson’s hoped for medical therapy although he and possibly others may benefit from a clinical trial.

Should profit or wealth be considerations?

The stories about the patients with the implants and the patients who need Glybera are heartbreaking and point to a question not often asked when medical therapies and medications are developed. Is the profit model the best choice and, if so, how much profit?

I have no answer to that question but I wish it was asked by medical researchers and policy makers.

As for wealthy people dictating the direction for medical research, I don’t have answers there either. I hope the research will yield applications and/or valuable information for more than Wilson’s disease.

It’s his money after all

Wilson calls his new venture, SolveFSHD. It doesn’t seem to be affiliated with any university or biomedical science organization and it’s not clear how the money will be awarded (no programmes, no application procedure, no panel of experts). There are three people on the team, Eva R. Chin, scientist and executive director, Chip Wilson, SolveFSHD founder/funder, and FSHD patient, and Neil Camarta, engineer, executive (fossil fuels and clean energy), and FSHD patient. There’s also a Twitter feed (presumably for the latest updates): https://twitter.com/SOLVEFSHD.

Perhaps unrelated but intriguing is news about a proposed new building in Kenneth Chan’s March 31, 2022 article for the Daily Hive,

Low Tide Properties, the real estate arm of Lululemon founder Chip Wilson [emphasis mine], has submitted a new development permit application to build a 148-ft-tall, eight-storey, mixed-use commercial building in the False Creek Flats of Vancouver.

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The proposal, designed by local architectural firm Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership, calls for 236,000 sq ft of total floor area, including 105,000 sq ft of general office space, 102,000 sq ft of laboratory space [emphasis mine], and 5,000 sq ft of ground-level retail space. An outdoor amenity space for building workers will be provided on the rooftop.

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[next door] The 2001-built, five-storey building at 1618 Station Street immediately to the west of the development site is also owned by Low Tide Properties [emphasis mine]. The Ferguson, the name of the existing building, contains about 79,000 sq ft of total floor area, including 47,000 sq ft of laboratory space and 32,000 sq ft of general office space. Biotechnology company Stemcell technologies [STEMCELL] Technologies] is the anchor tenant [emphasis mine].

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I wonder if this proposed new building will house SolveFSHD and perhaps other FSHD-focused enterprises. The proximity of STEMCELL Technologies could be quite convenient. In any event, $100M will buy a lot (pun intended).

The end

Issues I’ve described here in the context of neural implants/neuroprosthetics and cutting edge medical advances are standard problems not specific to these technologies/treatments:

  • What happens when the technology fails (hopefully not at a critical moment)?
  • What happens when your supplier goes out of business or discontinues the products you purchase from them?
  • How much does it cost?
  • Who can afford the treatment/product? Will it only be for rich people?
  • Will this technology/procedure/etc. exacerbate or create new social tensions between social classes, cultural groups, religious groups, races, etc.?

Of course, having your neural implant fail suddenly in the middle of a New York City subway station seems a substantively different experience than having your car break down on the road.

There are, of course, there are the issues we can’t yet envision (as Wolbring notes) and there are issues such as symbiotic relationships with our implants and/or feeling that you are “above human.” Whether symbiosis and ‘implant/prosthetic superiority’ will affect more than a small number of people or become major issues is still to be determined.

There’s a lot to be optimistic about where new medical research and advances are concerned but I would like to see more thoughtful coverage in the media (e.g., news programmes and documentaries like ‘Augmented’) and more thoughtful comments from medical researchers.

Of course, the biggest issue I’ve raised here is about the current business models for health care products where profit is valued over people’s health and well-being. it’s a big question and I don’t see any definitive answers but the question put me in mind of this quote (from a September 22, 2020 obituary for US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irene Monroe for Curve),

Ginsburg’s advocacy for justice was unwavering and showed it, especially with each oral dissent. In another oral dissent, Ginsburg quoted a familiar Martin Luther King Jr. line, adding her coda:” ‘The arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice,’” but only “if there is a steadfast commitment to see the task through to completion.” …

Martin Luther King Jr. popularized and paraphrased the quote (from a January 18, 2018 article by Mychal Denzel Smith for Huffington Post),

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His use of the quote is best understood by considering his source material. “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice” is King’s clever paraphrasing of a portion of a sermon delivered in 1853 by the abolitionist minister Theodore Parker. Born in Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1810, Parker studied at Harvard Divinity School and eventually became an influential transcendentalist and minister in the Unitarian church. In that sermon, Parker said: “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe. The arc is a long one. My eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by experience of sight. I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.”

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I choose to keep faith that people will get the healthcare products they need and that all of us need to keep working at making access more fair.

General Fusion moves headquarters to Vancouver Airport (sort of)

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Nuclear energy is not usually of much interest to me but there is a Canadian company doing some interesting work in that area. So, before getting to the news about the company’s move, here’s a general description of fusion energy and how General Fusion (the company) is approaching the clean energy problem, from a June 18, 2021 posting by Bob McDonald on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) Quirks and Quarks blog (Note: Links have been removed),

Vancouver-based fusion energy company General Fusion has entered an agreement with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority to build a nuclear fusion demonstration plant to be operational in 2025. It will take a unique approach to generating clean energy.   

There is an industry joke that fusion energy has been 20 years away for 50 years. The quest to produce clean energy by duplicating the processes happening at the centre of the sun has been a difficult and expensive challenge.

It has yet to be accomplished on anything like a commercial scale. That is partly because on Earth the fusion process involves handling materials at extreme pressures and temperatures many times hotter than the surface of the sun.

The nuclear technology that has provided electricity for decades around the world relies on fission, which splits heavy atoms such as uranium into lighter elements, releasing energy. However, this produces hazardous and durable radioactive waste that must be stored, and more catastrophically has led to major accidents at Chernobyl and Fukushima.

Fusion is the opposite of fission. Lighter elements such as hydrogen are heated and compressed to fuse into heavier ones. This releases energy, but with a much smaller legacy of radioactive waste, and no risk of meltdown.

The world’s largest fusion reactor experiment, ITER (Latin for “the way”) [International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor] is currently under construction in southern France. It’s a massive international collaboration developing on fusion technology that’s been been explored since it was invented in the Soviet Union in the 1950s. It involves a doughnut-shaped metallic chamber called a tokamak that is surrounded by incredibly powerful superconducting magnets. 

An electrically charged gas, or plasma, will be injected into the chamber where the magnets hold it, compressed and suspended, so it does not touch the walls and burn through them. The plasma will be heated to the unbelievable temperature of 150 million C, when fusion begins to take place.

And therein lies the problem. So far, experimental fusion reactors have required more energy to heat the plasma to start the fusion reaction than can be harvested from the reaction itself. Size is part of the problem. Demonstration reactors are small and meant to test equipment and materials, not produce power. ITER is supposed to be large enough to produce 10 times as much power as is required to heat up its plasma.

And that’s the holy grail of fusion: to produce enough power that the nuclear fusion reaction can become self-sustaining.

General Fusion takes a completely different approach by using mechanical pressure to contain and heat the plasma, rather than gigantic electromagnets. A series of powerful pistons surround a container of liquid metal with the hydrogen plasma in the centre. The pistons mechanically squeeze the liquid on all sides at once, heating the fuel by compression the way fuel in a diesel engine is compressed and heated in a cylinder until it ignites. 

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Exciting, eh? If you have time, you may want to read McDonald’s June 18, 2021 posting for a few more details about General Fusion’s technology and for some embedded images.

At one point I was under the impression that General Fusion was involved with ITER but that seems to have been a misunderstanding on my part.

I first wrote about General Fusion in a December 2, 2011 posting titled: Burnaby-based company (Canada) challenges fossil fuel consumption with nuclear fusion. (For those unfamiliar with the Vancouver area, there’s the city of Vancouver and there’s Vancouver Metro, which includes the city of Vancouver and others in the region. Burnaby is part of Metro Vancouver; General Fusion is moving to Sea Island (near Vancouver Airport), in Richmond, which is also in Metro Vancouver.) Kenneth Chan’s October 20, 2021 article for the Daily Hive gives more detail about General Fusion’s new facilities (Note: A link has been removed),

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The new facility will span two buildings at 6020 and 6082 Russ Baker Way, near YVR’s [Vancouver Airport] South Terminal. This includes a larger building previously used for aircraft engine maintenance and repair.

The relocation process could start before the end of 2021, allowing the company to more than quadruple its workforce over the coming years. Currently, it employs about 140 people.

The Sea Island [in Richmond] facility will house its corporate offices, primary fusion technology development division, and many of its engineering laboratories. This new facility provides General Fusion with the ability to build a new demonstration prototype to support the commercialization of its magnetized target fusion technology.

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The company’s research and development into practical fusion technology as a zero-carbon power solution to address the world’s growing energy needs, while fighting climate change, is supported by the federal governments of Canada, US, and UK.

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General Fusion is backed by dozens of large global private investors, including Bezos Expeditions, which is the personal investment entity for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. It has raised a total of about USD$200 million in financing to date.

“British Columbia is at the centre of a thriving, world-class technology innovation ecosystem, just the right place for us to continue investing in our growing workforce and the future of our company,” said Christofer Mowry, CEO of General Fusion, in a statement.

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Earlier this year, YVR also indicated it is considering allowing commercial and industrial developments on several hundred acres of under-utilized parcels of land next to the north and south runways, for uses that complement airport activities. This would also provide the airport with a new source of revenue, after major financial losses from the years-long impact of COVID-19.

You can find General Fusion here and you can find ITER here.

Autonopia will pilot automated window cleaning in Vancouver (Canada) in 2022

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Construction worker working outdoors with the project. Courtesy: Autonopia

Kenneth Chan in a June 10, 2021 article for the Daily Hive describes a startup company in Vancouver (Canada), which hopes to run a pilot project in 2022 for its “HŌMĀN, a highly capable, fast and efficient autonomous machine, designed specifically for cleaning the glasses [windows] perfectly and quickly.” (The description is from Autonopia’s homepage.)

Chan’s June 10, 2021 article describe the new automated window washer as a roomba-like robot,

The business of washing windows on a tower with human labour is a dangerous, inefficient, and costly practice, but a Vancouver innovator’s robotic solution could potentially disrupt this service globally.

Researchers with robotic systems startup Autonopia have come up with a robot that can mimic the behaviour of human window washers, including getting into the nooks and crannies of all types of complicated building facades — any surface structure.

It is also far more efficient than humans, cleaning windows three to four times faster, and can withstand wind and cold temperatures. According to a [news?] release, the robot is described as a modular device with a plug-and-play design [emphasis mine] that allows it to work on any building without requiring any additional infrastructure to be installed.

While artificial intelligence and the robotic device replaces manual work, it still requires a skilled operator to oversee the cleaning.

“It’s intimidating, hard work that most workers don’t want to do, [emphasis mine]” said Autonopia co-founder Mohammad Dabiri, who came up with the idea after witnessing an accident in Southeast Asia [emphasis mine].

“There’s high overhead to manage the hiring, allocation and training of workers, and sometimes they quit as soon as it comes time to go on a high rise.”

…

“We realized this problem has existed for a while, and yet none of the available solutions has managed to scale,” said Kamali Hossein, the co-founder and CTO of Autonopia, and a Mitacs postdoctoral research [sic] in mechatronic systems engineering at Simon Fraser University.

…

To clarify, the company is Autonopia and the product the company is promoting is HŌMĀN, an automated or robotic window washer for tall buildings (towers).

HŌMĀN (as it’s written in the Encyclopedia Iranica) or Houmān, as it’s written in Wikipedia, seems to be a literary hero or, perhaps, superhero,

… is one of the most famous Turanian heroes in Shahnameh, the national epic of Greater Iran. Houmān is famous for his bravery, loyalty, and chivalry, such that even Iranians who are longtime enemies of Turanians admire his personality. He is a descendant of Tur, a son of Viseh and brother of Piran. Houmān is the highest ranking Turanian commander and after Piran, he is the second leading member of Viseh clan. Houman first appears in the story of Rostam and Sohrab, …

Autonopia’s website is very attractive and weirdly uninformative. I looked for a more in depth description of ‘plug and play’ and found this,

Modular and Maintainable

The design of simple, but highly capable and modular components, along with the overall simplicity of the robot structure allows for a shorter build time and maintenance turnover. …

Cleans any tower

The flexible and capable design of the robot allows it to adjust to the complexities of the structures and it can maneuver uneven surfaces of different buildings very quickly and safely. No tower is off-limits for HŌMĀN. It is designed to cater to the specific requirements of each high-rise

…

I wish there were more details about the hardware and the software, e.g., there’s no mention of artificial intelligence as mentioned in Chan’s article.

As for whether or not this is “intimidating, hard work that most workers don’t want to do,” I wonder how Mohammad Dabiri can be so certain. If this product is successful, it will have an impact on people who rely on this work for their livelihoods. Possibly adding some insult to injury, Dabiri and Hossein claim their product is better at the job than humans are.

Nobody can argue about making work safer but it would be nice if some of these eager, entrepreneurial types put some thought into the impact both positive and negative that their bright ideas can have on other people.

As for whether HŌMĀN can work on any tower, photographs like the one at the beginning of this posting, feature modern office buildings which look like glass sheets held together with steel and concrete. So, it doesn’t look likely to work (and it’s probably not feasible from a business perspective) on older buildings with fewer stories, stone ornamentation, and even more nooks and crannies. As for some of the newer buildings which feature odd shapes and are reintroducing ornamentation, I’d imagine that will be problematic. But perhaps the market is overseas where tall buildings can range from 65 stories to over 100 stories (Wikipedia ‘List of tallest buildings‘). After all the genesis for this project was an incident in Southeast Asia. Vancouver doesn’t have 65 story buildings—yet. But, I’m sure there’s a developer or two out there with some plans.

Who’s running the life science companies’ public relations campaign in British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada)?

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I started writing this in the aftermath of the 2021 Canadian federal budget when most of the action (so far) occurred but if you keep going to the end of this post you’ll find updates for Precision Nanosystems and AcCellera and a few extra bits. Also, you may want to check out my August 20, 2021 posting (Getting erased from the mRNA/COVID-19 story) about Ian MacLachlan and some of the ‘rough and tumble’ of the biotechnology scene in BC/Canada. Now, onto my analysis of the life sciences public relations campaign in British Columbia.

Gordon Hoekstra’s May 7, 2021 article (also in print on May 8, 2021) about the British Columbia (mostly in Vancouver) biotechnology scene in the Vancouver Sun is the starting point for this story.

His entry (whether the reporter realizes it or not) into a communications (or public relations) campaign spanning federal, provincial, and municipal jurisdictions is well written and quite informative. While it’s tempting to attribute the whole thing to a single evil genius or mastermind in answer to the question posed in the head, the ‘campaign’ is likely a targeted effort by one or more groups and individuals enhanced with a little luck.

Federal and provincial money for life sciences and technology

The Business Council of British Columbia’s April 22, 2021 Federal & B.C. Budgets 2021 Analysis (PDF), notes this in its Highlights section,

…

•Another priority reflected in both budgets is boosting innovation and accelerating the growth of technology-producing companies. The federal budget [April 19, 2021] is spending billions more to support the life sciences and bio-manufacturing industry, clean technologies, the development of electric vehicles, the aerospace sector, quantum computing, AI, genomics, and digital technologies, among others.

•B.C.’s budget [April 20, 2021] also provides funding to spur innovation, support the technology sector and grow locally-based companies. In this area the main item is the new InBC Investment Corporation [emphasis mine], first announced last summer. Endowed with $500 million financed via an agency loan, the Corporation will establish a fund to invest in growing and “anchoring” high-growth [emphasis mine] B.C. businesses.

…

Their in-depth analysis does not provide more detail about the life sciences investments in the 2021 Canadian federal budget or the 2021 BC provincial budget.

My May 4, 2021 posting details many of the Canadian federal investments in life sciences and other technology areas of interest. The 2021 BC budget announcement is so vague, it didn’t merit much more than this mention until now.

InBC Investment Corporation (BC’s contribution)

InBC Investment Corporation was set up on or about April 27, 2021 as three news ‘references’ (brief summaries with a link) suggest: InBC Investment Corp. Act, InBC Announcement, $500-million investment fund paves way for StrongerBC.

While the corporation does not have a specific mandate to fund the biotechnology sector, given the current enthusiasm, it’s easy to believe they might be more inclined to fund them than not, regardless of any expertise they or may not have specifically in that field.

Of most interest to me was InBC’s Board of Directors, which I tracked down to a BC Ministry of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation May 6, 2021 news release,

InBC Investment Corp. now has a full board of directors with backgrounds in finance, economics, impact investing and business to provide strategic guidance and accountability for the new Crown corporation.

InBC will support startups [emphasis mine], help promising companies scale up and work with a “triple bottom line” mandate that considers people, the planet and profits, to position British Columbia as a front-runner in the post-pandemic economy.

…

Christine Bergeron, president and chief executive officer of Vancity, will serve as the new board chair of InBC Investment Corp. The nine-member board of directors is made up of both public and private sector members who are responsible for oversight of the corporation, including its mission, policies and goals.

…

The InBC board members were selected through a comprehensive process, guided by the principles of the Crown Agencies and Board Resourcing Office. Candidates with a variety of relevant backgrounds were considered to form a strong board consisting of seven women and two men. The members appointed represent diversity as well as appropriate areas of expertise.

The following people were selected as members on the board of directors:

  • Christine Bergeron, president and CEO, Vancity
  • Kevin Campbell, managing director of investment banking, board of directors, Haywood Securities
  • Ingrid Leong, VP finance for JH Investments and chief investment officer, Houssian Foundation
  • Glen Lougheed, serial tech entrepreneur and angel investor
  • Suzanne Trottier, vice-president of Indigenous trust services, First Nations Bank Trust
  • Carole James, former minister of finance and deputy premier, Government of British Columbia
  • Iglika Ivanova, senior economist, public interest researcher, BC Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
  • Bobbi Plecas, deputy minister, B.C.’s Ministry of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation
  • Heather Wood, deputy minister, B.C.’s Ministry of Finance

Legislation to provide the governance framework for InBC was introduced by the legislative assembly on April 27, 2021.

…

Board experience at growing a startup?

This group of people doesn’t seem to have a shred of experience with startups. Glen Lougheed’s “serial tech entrepreneur and angel investor” description means nothing to me and the description he provides in his LinkedIn profile doesn’t clear up matters,

I am a product and business development professional with an entrepreneurial attitude and strong technical skills. I have been building companies both mine and others since I was a teenager.

Having looked up the two companies for which he is currently acting as Chief Executive Officer, Lougheed’s interest appears to be focused on the use of ‘big data’ in marketing and communications campaigns.

Perhaps startup experience isn’t necessary since the board has been appointed to do this (from the BC Ministry of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation May 6, 2021 news release; click on the Backgrounder),

Responsibilities of the InBC Investment Corp. board of directors

The board of directors will be responsible for oversight of the management of the affairs of the corporation. This includes:

  • selecting and approving the chief executive officer and chief innovation officer and monitoring performance and accountabilities;
  • reviewing and approving annual corporate financial statements;
  • oversight of policies that relate to InBC’s mandate and holding the executive to account for its accountabilities with respect to InBC’s mandate;
  • oversight of InBC’s operations; and
  • selection and appointment of InBC’s auditor.

Relationships

So, we have two government civil servants, Wood (Deputy Minister of B.C.’s Ministry of Finance) and Plecas (Deputy Minister of B.C.’s Ministry of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation), and James, a BC Minister of Finance, who left the job several months ago. Then we have Lougheed, recently resigned (May 2021) as special advisor on innovation and technology to the BC Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation.

It would seem almost half of this new board is or has been affiliated with the government and, likely, know each other.

I expect there are more relationships to be found but my interest is in the overall picture as it pertains to the biotechnology scene. This board (except possibly for Lougheed) does not seem to have any experience in the biotechnology sector or growing any sort of startup business in any technology field.

Presumably, the new chief executive officer (CEO) and new chief innovation officer (CIO) will have some of the necessary experience. Still, biotechnology isn’t the same as digital technology, an area where the BC technology community is quite strong. (The Canadian federal government’s Digital Technology Supercluster is headquartered in BC.)

I imagine the politics around who gets hired as CEO and as CIO will be quite interesting.

See the ‘Updates and extras’ at the end of this posting for more mention of this ‘secretive’ government corporation.

The BC biotech gorillas

AbCellera was BC’s biggest biotech story in 2020/21 (see my Avo Media, Science Telephone, and a Canadian COVID-19 billionaire scientist post from December 30, 2020 for more. Do check out the subsection titled “Avo Media …” for a look at an unexpectedly interlaced relationship). Note: The AbCellera COVID-19 treatment is not a vaccine or a vaccine delivery system.

It was a bit surprising that Acuitas Therapeutics didn’t get more attention although Hoekstra seems to have addressed that shortcoming in his May 7, 2021 article by using Thomas Madden and Acuitas as the hook for the story,

By early 2020, concern was mounting about a new, deadly coronavirus first detected in Wuhan, China.

The World Health Organization had declared the coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency just days before. There had been more than 400 deaths and more than 20,000 cases, most of those in China.

But the virus was spreading around the world. Deaths had occurred in Hong Kong and the Philippines, and the virus had been detected in the U.S. and Canada.

By early January of 2020, scientists in China had already sequenced the virus’s genome and made it public, allowing scientists to begin the research for a vaccine.

Scientists expected that could take years.

But, as a second case was confirmed in B.C. in early February, Thomas Madden, a world-renowned expert in nanotechnology who heads Vancouver-based biotech company Acuitas Therapeutics, flew to Germany. [emphases mine]

Acuitas was in the business of creating lipid nanoparticles, microscopic biological vehicles that could deliver drugs [emphasis mine] — for example, to specifically target cancers in the body.

…

Scientists are already beginning to say it’s likely that a booster vaccine will be needed [emphasis mine] next year to deal with the virus variants.

Madden, the head of Acuitas, says it makes absolute sense to use the new biotechnology, for example, the use of messenger RNA vaccines, to prepare and fight future pandemics.

Says Madden [emphasis mine]: “The technology in terms of what it’s able to do is absolutely phenomenal. It’s just taken us 40 years to get here.”

So, Hoekstra reminds us of the international nature and urgency of the crisis, then, introduces Acuitas as a vital and local player in solutions deployed internationally, and, finally, brings us back to Acuitas after providing an overview of the BC biotech scene and the federal and provincial government’s latest moves,

AbCellera Biologics is more of a supporting player, along with a number of other companies, in Hoekstra’s story,

Sandwiched in the middle, you’ll find what I think is the point of the story,

LifeSciences BC and the provincial government’s commitments

From Hoekstra’s May 7, 2021 article,

The importance of the biotech sector in providing protection against pandemics has caught the attention of the federal and B.C. governments. It has also been noticed by the private markets.

In its budget [April 19, 2021] earlier this month [sic], the federal government promised more than $2 billion in the next seven years to support “promising” life sciences and bio-manufacturing firms, research, training, education and vaccine candidates.

Some companies, including Precision NanoSystems, have already got federal funding. The Vancouver company received $18.2 million last year to help develop its self-replicating mRNA vaccine and another $25 million in early 2021 to assist building a $50-million facility to produce the vaccine.

Last fall, Symvivo received $2.8 million from the National Research Council to help develop its oral COVID-19 vaccine.

AbCellera has also received a pledge of $175.6 million to help build an accredited manufacturing facility in Vancouver [emphasis mine] to produce antibody treatments.

AbCellera expects to double its 230-person workforce over the next two years as it expands its Vancouver campus.

When AbCellera became a publicly traded company late last year, it raised more than $500 million and had a recent market capitalization, the value of its stock, of about $8.5 billion.

When the B.C. government delivered its throne speech recently, the contribution of the province’s life sciences sector in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic was highlighted, with Precision NanoSystems, AbCellera and StarFish Medical getting mentions. “Their work will not only help bring us out of the pandemic, it will position our province for success in the years ahead,” said B.C.’s Lt. Gov. Jane Austen in delivering the throne speech.

When the budget was released the following week [April 20, 2021], B.C. Finance Minister Selina Robinson said a new three-year, $500-million strategic investment fund would help support and scale up tech firms.

Despite their successes, B.C. biotech firms have faced challenges.

SaNOtize had to go to the U.K. to get support for clinical trials and AbCellera has been disappointed that despite Health Canada emergency approval of its COVID-19 treatment, provinces have been reluctant to use Bamlanivimab.

Hansen, AbCellera’s CEO and a former University of B.C. professor with a PhD in applied physics and biotechnology, said he believes that biotech is the most important frontier of technology.

In the past, while great science was launched from B.C.’s universities, not as great a job was done on turning that science into innovation, jobs [emphasis mine] and the capacity to bring new products to market, possibly because of a lack of entrepreneurship and polices to make it more attractive to companies to grow and thrive here and move here, notes Hansen.

Hurlburt [Wendy Hurlburt], the LifeSciences B.C. CEO, says that policies, including tax structure and patenting [emphasis mine], that encourages innovation companies are needed to support the biotech sector.

But, adds Hansen: “Here in Vancouver, I feel like we’re turning the corner. There’s probably never been a time when Vancouver’s biotech sector [emphasis mine] was stronger. And the future looks very good.”

…

Not only is the province involved but so is the City of Vancouver (more about that in a bit).

It’s not all about the cash

Hoekstra’s May 7, 2021 article helped answer a question I had in the title of another posting, January 22, 2021: Why is Precision Nanosystems Inc. in the local (Vancouver, Canada) newspaper? (See the ‘Updates and extras’ at the end of this posting for more to the answer.)

This campaign has been building for a while. In the “Is it magic or how does the federal budget get developed? subsection of my May 4, 2021 posting on the 2021 Canadian federal budget I speculated a little bit,

I believe most of the priorities are set by power players behind the scenes. We glimpsed some of the dynamics courtesy of the WE Charity scandal 2020/21 and the SNC-Lavalin scandal in 2019.

Access to special meetings and encounters are not likely to be given to any member of the ‘great unwashed’ but we do get to see the briefs that are submitted in anticipation of a new budget. These briefs and meetings with witnesses are available on the Parliament of Canada website (Standing Committee on Finance (FINA) webpage for pre-budget consultations.

…

AbCellera submitted a brief dated August 7, 2020 (PDF) detailing how they would like to see the Income Tax Act amended. It’s not always about getting cash, although that’s very important. In this brief, the company wants “… improved access to the enhanced Scientific Research & Experimental Development tax credit.”

There are many aspects to these campaigns including the federal Income Tax Act and, in this case, municipal involvement.

Vancouver (city government) and the biotech sector

About five weeks prior to the 2021 Canadian federal budget and BC provincial budget announcements, there was some news from the City of Vancouver (from a March 10, 2021 article by Kenneth Chan for dailyhive.com), Note: Links have been removed,

Major expansion plans are abound for AbCellera over the next few years to the extent that the Vancouver-based biotechnology company is now looking to build a massive purpose-built office and medical laboratory campus in Mount Pleasant (Vancouver neighbourhood).

It would be a redevelopment of the entire city block …

… earlier today, Vancouver City Council unanimously approved a rezoning enquiry allowing city staff to work with the proponent and accept a formal application for review.

This special additional pre-application step is required due to the temporary ban [emphasis mine] on most types of rezonings within the Broadway Plan’s planning area, until the plan is finalized at the end of 2021.

But city staff are willing to make this a rare exception due to the economic opportunity [emphasis mine] presented by the proposal and the healthcare-related aspects.

“The reasons for advancing this quickly are they are rapidly growing and would like to stay in Vancouver, and we would like them to… We’re very glad to have this company in Vancouver and want to provide them with a permanent home, but in order to scale up, the timeframe to produce their therapy [for viruses] is really time sensitive,” Gil Kelley, the chief urban planner of the City of Vancouver, told city council during today’s [March 10, 2021] meeting.

….

Roughly 10 days after the 2021 budgets are announced, there’s this from Kenneth Chan’s April 29,2021 article on dailyhive.com,

Plans for AbCellera Biologics’ major footprint expansion in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant Industrial Area are moving forward quickly.

Based on the application submitted this week, the Vancouver-based biotechnology company is proposing to redevelop 110 West 4th Avenue …

It will be designated as the rapidly growing company’s global headquarters.

… city staff are providing AbCellera with the highly rare, expedited stream of combining the rezoning and development application processes into one.

…

By the middle of this decade, AbCellera will have four locations in the area, including its current 21,000 sq ft office at 2215 Yukon Street and a new 44,000 sq ft office nearing completion at 2131 Manitoba Street, just south of its future main hub.

“We’re building state-of-the-art facilities in Vancouver to accelerate the development of new antibody therapies with biotech and pharma partners from around the world,” said Carl Hansen, CEO and president of AbCellera, in a statement.

…

AbCellera has gained significant international attention over the past year after it co-developed the first authorized COVID-19 antibody therapy for emergency use in high-risk patients in Canada and the United States.

In late 2020, the company closed a successful initial public offering, bringing in $556 million after selling nearly 28 million shares, far exceeding its original goal of raising $250 million. It was the largest-ever IPO [initial public offering] by a Canadian biotech company.

…

“We see this new site as a creative hub for engineers, software developers, data scientists, biologists and bioinformaticians to collaborate, innovate, and push the frontiers of technology.” [said Veronique Lecault, the COO of AbCellera]

Additionally, AbCellera is also planning to build a clinical-grade, antibody manufacturing facility in Metro Vancouver, funded in part by the $176-million investment it received from the federal government in Spring 2020 [see May 3, 2020 AbCellera news release].

Not cash but AbCellera did get an expedited process for rezoning and I imagine there will be more special treatment as this progresses. (See the ‘Updates and extras’ at the end of this posting for news about the expedited process.)

It’s likely there are other companies in the BC’s life science sector that are eyeing this development with great interest and high hopes for themselves.

What it takes

COVID-19 seems to have galvanized interest and support almost everywhere in the world for life sciences.

I don’t believe that anyone in the life sciences planned for or rejoiced at news of this pandemic. However, the Canadian biotech sector has been working for decades to establish itself as an important economic resource. and, sadly, COVID-19 has been a timely development.

All those years of lobbying, also known as, government relations, marketing, investor relations, public relations and more served as preparation for what looks like a concerted effort and it has paid off in BC at the federal level, provincial level, and municipal level (at least one).

The campaigns continue. Here’s Wendy Hurlburt, president and CEO of LifeSciences BC in a May 14, 2021 Conversations That Matter Vancouver Sun podcast with Stuart McNish. Note: Hurlburt makes an odd comment at about the 7 min. 30 secs. mark regarding insulin and patents.

Her dismay over lost opportunities regarding the insulin patent is right in line with Canada’s current patent mania. See my May 13, 2021 posting, Not a pretty picture: Canada and a patent rights waiver for COVID-19 vaccines. As far as I’m aware, Canada’s stance has not changed. Interestingly, Hoekstra’s article doesn’t mention COVID-19 patent waivers.

By contrast, here’s what Frederick Banting (one of the discoverers) had to say about his patent, (from the Banting House Insulin Patents webpage),

About the sale of the patent of insulin for $1 Banting reportedly said, “Insulin belongs to the world, not to me.”

… On January 23rd, 1923 Banting, [Charles] Best, and [James] Collip were awarded the American patents for insulin which they sold to the University of Toronto for $1.00 each.

…

Hurlburt goes on to express dismay over taxes and notes that some companies may leave for other jurisdictions, which means we will lose ‘innovation’. This is a very common ploy coming from any of the technology sectors and can be dated back at least 30 years.

Unmentioned is the dream/business model that so many Canadian tech entrepreneurs have: grow the company, sell it for a lot of money, and retire, preferably before the age of 40.

Getting back to my point, the current situation is not attributable to one individual or to one company’s efforts or to one life science nonprofit or to one federal Network Centre for Excellence (NanoMedicines Innovation Network [NMIN] located at the University of British Columbia).

Note: I have more about the NMIN and Acuitas Therapeutics in a November 12, 2021 posting and there’s more about NMIN’s 7th annual conference and a very high profile guest in a September 11, 2020 posting.

Strategy at the federal, provincial, and local governments, with an eye to the international scene, has been augmented by luck and opportunism.

Updates and extras

Where updates are concerned I have one for Precision Nanosystems and one for AbCellera. I have extras with regard to Moderna and Canada and, BC’s special fund, inBC Investment Corporation. For anyone who’s curious about Banting and the high cost of insulin, I have a couple of links to further reading.

Precision Nanosystems

From an August 11, 2021 article by Kenneth Chan (Note: Links have been removed),

A homegrown pharmaceutical company has announced plans to significantly scale its operations with the opening of a new production facility in Vancouver’s False Creek Flats.

…

The new Evolution Block building will contain PNI’s new global headquarters and a new genetic medicine Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) biomanufacturing centre, which would allow the company to expand its capabilities to include the clinical manufacturing of RNA vaccines and therapeutics.

Federal funding totalling $25.1 million for PNI was first announced in February 2021 towards covering part of the development costs of such a facility, as part of the federal government’s new strategy to better ensure Canada has the domestic capacity to secure its own COVID-19 vaccines and prepare the country for future pandemics. It is estimated the vaccine production capacity of the new facility will be 240 million doses annually.

…

PNI’s location in the False Creek Flats is strategic, given the close proximity to the new St. Paul’s Hospital campus and the growing concentration of tech and healthcare-based industrial businesses.

…

AbCellera

From a June 22, 2021 article by Kenneth Chan (Note: Links have been removed),

…

The rapidly growing Vancouver-based biotechnology company announced this morning their 130,000 sq ft Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) facility will be located on a two-acre site at the 900 block of Evans Avenue, replacing the Urban Beach volleyball courts just next to the City of Vancouver’s Evans maintenance centre and the Regional Recycling Vancouver Bottle Depot.

…

GMP is partially funded by the $175 million in federal funding received by the company last year to support research into coronavirus treatment.

…

GMP adds to AbCellera’s major plans to build a new headquarters in close proximity at 110-150 West 4th Avenue in the Mount Pleasant Industrial Area — a city block-sized campus with a total of 380,000 sq ft of laboratory and office space for research and corporate uses.

…

Both campus buildings are being reviewed under the City of Vancouver’s rare streamlined, expedited process [emphasis mine] of combining the rezoning and development permit applications. AbCellera formally announced its campus plans in April 2021.

…

AbCellera gained significant international attention last year when it developed the world’s first monoclonal antibody therapy for COVID-19 to be authorized for emergency use in high-risk patients in Canada and the United States. According to the company, over 400,000 doses of its bamlanivimab drug have been administered around the world, and it is estimated to have kept more than 22,000 people out of hospital — saving at least 11,000 lives.

In late 2020, the company closed a successful initial public offering, bringing in $556 million after selling nearly 28 million shares, far exceeding its original goal of raising $250 million. It was the largest-ever IPO by a Canadian biotech company.

…

Moderna and Canada

It seems like yesterday that Derek Rossi (co-founder of Moderna) was talking about Canada’s need for a biotechnology hub. (see this June 17, 2021 article by Barbara Shecter for the Financial Post). Interestingly, there’s been an announcement of a memorandum of understanding (these things are announced all the time and don’t necessarily result in anything) between Moderna and the government of Canada according to an August 10, 2021 item on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) news website,

Massachusetts-based drug maker Moderna will build an mRNA vaccine manufacturing plant in Canada within the next two years, CEO Stephane Bancel said Tuesday [August 10, 2021; Note the timing, the writ for the next federal election was dropped on August 15, 2021].

The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with the federal government that will result in Canada becoming the home of Moderna’s first foreign operation. It’s not clear yet how much money Canada has offered to Moderna [emphasis mine] for the project.

…

Canada, whose life sciences industry has been decimated over the last three decades, wants in on the action. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised to rebuild the industry, and the recent budget included a $2.2 billion, seven-year investment to grow the life science and biotech sectors.

Almost half of that targets companies that want to expand or set up vaccine and drug production in Canada. None of the COVID-19 vaccines to date have been made in Canada, leaving the country entirely reliant on imports to fill vaccine orders. As a result, Canada was slower out of the gate on immunizations than some of its counterparts with domestic production, and likely had to pay more per dose for some vaccines as well.

…

The location of the new facility hasn’t been finalized, but Bancel said the availability of an educated workforce will be the main deciding factor. He said the design is done and they’ll need to start hiring very soon so training can begin.

it’s not exactly a hub but who knows what the future will bring? I imagine there’s going to be some serious wrangling behind the scenes as the provinces battle to be the location for the facility. Note that Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne who made the announcement with Bancel in Montréal represents a federal riding in Québec. (BTW, Bancel is from France and seems to have spent much of his adult life in the US.) Of course anything can happen and I’m sure the BC contingent will make themselves felt but it would seem that Quebec is the front runner for now, assuming this memorandum of understanding leads to a facility. Given that we are in the midst of a federal election, it seems more probable than it might otherwise.

inBC Investment Corporation

Bob Mackin’s August 13, 2021 article for theBreaker.news sheds some light on how that corporation was formed so very quickly and more,

The B.C. NDP government rejigged the B.C. Immigrant Investor Fund last year, but refused to release the business case when it was rebranded as inBC Investment Corp. in late April [2021].

theBreaker.news requested the business case for the $500 million fund, which is overseen by a board of NDP patronage appointees, on May 6 [2021].

…

The 123-page document below is heavily censored — meaning the NDP cabinet is refusing to tell British Columbians the projected operating costs (including board expenses, salary and benefits, office space, operating and administration), full-time equivalents, and cash flows for the newest Crown corporation. inBC bills itself as a triple-bottom line organization, meaning it intends to invest on the basis of social, environmental and economic values.

When its enabling legislation was tabled, the NDP took steps to exempt inBC from the freedom of information law.

Thank you, Mr. Mackin.

More on Banting, insulin and patents

Caitlyn McClure’s 2016 article (Insulin’s Inventor Sold the Patent for $1. Then Drug Companies Got Hold of It.) for other98.com is a brief and pithy explanation for why insulin costs so much. Alanna Mitchell’s August 13, 2019 article for Maclean’s magazine investigates ‘insulin tourism’ and offers more detail as to how this situation has come about.

One last reminder, my August 20, 2021 posting (Getting erased from the mRNA/COVID-19 story) about Ian MacLachlan provides insight into how competitive and rough the bitotechnology scene can be here in BC/Canada.

“Imagine Van Gogh” in Vancouver (Canada) in 2021

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Here’s a video about “Imagine Van Gogh,” coming soon to Vancouver, they hope, but which opened first in Montréal in December 2019 where almost 200,000 visited the exhibit before it moved to Winnipeg in March 2020 (Note: There is an advertisement before the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) segment begins),

The Dec. 7, 2019 CBC news item (where video was embedded), provides more details about the exhibit experience (Note: A link has been removed),

…

Brushstrokes appear several feet wide, as more than 200 works, such as Starry Night and The Yellow House, are blown up and split into panels, giving visitors a 360-degree view of the paintings projected onto the walls and floor.

Annabelle Mauger, one of the artistic directors behind the exhibit, titled Imagine Van Gogh, says she tests this type of exhibition by seeing how her young children react to it.

“When I saw them just running [at] the image, running into the paintings, I think, this is the most fantastic thing I can do,” she told CBC News.

Mauger said she wanted to create a space where people could experience van Gogh’s art in ways traditional museums don’t allow. Classical music plays as you move around the warehouse space, where you can reach out and touch the simulated canvas or sit on the floor and watch the artwork swirl around you.

That feeling of being surrounded by the artwork is building on French photographer Albert Plécy‘s concept of “image totale,” which Maugler studied while in Provence, France at the Cathédrale d’images.

…

The Montreal showing of Imagine Van Gogh is its North American debut, with 40,000 tickets sold before it opened at the Arsenal Contemporary Art centre on Dec. 5.

But not everyone is a fan of such immersive art exhibitions, which seek to attract audiences to contemplate works of art by presenting them in an accessible format.

Artist Joseph Nechvatal, reviewing a similar digital art exhibition in Paris titled “Van Gogh, Starry Night,” decried it as “a nasty bit of metaphorical necrophilia” that degrades van Gogh’s daring works.

He called the show “one of the greatest banalizations of painting I have ever seen, matched only by van Gogh kitchen hand towels now being sold around town.”

In that exhibit, the paintings came to life through the use of computer-generated animation. But in Imagine Van Gogh, they retain their static quality as they’re projected on the walls, which lets the art express motion, Mauger says, while still remaining immobile.

“I don’t want the birds flying, you know,” said Mauger. “I don’t want to see the [self]-portrait of van Gogh smoking. No, for me, this is nonsense.”

Hrag Vartanian, the Canadian-raised editor-in-chief and co-founder of the influential art criticism website Hyperallergic, is more generous than Nechvatal in his assessment of the growing trend of immersive digital art shows.

“A lot of these artworks are sometimes disappointing when you’re in a museum and you realize it’s much smaller than you imagined it, or there’s a huge crowd and you don’t get a moment of contemplation you were hoping for,” he said in an interview from New York.

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As for the proposed “Imagine Van Gogh” in Vancouver exhibition, Kenneth Chan reveals details about the plans in his Nov. 26, 2020 article for the Daily Hive,

A massive immersive digital art exhibition that blankets tall walls and floors with the projections of works by Vincent van Gogh is slated for Vancouver Convention Centre starting in February 2021.

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Plans to bring the exhibition to Vancouver were announced today, but a specific start and end date has yet to be established. The exhibition will operate under the latest public health guidelines in BC.

The exhibition footprint inside the convention centre is 30,000 sq. ft. For context, the total amount of exhibition space at the Vancouver Art Gallery is about 41,000 sq. ft.

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There has been immense interest with Imagine Van Gogh in Canada. It received nearly 200,000 visitors in Montreal before it closed in March, and almost 75,000 in Quebec City this past summer during the pandemic. Currently, the exhibition is underway in Winnipeg, and it has been extended to the end of December due to “incredible demand.”

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The exhibition is in partnership with France-based Encore Productions and Paquin Entertainment Group and Tandem Expositions.

Organizers are asking interested parties to pre-register. I think they’re trying to gauge the level of interest Vancouverites have in this proposed exhibition. Organizers are offering some incentives to pre-register (from the Vancouver Imagine Van Gogh presale website),

Register now and be the first to know when tickets go on sale, and gain access to an exclusive presale to get tickets before they are available to the general public.

You will also be entered to

win one of three Premiere Packages

for you and three friends to attend the opening of the Imagine Van Gogh exhibit.
 
Additionally, you will receive other exclusive offers from our partners.

Imagine Van Gogh 2020. (Imagine Van Gogh [downloaded from https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/imagine-van-gogh-vancouver-2021]

If you need more inspiration, check out Chan’s Nov. 26, 2020 article where you will find many more images. Enjoy!