GOVERNMENT BUSINESS
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada | February 22, 2022
As Canadians have witnessed over the last few years, wildfires have had a significant impact on their lives, their communities and the country's economy. This was especially true in 2021, one of Canada's most damaging fire seasons in years, with 6,224 fires and a total area burned of 4.18 million hectares, an area that is seven times larger than Prince Edward Island.
Through the Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) program, the Government of Canada is launching a challenge and turning to Canadian small and medium-sized businesses to propose their innovative solutions to help communities that could be at risk from wildfires. Under the program, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) is inviting those businesses to develop novel software capable of producing high-resolution vegetation mapping data in wildland urban interface areas and wildland areas near communities.
Fire behaviour prediction and wildfire hazard assessment and mitigation can be greatly improved with timely and accurate mapping data on fuel attributes. This data is key to looking at how we address and respond to emergencies like wildfires and other natural events. While the forest sector already collects information on the vegetation structure and composition, there are currently not enough tools available for quick and cost-effective processing of wildfire fuel attributes from these data.
Challenge winners may receive up to $150,000 to refine their research and development into novel software and, if accepted into Phase 2 of the program, up to $1 million to develop a working prototype. The government can then act as a first customer, helping these businesses commercialize their innovations, scale up their business and create good middle-class jobs across Canada.
Quotes
"As wildfire risks increase, our government recognizes the urgency of adopting proactive strategies to mitigate disaster risk. With this challenge, we are mobilizing Canadian innovators to develop technologies that will improve our ability to predict and respond to wildfires and help prevent the disastrous consequences they can have on our communities."
The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
"Strengthening the resilience of our communities and our wildlands through the research and development of science-based tools is a priority for Canada. Through this challenge, we are working to mitigate the risk posed by wildland fires and curb the loss of biodiversity in our forests, while providing economic opportunity for small and medium-sized businesses across the country."
– The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources
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EMERGING TECHNOLOGY
Deepspatial Inc. | October 06, 2021
Deepspatial Inc. is pleased to announce a partnership with IPE Global Limited (IPE Global) to provide its Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (AI) (patent pending) solutions to IPE Global’s clients throughout government and private sectors. IPE Global will be leveraging Deepspatial’s technology to assist their global client base in addition to working together towards jointly proposing their solutions to specific markets and clients identified by IPE Global.
IPE Global Limited is a leading international development consulting group, providing Information and Communication Technology solutions for development and sustainable growth in developing countries. IPE Global currently operates in 8 countries encompassing Africa, Asia, and Europe with a workforce of over 1100 employees globally.
Over the last 20 years, IPE Global has successfully implemented 800 multi-sectoral projects in over 100 countries, across 5 major continents. IPE Global has partnered with multilateral & bilateral agencies such as ADB, The World Bank, DFID, USAID, DANIDA, KfW, EC, GTZ, JICA, UNICEF, UNDP, and more. As well as governments, private sectors, not-for-profit entities, and philanthropic organizations like BMGF, MasterCard Foundation, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and more in anchoring development agendas for sustainable and equitable growth.
“In today’s world, the need for evidence-based decision making in the social development sector is much greater than ever before. We at IPE Global strongly believe that data driven solutions to social development problems are more effective in bringing sustainable change. We are very happy to partner with Deepspatial in our endeavour to continuously provide our clients state of the art IT and AI based solutions.”, said Shalender Sharma, Director at IPE Global.
“We are grateful that Deepspatial is able to bring its solutions to IPE Global’s impressive client base to tackle the evergrowing socio-economic challenges countries are facing right now. Furthermore, we are eager to leverage IPE Global’s established relationships in the government, targeting key public sector opportunities where our solutions can add the most value.”
Dr. Rahul Kushwah, CEO of Deepspatial.
About Deepspatial Inc.
Deepspatial Inc. is an artificial intelligence, technology SaaS company at the forefront of geospatial artificial intelligence and geographic informational systems, specializing in providing robust, AI-powered solutions to businesses by leveraging the power of geospatial data. The company has currently built products that target four specific customer needs across industry verticals. These are (1) geodemographic customer profiling, (2) price recommendation engine, (3) inventory management and supply chain analytics (market entry and expansion), and (4) sentiment monitoring to measure and improve brand health.
About IPE Global
IPE Global Limited is an international development consulting group known for providing technical assistance and solutions for development and sustainable growth in developing countries.
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GOVERNMENT FINANCE
Tyler Technologies | December 01, 2021
Tyler Technologies, Inc. today announced that the state of Utah has signed a multi-year contract extension for Tyler’s digital government and payments services.
The two-year agreement expands upon the existing 22-year relationship with Tyler’s subsidiary, NIC.
“For 22 years, we have worked closely with state and local government entities across Utah to provide constantly-evolving and award-winning digital government and payment services that drive innovation, convenience and adoption. We could not be more pleased to continue that critical work in 2022 and beyond as we expand technology’s role in government.”
Elizabeth Proudfit, president of Tyler’s NIC Division
NIC Utah designed, hosts, and manages the state’s official website, Utah.gov, in partnership with the state and is a trusted partner to 56 Utah government entities delivering online services and information. In 2020 alone, NIC Utah securely processed nearly 57 million online transactions and more than $400 million on behalf of its Utah government partners. Also in 2020 in response to the pandemic, NIC Utah deployed a chatbot to provide rapid responses to questions and concerns about COVID-19.
Most recently, Utah finished second overall among states in the 2021 State Government Experience awards, presented by the Center for Digital Government. Utah has placed in the top three of the overall awards in every year it has been eligible since 2006, including first place finishes in 2007, 2009, 2017, and 2018.
About Tyler Technologies and NIC
Acquired by Tyler Technologies on April 21, 2021, NIC is a leader in digital government solutions and payments, partnering with government to deliver user-friendly digital services that make it easier and more efficient to interact with government. NIC and Tyler are united in their mission to empower public sector entities to operate more efficiently and connect more transparently with their constituents and with each other. Tyler has more than 37,000 successful installations across more than 12,000 locations, with clients in all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean, Australia, and other international locations. Tyler has been named to Government Technology's GovTech 100 list five times and has been recognized three times on Forbes' "Most Innovative Growth Companies" list.
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