On June 7, Durham College’s (DC) Hub for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence for Business Solutions (the AI Hub) held its fifth Tech Talk, focused on creating new opportunities based on technology and innovation. Sponsored by the City of Oshawa, the discussion explored the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) projects and how technology excellence in the local community is a catalyst for growth.

Industry professionals, government representatives and students attended the panel discussion hosted by Tanmay Bakshi, the world’s youngest IBM Watson programmer and an artificial intelligence expert; Tushar Singh, a serial entrepreneur and chief executive officer and founder of Minute School, and Mahdi Raza, co-founder and chief executive officer of SiberX, and lead of the CISO Forum Canada.

The panelists deliberated about growth success factors in the city through technology and innovation. They highlighted DC’s focus on experiential learning, as well as initiatives implemented by the city, including hands-on talent development, a scalable educational system and opportunities for collaboration with companies, enable students to gain real-world experience and prepare them to lead sustainable technology projects for the benefit of the community.

The Tech Talk learning series is hosted by DC’s AI Hub. Past topics have included the application of AI in areas such as special-needs education, cybersecurity, real estate and manufacturing. The college’s next Tech Talk, to be held in July, will focus on AI and the cannabis industry.

In addition to the Tech Talks, watch for details as the City of Oshawa and DC welcome the finals of Global CyberLympics games to campus on Saturday, October 26. Teams from all over the world will compete in areas such as web application exploitation, malware analysis and cryptography among others.