Adopting technology critical to competitiveness, say IBM tech gurus: Sudbury's Centre for Smart Mining encourages partnerships between small business and technology giants.

• Date: 01 October 2019
• Author: Gillis, Len

IBM, one of the world's leading digital technology firms, told a group of mining supply and service companies in Sudbury on Aug. 20 that small companies should take advantage of advanced technology to become more competitive.

Members of IBM's National Innovation Team were at Cambrian College to present the first of, what is expected to be, several intimate consultations between the mining industry and large multinational digital service companies.

Steve Gravel, manager of the Cambrian's Centre for Smart Mining, said the IBM Incubator Initiative is part of a joint initiative with the Government of Ontario and the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE). He said this gives entrepreneurs and local companies a chance to showcase their ideas and put hard questions on the table with major industry innovators.

"What we were hoping to do by inviting large technology platforms, sometimes international companies like IBM, is to really get some intimate time with SMEs (subject matter experts) the mining supply and service cluster wouldn't otherwise have by picking up the phone and trying to talk to these large entities," said Gravel.

He said he is hoping it will become a regular feature at...