Manitoba looking into new strategy for tech innovation, prosperity
Posted October 31, 2025 5:06 pm.
As Artificial Intelligence continues to drive a changing economy, the province has received a new report providing a blueprint to help grow the province’s tech sector, strengthen, and prioritize data and IP ownership.
“We should stop sending all of our information south of the border. And we should start building up capacity here in Manitoba, and across Canada,” said Premier Wab Kinew.
“The world is quickly changing as a result of AI, and the reason we commissioned this report, and the reason we’re going to act on these recommendations, is to protect you, and to protect your jobs and to protect our kids so that we can succeed knowing that AI is not going anywhere.”
The report, which was unveiled during a Manitoba Chambers of Commerce event on Friday, was prepared by a task force of local business leaders, led by entrepreneur Jim Balsillie.
“For too long, Canada has been content to generate knowledge but then let others capture the benefits. The report recommends building province-wide IP literacy, supporting firms with the tools to protect and commercialize their innovations, and creating shared resources,” said Balsillie.
Along with generating IP assets, the report includes five other recommendations, at the forefront: protecting data and artificial intelligence.
“Any time something hits the broader internet, it is subject to the Patriot Act the second it crosses the American border. Most of our web traffic goes through Chicago, coming out of Winnipeg and other parts of Manitoba. So this is an area we’re going to really focus on coming out of the report is how do we build up our capacity here in Manitoba to have a tech-powered economy,” said Kinew.
When asked, the premier was noncommittal about any concrete projects related to the report at this time.
“Yeah, you’ll see servers and data centres in Manitoba in the future, not announcing necessarily those specific details today, but the idea is we need that capacity here at home to be able to power the next generation of our Manitoba economy,” said Kinew.
