Insurance sector prepares for wave of new technology

It may be 10 years or more before fully autonomous vehicles start rolling out of dealers’ showrooms in large numbers and heading for the open road, but the prospect of a commercially available driverless car in the not-too-distant future has captured the public’s imagination like few technologies have managed to do in recent years.

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By and for the people: Social innovation, technology and diversity shifting the practice of law

A Q&A with Lorne Sossin, the Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School. A law clerk to former chief justice Antonio Lamer of the Supreme Court of Canada and a former associate in law at Columbia Law School at York University, he was also a litigation lawyer with Borden & Elliot (now Borden Ladner Gervais LLP). Dean Sossin shares his perspective on the nature, direction and potential impact of legal innovation in Canada.  

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Your best skiing may be one lesson away

Ski lessons are not just for beginners. Even when Nancy Greene Raine dominated the World Cup ski race circuit in the late 1960s, winning gold and silver Olympic medals in 1968, coaches dissected her every turn. After she retired, as equipment changed and technique evolved, Ms. Greene Raine kept on learning and refining her skiing. It’s one of the things that makes skiing a lifelong sport – there’s always room for improvement. “It’s OK to ski your own way, but if you’re getting tired or falling all the time, it’s time to take a lesson,” says Ms. Greene Raine. “If your technique doesn’t keep up with the equipment, you’re going to be working harder than you have to.”

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Innovative Conservation Data Centres enable informed decision-making

One of the most exciting aspects of conservation today is the increasing availability of data on species and habitats, and the ability to use that data in ways that inform decision-making. “I like to think about our conservation planners at the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) as biodiversity investment advisers,” says Dan Kraus, NCC’s Weston conservation scientist. “We have the ability to access, analyze and share information on species and habitats that wasn’t available just a decade ago. Conservation Data Centres are among the most important innovations in how biodiversity information is managed and shared across Canada.”

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Policy leadership, investment required to scale clean energy solutions

To meet the Paris Agreement commitment to keep global warming within two degrees Celsius, the world’s largest emitters must reduce their carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, a challenge that 2017 Clean50 Education and Thought Leadership Award winner Walter Mérida describes as “incredibly ambitious.”

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Post-secondary institutions introducing new programs and approaches in a rapidly changing world

Canada’s post-secondary institutions are continually challenged to keep pace with shifting economic forces, technology advances and new labour market requirements. As the speed of change accelerates, universities and colleges are working to become all the more agile in program transformation to ensure they continue to meet the needs of their learners and their communities.

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UBC’s Living Lab demonstrates the future of sustainable energy

According to a recent report from the National Energy Board, Canada is now the world’s fourth-largest generator of renewable energy. Hydropower represents 55 per cent of our electricity capacity; between 2005 and 2015, wind power capacity increased by 20 times and solar by 125 times. But renewable sources still make up a distressingly small portion of the world’s total energy use, less than four per cent, and around 80 per cent still comes from carbon-intensive sources such as oil, gas and coal. Here in Canada, wind, solar and biomass power makes up just 11 per cent of total capacity.

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Research builds our communities

If you listen to Andrew Pelling, you’ll believe your most creative and wild ideas are worth paying attention to. You may even feel compelled to submit them for further investigation in his lab, where biohacking and DIY science are par for the course.  Dr. Pelling leads the Laboratory for Biophysical Manipulation at the University of Ottawa, described on its home page as “an openly curious and exploratory space where scientists, engineers and artists work in close quarters.”

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Healthy Aging

What’s making the golden years shine?

Two men go to the hospital. Both are 75 and have previously enjoyed a similar level of well-being. Then both fractured a hip due to a fall. And although their injuries – as well as many of the medical history details captured on their hospital admission forms – are similar, what follows may be drastically different.

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The fundraising sector is committed to improving donors’ experience

Canada has an extraordinary tradition of philanthropy, and is by many measures one of the most charitable countries in the world. The World Giving Index, which looks at total giving, volunteering and how often a citizen helped a stranger, ranked Canada in 2015 as the fourth most generous country, and we were ranked second as recently as 2013. Canadians give nearly $13-billion in gifts and almost two billion hours in volunteer time annually, according to Statistics Canada’s most recent General Social Survey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating. It should come as no surprise that Canada was the first country in the world to permanently recognize and celebrate National Philanthropy Day on November 15 of every year.

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Visionary philanthropists boost Canada’s role on the world stage

Peter and Melanie Munk’s transformative giving demonstrates their passion for higher learning and health-care excellence

Peter Munk and his wife Melanie share a bold vision for Canada’s evolving role in the world – one of the nation playing a more prominent role in global affairs, influencing issues like innovation and cyber security while also pushing new frontiers in health care.

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