Former BlackBerry exec Jim Balsillie to co-lead Manitoba innovation task force

A former BlackBerry executive will be co-chairing a new task force whose goal will be to use emerging tech to propel productivity in Manitoba.

Jim Balsillie, the former co-CEO of Research In Motion, the Waterloo, Ont.-based tech company behind the BlackBerry, has been tapped to help drive innovation in the province as part of an advisory group that includes several Manitoba business leaders, the province said in a Thursday news release.

The innovation and productivity (or "IP") task force will advise the NDP government on implementing new and emerging technologies to "support the economy and promote data-driven decision-making," the release said.

Its mandate includes creating a strategic plan that's expected to be delivered to the province's technology minister later this year.

Minister of Innovation and New Technology Mike Moroz said in the news release his department is considering implementation of artificial intelligence, an intellectual property policy and "sovereign cloud strategies" to store and process data without going to jurisdictions that don't have the same protections Manitoba has.

Balsillie said in the news release there is "tremendous opportunity for Manitoba to turbocharge its economic resilience and prosperity" through "sovereign strategies across all sectors and industries."

Other members of the task force announced Thursday were:

• Adam Herstein, partner at Pitblado Law.
• Clara Buelow, director of marketing and communications at the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce, and previous lead on the Digital Manitoba Policy Initiative.
• Jacqueline Keena, managing director of the Enterprise Machine Intelligence Learning Initiative.
• Gerry Price, president of Price Industries.
• Gautam Srivastava, professor of computer science at Brandon University.
• Debra Jonasson-Young, executive director of entrepreneurship at the Asper School of Business.
• Dr. Ernest Cholakis, founder of Cholakis Dental Group.