businesses

Small businesses across Northwestern Ontario are getting a chance to learn how to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into their operations.

The Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre (NOIC) in Thunder Bay has launched a new AI training and funding program that offers entrepreneurs comprehensive and hands-on training.

The Building Blueprints for AI Adoption (BBAA) program is a structured five-session workshop series that focuses on five key topics.

“It’s an application process that we’re meeting with companies and looking at eligibility,” says James Ellard, senior business advisor of marketing with NOIC, adding interested companies can apply by booking a free BBAA consultation. “We are only allowing so many companies into it so it is exclusive.”

For companies that are eligible to participate, they will have access to training that is valued at $5,000 for the discounted price of $150.

The workshop-based program, which begins in February, aims to help regional businesses uncover opportunities and plans for AI integration including learning how to design marketing campaigns, how to sell using chatbots and other AI-powered incentives.

It will also teach business owners how to streamline operations by automating administrative tasks, managing files and organizing meeting notes to enhance efficiency.

“If a company is new to AI or has been dabbling, this really gets into a lot of the nitty gritty details,” says Ellard.

The end goal of the program is ensure participants can create a practical AI adoption plan tailored to their business. In additin, once those businesses form that plan, they can apply for up to $20,000 in funding to put it into action.

“The training is great in itself and it’s a great deal,” says Ellard, noting “It allows them to leverage that money (to) really execute and implement those AI initatives that are really going to help out their company create those efficiencies and really compete with other companies outside of our region that they normally couldn’t.”

NOIC was established in 1999 in Thunder Bay to support information technology start-ups in the region. It has since expanded to encompass all forms of innovation with an office in Kenora opened in 2019.