The 5G Corridor: Will it boost Canadian innovation?
On Monday, March 19, 2018, the federal Minister of Innovation, Navdeep Bains, announced that the government of Canada, along with the provincial governments of Ontario and Quebec, would be investing $67 million dollars each to support 5G wireless telecommunications research.
The project, dubbed the "5G corridor," is also being supported by five private-sector digital tech leaders: Ericsson, Ciena Canada, Thales Canada, IBM Canada, and CGI, which are all working under the title ENCQOR.
It is said that this project will increase economic growth by creating jobs, supporting small businesses and startups in the trial phase, and by allowing Canadians to be more innovative in order to compete with global markets and create jobs. According to the Government of Canada's press release, ENCQOR was one of the first projects to be funded under the government's $1.26-billion Strategic Innovation Fund. What do you think? Will faster mobile networks allow Canadians to be more innovative than they are currently?
I think that the internet of things is full of possibility, but it should be taken with a certain level of skepticism. I recently read a book by Adam Greenfield titled Radical technologies. In Chapter 2, Greenfield writes about the internet of things and touches on many key issues that Nigel Thrift also writes about in his article titled "The insubstantial pageant: Producing an untoward land section." Greenfield urges us to consider the consequences of devices that yes, allow us to be more connected than every before, acting as personal assistants, but also give providers all of the data and information it contains (Greenfield, 2017, p. 67).
This thought brings me back to a question that Thrift (2012) asks early on in his essay: where is the leading edge of capitalism going next? His answer: capitalism will create worlds unto which every single moment is an opportunity to profit (p. 144).
All of the news stories and press releases emphasize the benefits that the 5G corridor will have for Canadians, for their economic gain, and their innovation. But, who are these networks really benefiting?
The project, dubbed the "5G corridor," is also being supported by five private-sector digital tech leaders: Ericsson, Ciena Canada, Thales Canada, IBM Canada, and CGI, which are all working under the title ENCQOR.
During the news conference held on Monday morning, Minister Navdeep Bains explained the reason for the investment as follows:
"Technology is changing the way we live, work and engage with one another, and we are in a global innovation race. To prepare for the future, we must be bold, visionary and decisive. That's why our government is investing in 5G technology. This investment in next-generation wireless technology will help make Canada a global innovation leader and secure 4,000 jobs."
- The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation,
Science and Economic Development
I think that the internet of things is full of possibility, but it should be taken with a certain level of skepticism. I recently read a book by Adam Greenfield titled Radical technologies. In Chapter 2, Greenfield writes about the internet of things and touches on many key issues that Nigel Thrift also writes about in his article titled "The insubstantial pageant: Producing an untoward land section." Greenfield urges us to consider the consequences of devices that yes, allow us to be more connected than every before, acting as personal assistants, but also give providers all of the data and information it contains (Greenfield, 2017, p. 67).
This thought brings me back to a question that Thrift (2012) asks early on in his essay: where is the leading edge of capitalism going next? His answer: capitalism will create worlds unto which every single moment is an opportunity to profit (p. 144).
All of the news stories and press releases emphasize the benefits that the 5G corridor will have for Canadians, for their economic gain, and their innovation. But, who are these networks really benefiting?
This is a great article and an excellent job done tying it into Greenfield and Thrift's work. With such a big project not every benefit or consequence can be calculated this early on. On the one hand, this corridor will be beneficial to the citizens living in the area that benefits from this ultra fast connection. It can lead to the creation of new innovation while simultaneously improving on the existing technology that people are using but perhaps there can be some understated consequences that have not been explored in the text.
ReplyDeleteFirst, will these improved networks come at more of a cost to users? This harkens back to the idea of net neutrality and the stratification that unequal service can lead to. We all know that telecomm companies in Canada are powerhouses that would most likely take advantage of this service. Also, those outside of the 5G area would be at a disadvantage, leading to uneven service Ontario wide which could hurt the growth in places outside the corridor. The Greenfield quote also demonstrates the issue of producing more data leading to further exploitation of Big Data and the people that create this information. This may sound all doom and gloom but as per your last question in the post, we must really think about who benefits from these networks.
Completely agree! I think it's easy to get excited at the prospect of improved service, but not everyone will have access to it, at least initially. If it does become a province-wide service, it might not service rural areas, further increasing the digital divide.
DeleteI'm also taking Digital Media this semester and presented on data mining. After looking into Canada's data mining regulations, I learned that some provinces have their own regulations. Overall, neither the provincial or federal government regulations are very strict with minimal penalties for those who abuse the information mined. I think it'd be interesting to eventually see data available to everyone because we are producing it, so 1) why not have access to it and 2) it make some of the power out of it if it were readily available for public knowledge. This way, everyone could potentially benefit, not just large corporations.