U of T professor launches venture studio to foster AI commercialization in Canada

University of Toronto Professor Daniel Wigdor has co-founded a venture studio called Axl with the goal of bolstering AI commercialization in Canada. In an interview with CTV News, Wigdor explained that Canada is a global leader in foundational AI research and talent development, but is at risk of falling behind in the global AI race without improved commercialization. Wigdor’s goal with the studio is to build 50 AI-powered companies within five years, with the intent of fueling Canada’s research-to-commercialization pipeline. The venture studio is housed at U of T’s Schwartz-Reisman Innovation Campus and co-located with the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence and U of T’s computer science department.