Leveraging Digital Technology to Accelerate Business Competitiveness

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Durham College is seeking ARTP - Option 1 funds to accelerate the economic recovery of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Durham Region and Greater Toronto Area (GTA) via the adoption of digital technologies. Critical to growing a more prosperous economy, our ARTP research plan will enable SMEs to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, grow, and innovate by adopting digital technologies that leverage post-pandemic trends such as e-commerce, digital marketing, and working remotely. Durham College has the research capacity, resources, and expertise within three digital technology-focused applied research centres - the Mixed Reality Capture Studio (MRC Studio), the Artificial Intelligence Hub (AI Hub), and the Centre for Cybersecurity Innovation (CI) - to accelerate SME adoption and integration of new digital technologies in their processes, services and products. Our ARTP objectives support and align with Durham Region's Strategic Plan and Regional Recovery Framework and Action Plan and the Federal Government's Canadian Digital Adoption Program. Our project portfolio has the objectives of making regional SMEs more competitive by: reducing business costs; anticipating, understanding and meeting customer needs; generating new revenue streams; improving cybersecurity; developing interactive training experiences; gaining new digital skills on their teams; and providing access to new highly qualified and skilled personnel (HQSP). With ARTP support, Durham College will help SMEs overcome technology adoption barriers, reduce implementation time, get new digital technology products and services into market quickly, improve business processes including staff training and performance, move into new markets created by the pandemic, improve financial performance, and retain or create new jobs.