Indonesia Attends Lunch Session in Toronto to Discuss Digital Economy Strategies

RRI.CO.ID, Toronto – Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, attended a lunch session titled "Scaling Canada's AI and Technology Ecosystem" as part of the Canada Investment Summit 2026 series in Toronto, Canada, as cited from a ministry press release on Thursday, September 17, 2026. The session was moderated by Canadian Minister of AI and Digital Economy Evan Solomon.

In his opening remarks, Evan discussed Canada's policy direction in developing its national artificial intelligence (AI) and technology ecosystem. He shared insights ranging from building public trust and creating investment opportunities to achieving data and computing sovereignty.

The Canadian government also explained that its national AI strategy is built upon three pillars: public trust, opportunity creation, and sovereign control. Canada has further established a data center development framework that prioritizes environmental preservation, community investment, and data sovereignty.

This framework has been adopted by all major global hyperscalers. As part of its strategy to drive domestic adoption, Canada has set ambitious targets in the health, education, natural resources, and defense sectors, supported by a US$500 million equity fund.

The session also highlighted the role of the private sector, such as OpenText’s venture capital fund, in building a local AI ecosystem on a global scale. Another highlight focused on Canada's infrastructure advantages, namely clean energy and affordable natural gas, which support the construction of large-scale data centers in Alberta, Ontario, and Saskatchewan.

Canada's approach to building data and computing sovereignty is highly relevant to Indonesia. It is especially relevant for preparing energy readiness and public trust as the foundation for the future development of its national AI and data center ecosystem.

Indonesia's participation in this forum is part of an effort to broaden strategic insights regarding global AI policy developments. Furthermore, the forum serves to strengthen the knowledge base needed to support the growth of the national digital and data center ecosystem.