With connections across industry, academia, government, and the nonprofit sector, EMILI has established relationships across a diverse ecosystem, allowing it to tap into a broad range of perspectives and resources.
This was especially evident in one 48-hour period in late November that saw members of EMILI’s staff attending events, conferences, and meetings stretching from Winnipeg, to Ottawa, to Washington, DC.

Jacqueline Keena
On Tuesday, November 29, members of the Embassy of France to Canada visited EMILI’s Winnipeg office to discuss digital agriculture innovation in the prairies. Later that afternoon, Managing Director Jacqueline Keena flew to Ottawa to attend Grow Canada 2022. While there, she was able to meet with partners at Actua to talk about the importance of creating opportunities for youth to learn new skills and gain exposure to digital agriculture.
Throughout the conference, Keena gained new insights into the importance of an economically and environmentally sustainable agriculture sector – something that EMILI’s work in digital agriculture and intelligent technology helps to accelerate.
“It was great to hear David McInnes – who EMILI has worked with on the Canadian Agri-Food Sustainability Index since 2019 – give an update on the project,” Keena said. “It has grown significantly over the last few years and now has more than 110 collaborators supporting this effort to develop an integrated picture of sustainability in Canada’s agri-food sector using science-based metrics and data.”

Dan Lussier
While Keena was making connections in Ottawa, The EMILI Data Initiative’s Project Manager Dan Lussier was on his way to Washington, DC for the annual Ag Data Transparent (ADT) member meeting. Having recently joined as its first supporting member, this was EMILI’s first member meeting and it was a great opportunity to meet and learn from agtech companies, farm groups, and other supporting members from across North America. EMILI was also invited to join the board of Ag Data Transparent and is looking forward to working to continue growing ADT over the coming years.
Back in Winnipeg, Senior Program and Policy Analyst Kyle Hiebert attended the Manitoba Environmental Industries Association’s 2022 Cleantech Conference, which he says was a great place to learn about new and emerging initiatives and tools to help drive sustainable, environmentally-conscious economic growth.

Kyle Hiebert
“It was interesting to see how much overlap there is between digital ag and cleantec and how much opportunity there is for collaboration between the two sectors,” Hiebert said. “Both involve developing a greater appreciation for the complexity of the use of energy and production while focusing on the collection and precise use of data to drive efficiencies and deliver sustained added value in their applications.”
This 48-hour period provides a window into just a few of the ways EMILI is forging connections and collaborating with experts and thought leaders year-round to increase integration of intelligent technologies, empower people with digital skills, support scale-ups to grow in the prairies, and accelerate Manitoba’s growth as a leader in digital agriculture.
Learn more about the strategic pillars that guide EMILI’s work.