Join us for the Halifax Chamber’s Annual Spring Dinner on April 29
The fourth industrial revolution is reshaping how Nova Scotia does business. To explore how AI is transforming the business landscape, the Halifax Chamber of Commerce’s 2026 Spring Dinner is bringing together two leading voices to talk about what it means in practice.
On Wednesday, April 29, Matt Symes of Symplicity Designs and Dr. Mike Smit, Dean of Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Management, will share how organizations across the province are using AI to drive productivity, innovation, and impact through practical, human-centred approaches.
For Symes, who has worked with more than 500 organizations across Atlantic Canada, the shift is fundamental. AI is exposing what knowledge and service industries have long avoided: the need to understand work at the level of workflows, not just targets and talent. “If you want to be one of the rare businesses that excels, you must first make good strategic choices about where to direct your AI efforts,” says Symes.
The results, when those choices are made well, can be dramatic. One of Symes’ clients in the trades now saves 600 hours a year on proposals after a single AI session, with conversion rates up 17% and revenue on track to double.
But Symes is clear that this isn’t an IT project. “We are transitioning from contributors to choreographers,” he says. “If this isn’t led by the CEO and the leadership team, there is no chance of success.”
Smit brings a complementary perspective. As a data scientist and researcher who has applied AI to ocean science through Dalhousie’s Building Bridges project, he has seen firsthand both AI’s power and how hard it can be to get right.
As Dean, Smit is focused on what the technology demands of people. “A world with better AI means we need to be better humans—to excel at the things that are irrevocably human,” says Smit. That means rethinking how organizations assess productivity, what they value in the people they work with, and resisting the impulse to treat AI as a quick fix for deeper problems.
At Dalhousie, that vision is shaping how students are prepared for the workforce. “If entry-level jobs are fading, we need graduates prepared for next-level positions,” Smit says. The university is also working to support professionals already in the field, helping them build AI fluency alongside their existing strengths.
Together, Symes and Smit offer a picture of AI adoption that is grounded, actionable, and rooted in Nova Scotia. Their message to Spring Dinner attendees: the organizations that thrive will be the ones investing in the people and processes that make AI worthwhile.
Register now at:
