Senator Spotlights UNB's DAIR and Picketa as Proof of New Brunswick's 'Innovation Sandbox'

Two Fredericton organizations got a national spotlight this month when Senator Joan Kingston rose in the Senate to recognize the University of New Brunswick's Data Science and AI Research Institute (DAIR) and ag-tech startup Picketa Systems.

"They are both proof that New Brunswick continues to earn its place as Canada's innovation sandbox," Kingston said in her Oct. 1 Senators' Statement, which she used to encourage senators to attend the ResearchNB-hosted New Brunswick Research and Innovation Showcase on Parliament Hill on Oct. 7.

Responsible AI, built regionally

Kingston told the chamber that DAIR "was established to ensure that, as AI reshapes sectors ranging from health care and agriculture to cybersecurity, it is developed and used responsibly and for the benefit of society."

She said the institute is "now leading the establishment of a pan-Atlantic AI institute, bringing together nine Atlantic Canadian universities to give our region a stronger, unified voice and the ability to scale AI initiatives well beyond what any one institution could achieve alone." She also noted DAIR hosted the Atlantic AI Summit in Fredericton in June. That was where UNB announced the institute's new name; it was previously the Research Institute in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RIDSAI).

DAIR is led by Scientific Director Dr. Scott Bateman, an associate professor in UNB's Faculty of Computer Science who also directs the SPECTRAL Spatial Computing Research Centre. Kingston told senators Bateman would be on Parliament Hill for the showcase. (We reviewed his recent take on three AI myths in UNB's alumni magazine.)

In an Oct. 5 post, DAIR said it was "especially encouraged by the growing national recognition of this work," describing its role as connecting academia, industry, government and communities to accelerate AI adoption, research, talent development and economic growth. UNB's Faculty of Computer Science shared the post, saying DAIR was representing the faculty in Ottawa "to progress conversations on the responsible and ethical use of AI in Canada for human and societal benefit."

From a capstone project to the field

Kingston paired DAIR with Picketa Systems, which she said applies "that same spirit of innovation directly from the fields of northwestern New Brunswick to success on the national and international stage."

Picketa was born in 2020 out of an undergraduate capstone project by four students in UNB's Faculty of Engineering, with support from the faculty's technology management and entrepreneurship program and the potato industry in the students' home region. Its Leaf-Evaluated-Nutrient-System, or LENS, is a portable device that gives growers nutrient results from real-time tissue analysis in minutes, instead of the days or weeks traditional lab testing takes. Paired with its FieldBook software, Kingston said, it helps farmers make faster, smarter crop decisions. Picketa is led by CEO and co-founder Xavier Hébert-Couturier.

"One of these organizations works at the frontier of artificial intelligence and the other in farmers' fields," Kingston said, "yet both reflect the same New Brunswick strength: take deep expertise and practical experience and turn it into solutions the world can use."

Sources

• Debates of the Senate, Oct. 1, 2026 — Senators' Statements: "University of New Brunswick's Data Science & Artificial Intelligence Research Institute / Picketa Systems": all Kingston quotes; DAIR mandate, pan-Atlantic institute, Atlantic AI Summit, Bateman on the Hill; Picketa origin, LENS, FieldBook; Oct. 7 showcase
• UNB DAIR on LinkedIn (Oct. 5, 2026): showcase participation, hosted by ResearchNB; DAIR's role; nine-university consortium
• UNB Faculty of Computer Science on LinkedIn (Oct. 5, 2026): source post (reshare of DAIR)
• UNB Newsroom: UNB summit focuses on accelerating AI adoption in Atlantic Canada (June 2026): Atlantic AI Summit, RIDSAI renamed DAIR
• DAIR people page: Bateman's roles
• Joan Kingston — LinkedIn, Scott Bateman — LinkedIn, Xavier Hébert-Couturier — LinkedIn