Perfect. Thank you for those remarks.
I think there are a few roles that government could play. First of all, one role is how you talk about the sector, and that the sector has a future. I think that's really important from a policy perspective. It's also important from an investor perspective, and how they look at our sector. I think that's one that's very important.
I would also say that some of the conversation happening around what the innovation agenda looks like, what kinds of clusters of innovation can happen, and how that promotes economic prosperity, is also very important. For our sector, certainly, if you look at Alberta and you look across Canada, there are logical hubs of technology that are happening through academia, through industry groups, through service providers, and through just the talent that's available, and readily available. I think that's another area.
We don't expect that government will ever have the kinds of funds that industry is putting into it, such as Suncor putting in $200 million annually. If you take the other companies in Calgary doing the same thing, it's quite a significant amount of investment. That doesn't mean to say we don't need government to help harness and leverage some of that expertise, because what we're talking about, as a sector, is that we want to be able to be transformative. We want to be able to have some real technologies that are going to be very much leading edge and world class, which we can then export.
I think what's really interesting in the mining sector, as well as the energy sector, is that we are known for being innovative in our resource sector. That is what Canada has a huge reputation for, particularly in northern climates. I'll use the example of our autonomous haul trucks in our autonomous mine in the oil sands right now. We're in the early stages, but being successful would mean we would have the first autonomous mine in North America. Autonomous mines do exist in other parts of the world. Rio Tinto has them in Australia, but it's not a northern climate, and the conditions are very different. If we're able to create that environment and move that type of innovation, we become a world-class leader in this space.
One of the things that I didn't mention is the Xprize. We are globally looking at what other innovations are out there and really looking at ways to drive the conversation about reducing our carbon footprint. One of the ways we can do that is by looking at having another product, which would be carbon, but it would take the carbon and instead of emitting it, it would actually utilize it as a product. That prize is $20 million. It's through COSIA and a number of COSIA companies. I think Dan Wicklum mentioned there were 27 teams that have gone through the first phase, and then we're going into the second phase.
These are the types of things that we're looking at. Where government is really helpful is in making sure that it's providing that message along with industry. We have to do a better job of providing what we're doing, but there's also this culture of innovation at a regulatory aspect. When there is new technology, one of the things that we often run into is regulators who are very prescriptive. They like to have certainty, the same way we like to have certainty. When you introduce new technologies, sometimes it can be a very rigorous process. You have to prove that it will work, and you have to have a backup plan if it doesn't work. That can get very costly and increase timelines when you're looking for permitting.