Artificial intelligence is experiencing strong growth in Montreal

With the support of the Universities of Montreal and McGill, the institute now brings together 87 professors, more than doubling that in 2019. With more than 800 researchers and students, this is it The highest concentration of university researchers in deep study in the world. The University of Montreal has raised over $ 1.34 billion, making it the leading Canadian city in the region.

Mila was founded in 2017 in its current form. Its president and CEO thought That it is important to take stock. Valerie Pisano reported Mila has tripled scientifically, economically and socially in three years.

⁇ Companies are adopting artificial intelligence, we talk about it and talk about it, but here, something is being put in place. More and more people are using it to incorporate this into their service projects. ⁇

Since March 2020, the number of industrial partners such as IBM has grown from 42 to 84 and Mila now has 46 emerging companies among its members. Nearly thirty technology giants such as Facebook, Google, Ericsson, Microsoft and Samsung have set up research centers on artificial intelligence in Montreal in recent years.

Valerie Pisano admits to losing Quebec ownership of Element AI and suppressing many positions The moment of stopping Required. The bottom line is that there are going to be other unicorns as well, She believes. She recalled that the majority of researchers from the useless company were in Quebec under the ServiceNow banner.

Attraction to talent

In 2020 alone, less than 3,500 new jobs were created in Quebec, contributing $ 385 million to GDP, a growth of 22%. Artificial Intelligence now brings nearly 20,000 direct jobs to the region. From 2018 to 2020, young Quebec invested over $ 1.7 billion in venture capital in artificial intelligence companies.

If it is difficult to get manpower in many fields today, imagine in artificial intelligence that requires advanced skills at the masters or doctoral level.

70% of the students in Mila are from abroad and the fame of Joshua Bengio, the founder and scientific director of the institute, is nothing. Spanish postdoctoral researcher Alex Hernandez-Garcia talks about Mr. Bengio Reference And The most important person in artificial intelligence.

⁇ It is important that I come here because of Mila’s values, where we use research to make a positive impact on society and to combat climate change. ⁇

The goal of Artificial Intelligence is to teach computers, among other things, the functions of computers to automate certain tasks. From voice assistants to facilitate your daily life, to expedite health research and Fight against sexual exploitation In line.

Recently, Mila provided a population a A tool to predict the impact of global warming On your home, in the office and more.

Tightly woven ecosystem

Companies that rely on Artificial Intelligence believe in the power of the Montreal Hub on the planet.

Google’s 40-strong research and development team in the metropolis seeks to develop new products through reinforcement practice. Chief and researcher Mark Bellemer cites machine translation as one of the important research directions here.

He points out that deep learning – or machine learning – by Joshua Bengio has allowed work Montreal to establish a place of its own. Nerve center In this world.

We have made many fundamental innovations everywhere today, ”he says. We have many students from the Universities of Montreal and McGill who have held important positions in Silicon Valley. We are fully integrated with the rest of the scientific community and businesses.

American Bus Patrol, led by Quebezer Jean Solier, chose to set up its technology development center in Montreal last year. The company has installed smart cameras on school buses to detect dangerous motorists.

In Quebec, we have the creativity of the workforce, which, combined with the bureaucratic pace of the United States, allows us to have a great platform for growth., Explains Mr. Bellemare.

In telecommunications, Ericsson is integrating artificial intelligence into the expansion of its 5G infrastructure networks. Of its 1,000 workers in Montreal, about thirty are affiliated with its specialist center set up in 2019.

Site Manager Paul Baptista says 5G networks are becoming more complex and algorithmic to manage at the human level Identifying, responding and making decisions. Montreal, according to him, offers this skill in artificial intelligence Many success conditions Such as government engagement and university training.

The Swedish multinational company will formalize its partnership with Concordia University on Thursday to share its data and technical challenges, and then raise the level of skills in artificial intelligence in its staff. We work with teachers to create in-depth training for our non-professional employees., Said Mr. Baptista.