Information and communication technologies
Montréal’s Artificial Intelligence Hub


Montréal is now a major global hub for artificial intelligence (AI) research and it’s AI ecosystem is thriving. Here are a few good reasons you should consider Montréal for your next destination.

Top expertise

Montréal boasts an exceptionally high concentration of expertise in the area of AI, thanks in part to the efforts of Université de Montréal professor Yoshua Bengio, one of the founding fathers of the deep learning movement and head of the Montréal Institute for Learning Algorithms (MILA).

 

McGill University and Université de Montréal have more than 250 researchers and doctoral students in fields related to artificial intelligence, the largest AI academic community in the world.

 

Montréal also has famous researchers in automatic speech recognition, computer vision, natural language processing and reinforcement learning.

Illustration of the city of Montreal and a map of the world with text indicating Artificial Intelligence, World Recognized Hub, The Québec AdvantageQuébec, a world leader in AI

 

Exceptional talent, top players and generous tax incentives: Discover the competitive edges making Québec one of the most important AI hub in the world!

 

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Funding available

Québec has received $100 million over five years for the creation of an AI cluster and $40 million for the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy.

 

McGill University and Université de Montréal were granted $84 million and $93.5 million respectively from the $900-million Canada First Research Excellence Fund to pursue their AI-related research.

Attracting the biggest players

Major players are investing in Montréal’s AI industry, including DeepMind, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Samsung and Thales.

 

Here are a few profiles of Montréal AI ecosystem leaders—some well known, some not.

 

  • Automat Open a new windowis a messaging and indexing bot-focused start-up with over 15 patents in areas like voice recognition and natural language understanding.
  • Element AI Open a new windowis an incubator that helps organizations harness the power of artificial intelligence (AI). Boasting a research lab connected to the world’s top universities, Element AI creates and incubates novel AI-first solutions in partnership with large corporations.
  • Facebook Open a new windowis developing new AI algorithms in its Montréal research lab, its first in Canada and fourth in the world after New York, Paris and Menlo Park, California. Its research will help improve the effectiveness of virtual assistants by better understanding online dialogue mechanisms.
  • Fluent AI Open a new windowoffers a patented voice recognition solution that works with most languages and accents, allowing for natural-language interactions with voice-operated systems and machines.
  • Imagia Open a new windowuses deep learning to analyze medical imaging data to predict cancer patient outcomes with increasing accuracy. Yoshua Bengio assists Imagia as a scientific advisor for learning aspects.
  • Nuance Open a new windowemploys over 140 researchers at several labs, including one in Montréal, that focus on artificial intelligence and natural language processes.
  • Google Open a new windowand Microsoft Open a new windoware also part of Montréal’s AI ecosystem. Google’s Montréal team formed its own research group, led by researcher Hugo Larochelle and connected to the Google Brain team in California, while Microsoft acquired Maluuba.
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