Tens of millions of dollars will be injected to support around 20 applied artificial intelligence (AI) projects aimed at stimulating the growth of Quebec companies.
Scale AI, a Canadian consortium of private companies, research centres, academics and start-ups in the field of AI, announced its selected initiative in its latest funding round on Thursday.
Aviation maintenance scheduling, retail demand forecasting, inventory optimization and AI-powered automatic sortline deployment are just some examples of solutions implemented among 23 projects.
These will be a total investment of $98.6 million. About a third of this amount comes from federal funds, while the rest is injected by the companies themselves.
“This is one of the hallmarks of the scale AI model. When you bring in $1 in public funds, the private sector invests $2,” said Julien Billott, CEO of Innovation Cluster, at a press conference in Montreal.
He was accompanied by Evan Solomon, the federal minister of artificial intelligence and digital innovation.
The support announced Thursday is beyond “just giving money,” according to the minister.
“We live in times of crisis. If we don't build a future economy by supporting innovators and investing wisely in businesses (…), we won't have a Canadian economy for the future,” Solomon said.
“Today, we are unveiling nearly $100 million on 23 different projects from many companies to transform and stimulate productivity and economic growth, but above all, it serves as evidence that AI adoption must be expanded,” the elected official added.
Bilot also noted that the various initiatives selected indicate that AI is currently spreading across a variety of industries and businesses.
“In today's funding round, new businesses, new industrial sectors, new AI solution providers can emerge,” he said.
These include mining, business services, consumer services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, software and transportation.
The size of the companies varies. Large companies such as Rio Tinto, Transcontinental, Arcelor Mittal, Pratt & Whitney Canada, and small businesses “in the heart of Quebec and are now beginning to adopt artificial intelligence” include ADF, Machinex, Avianor, Canac, RPM, Cossette, Avantis, Avantis and Billot Noted.
Over half of selected projects support companies in adopting AI. There are also commercialization initiatives that allow companies to “use artificial intelligence to better develop their own products and gain competitiveness.”
“We want to help Canadian companies adopt artificial intelligence for productivity, but we want to help Canadian companies develop products exported around the world to gain market share and generate wealth,” says Scale AI Executive.
– This report by La Presse Canadienne has been translated by CityNews
