The Québec government is injecting $36 million CAD in fresh funding into Montréal-based AI research institute Mila as it aims to maintain the province’s reputation as a leader in AI research.
“In a highly competitive global environment, we must make strategic choices to preserve our strengths.”
Minister Jean Boulet
Government representatives, including economy and innovation minister Jean Boulet, made the announcement today at Mila headquarters. The government said the funding will allow Mila to strengthen its role as a world-class research institute and help make the province a leader in the ethical and responsible development of AI. It will also support Mila’s efforts to drive the adoption of AI technology among Québec companies.
“In a highly competitive global environment, we must make strategic choices to preserve our strengths,” Boulet said in a French statement, which BetaKit has translated into English. “By supporting Mila, we are consolidating this expertise and ensuring that research findings translate into concrete business innovations, skilled jobs, and economic growth here in Québec.”
The funding comes from Québec’s $7.5-billion five-year innovation strategy, which aims to incentivize research and development, spur more commercialization of public research, and boost the province’s productivity rates. The strategy was first introduced by former minister Pierre Fitzgibbon in 2022. Since then, ministers Christopher Skeete and Christine Fréchette have taken on the mantle (Fréchette has announced her candidacy for Coalition Avenir Québec party leader, to replace outgoing premier François Legault).
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The Québec government had previously pledged up to $80 million to Mila over five years starting in 2018, as part of its AI strategy.
Mila and its sister organizations, Toronto’s Vector Institute and Edmonton’s Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, are funded by the federal government through the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy. Founded in 1993 by Turing Award winner and leading computer scientist Yoshua Bengio, Mila has grown into a joint initiative between leading academic institutions in Québec, including Université de Montréal and McGill University.
Since the appointment of Hugo Larochelle as its scientific director, the research hub has put a renewed focus on commercializing AI research. It’s currently raising a venture capital fund alongside Montréal firm Inovia Capital that’s targeting $100 million USD to back AI researchers who want to turn their discoveries into companies.
Feature image courtesy Madison McLauchlan for BetaKit.