What is the role of Forum IA Québec?

The Vitrine AI Québec (vitrine.ia.quebec/en) is a real gateway to the entire AI ecosystem in Québec.

The platform aims to facilitate the connection between the main actors of the ecosystem (companies, supporting organizations, startups, etc.) and to help companies identify their next partner, customer or supplier.

Practical resources are also provided to encourage organizations to adopt AI (maturity tool, search engine for funding, case studies, etc.).

Launched with the support of the ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie, the Vitrine AI Québec will help raise the profile of local organizations that produce AI, strengthen Québec’s international positioning in the AI sector, and reinforce the networking of our organizations with international buyers, thus increasing Québec, Canadian and foreign demand for the products and services of these organizations.

The Vitrine AI Québec is an evolving tool that will grow to meet the needs of the community. For the moment, it includes the following elements:

• A dynamic portrait of the ecosystem
• A directory of AI organizations (beta version)
• Case studies
• A search engine for funding

More resources and features will be launched in the coming months, so stay tuned!

Since 2018, the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal has organized three Strategic Forums on Artificial Intelligence. In that time, Scale AI, Canada’s artificial intelligence supercluster, has held two editions of its key event: AI in Action. In 2020, the Forum IA Québec was created to serve as a strategic think-tank and a focal point to stimulate this flourishing industry.

In 2021, these three organizations teamed up to create the high point of the year in artificial intelligence—AI Meetings, a two-day virtual event open to the public.

In 2022, the second edition will be closed by the presentation of the first edition of the Québec Excellence in AI Awards, which will highlight the role of several organizations in the deployment of AI in Québec and its international influence.

• 2022 edition of the AI Meetings.

Tortoise, at the request and in collaboration with the Forum IA Québec, conducted an in-depth assessment of the AI ecosystem in Québec to determine its global ranking in their Global AI Index, published annually. The assessment, which is based on the measurement of 143 indicators, was conducted for the first time in November 2021 and ranked Québec in 7th position globally.

The Forum IA Québec will continue its collaboration with Tortoise to ensure that Québec can be part of the subsequent rankings and to improve the data sources used for the evaluation of the 143 indicators, ensuring an ever more accurate picture of our capabilities.

The governments of Canada and Québec have made significant financial commitments to support the growth of artificial intelligence. The investments made to date have supported important advances in AI and are already contributing to the enrichment and well-being our population.

To inform the next steps of the industrial strategy to be deployed to seize the full potential of economic and social benefits related to the development and adoption of AI, the Forum IA Québec is commissioning various studies to measure the benefits of AI investments and to estimate those associated with different future paths of AI in Québec.

A first study was conducted by PwC to assess the socio-economic impacts of public and private investments in AI in Québec between 2017 and 2021. The analysis identifies a $1.9 billion increase in GDP over this period, resulting from the financial support provided to AI research and companies. It also estimates the creation of an average of more than 3,000 high-paying jobs per year, as well as the generation of more than $400M in tax revenues over the period.

In order to help key AI players as well as the government keep Québec at the forefront of AI, the Forum IA Québec monitors international developments and conducts benchmarking studies to identify the most inspiring practices that could be interesting to test and apply in Québec. Among the themes monitored are AI talent, adoption and public policy.

At the request of the Forum and in collaboration with the Pôle montréalais d’enseignement supérieur en IA, the interuniversity research center CIRANO is currently working on a comparative analysis of international AI ecosystems to identify useful recommendations.

The Forum’s mandate is to provide the Québec government with useful recommendations and analyses on public policies, laws and programs so that it can create an environment conducive to AI research and adoption, in consultation with all players in the Québec AI ecosystem. To this end, the Forum conducts annual consultations, participates in sectoral consultation groups, makes representations and produces orientation documents on important issues of the day.

As part of the projects of the Talent working group, various ecosystem players are currently evaluating the conditions to carry out a project to map the AI training available in Quebec. The idea is to link them to a clear taxonomy of AI professions and to make the results accessible in an easy-to-use module to facilitate the appropriation of AI in all economic sectors.

AI is a rapidly evolving sector and therefore the needs of the ecosystem are difficult to identify, both in terms of the number of specialists required as well as the skills needed. To fill these gaps, TECHNOCompétences conducted a large study to determine the profile of the workforce in the sector, in which the Forum collaborated.

Québec has established a Permanent immigration pilot program for workers in the artificial intelligence, information technologies and visual effects sectors in order to facilitate and accelerate the issuance of selection certificates for highly skilled foreign workers. The program allows companies to submit immigration applications that meet their needs, which are then assessed by a committee of AI experts.

This program is an important tool to ensure the recruitment and retention of the international talent that Québec needs. The Québec government turned to the Forum to consult with ecosystem stakeholders to evaluate this program and ensure that it meets the needs of the industry.

TECHNOcompétences is in charge of the whole evaluation process. To apply, click on the following link.

What is your AI maturity level? AI maturity measure an organization’s ability to achieve and realize the goals and business value sought through the implementation of AI systems.

In collaboration with the Institut Intelligence et données (IID) of Laval University, the Forum is currently developing a simple and practical self-assessment tool that will allow companies to quickly evaluate their maturity to adopt AI and what actions they can take to improve it.

This tool will support executives’ decision-making with personalized recommendations and will direct SMEs towards partners ready to help them at their specific maturity level.

Business leaders who want to start their AI journey, don’t always know where to start and which partners to turn to in order to support them in the different phases of their AI project.

At each stage of their project, from the strategic planning stage to the deployment of an AI solution into production, through the evaluation of the technical and commercial feasibility of an AI use case or the design of a custom AI solution, companies need specific support.

As a result, the Forum is working to develop an Adopter’s Journey that will take full advantage of its Directory of AI Organizations to better direct companies to the right partners based on their business needs and digital maturity as well as the advancement of the AI technologies they are looking to deploy.

For many business leaders, the benefits from AI adoption are still unclear. They are wondering what the most promising AI use cases for their business are and what technologies need to be implemented to take full advantage of them. The answers to these questions are not always easy to assess, regardless of the company’s economic sector.

The Forum is working to identify the main AI use cases aligned with their business needs and their sector of economic activity and group them in a directory of use cases easy to consult.

The Forum IA Québec participates in, and occasionally leads, various sectoral concertation initiatives to accelerate the adoption of AI in the Québec economy (biofood, health, entertainment, etc.).

Such sectoral initiatives seek to better identify the unique needs of certain industries or, conversely, to identify synergies that could give rise to cross-sectoral learnings or structuring initiatives beneficial for all of Québec.

The Forum also advises the government in the implementation of sectoral programs, policies and action plans to support the adoption efforts of industry stakeholders.

The Québec government has adopted its first Strategy for the Integration of AI in Québec’s Public Administration in 2021. The Forum intends to play an active role in supporting the government in the deployment of its strategy, notably by connecting the government and the actors of the AI ecosystem who will help the government integrate AI effectively and ethically.

At the Forum’s request, the OBVIA is working to develop a practical ethics tool that will enable companies to assess the ethical risks of their AI systems with a view to improving their responsible development and use.

This tool will be published in an easy-to-use interactive module and will support executives’ decision-making with personalized recommendations.