SCALE AI Invests Nearly $40 Million in AI Projects, Propelling Québec's Retail and Construction Sectors

SCALE AI, the global innovation supercluster dedicated to artificial intelligence, is propelling Québec companies by supporting four recent AI projects totaling nearly $40 million. The projects, led by Coveo, GUAY, Groupe Canam, and BIM One, demonstrate that the adoption of AI is accelerating in the retail and construction sectors, as well as in the development of innovative enterprise solutions. The four companies own 100% of the intellectual property generated by their projects, a crucial measure for boosting Canada's global competitive advantage in AI.

According to SCALE AI's most recent research report, AI at Scale, the Québec City region is among the 17 top AI ecosystems to watch, contributing to the significant number of new companies being created in the AI field in Canada. This ranks Canada ahead of its rivals for the number of AI start-ups per capita.

Investing in innovation, especially in artificial intelligence, is paramount to growing the economy and cementing Canada's position as a global leader. The projects being showcased by SCALE AI demonstrate how the cluster plays a key role in supporting Canada's artificial intelligence sector, notably that of Québec. Ultimately, these projects create highly skilled jobs and a more resilient supply chain while enabling Canadian companies to be more efficient and competitive.

The adoption of AI helps drive massive productivity gains across all sectors of the economy and helps secure competitiveness worldwide. Integrating AI while developing it ethically and responsibly is vital to ensuring Québec's productivity, and SCALE AI is a major player in the deployment of artificial intelligence. Its expertise will be most useful for informing thinking about how to frame the use of AI.

Artificial intelligence poses many challenges and also offers many opportunities to improve competitiveness and generate innovation in Québec and the rest of Canada. The government is supporting local businesses like Vooban, GUAY, Coveo, and Groupe Canam, which are capitalizing on Canadian expertise in this field to develop and bring to market innovative technologies. In collaboration with SCALE AI, the supply chains are strengthened, the economy is energized, and the positions of Canada and Québec as global innovation leaders are cemented.

Over the past five years, with its investments in tangible AI projects, SCALE AI has built an ecosystem that has enabled several Québec-based SMEs to shine both locally and internationally. At the same time, SCALE AI is helping to build a regulatory framework for AI that will enable local companies to develop ethical, responsible AI and continue to grow the economy.

Artificial intelligence has been developing at a phenomenal rate in Québec. These recent projects illustrate the important role of AI in helping organizations become more efficient, reduce their carbon footprint, and improve service delivery, among other things. These companies are developing know-how, expertise, and intellectual property that are now available to the broader market and to any Canadian company interested in developing AI.

The projects funded by SCALE AI demonstrate the tremendous potential of AI in Québec and Canada. The support from SCALE AI and the government's investment in innovation and AI will help create highly skilled jobs and build a more competitive economy. Québec's and Canada's positions as global innovation leaders will continue to be cemented.