An unconference was held to discuss how we can all work together to make Montreal the ideal city for AI startups. It was held at the Google Montreal office on Saturday June 8th.
The objective of the day was to gather smart people in a room in an informal setting, spark thought-provoking conversations and publicly present the results which will hopefully result in positive change. Ultimately, we want to Montreal a leading city for AI startups.
Montreal has all the qualities to become a leading city for AI startups yet much more is needed to make this reality.
We gathered some of the most important people working across academia, research labs, corporations, venture capital, and of course startups to work on concrete solutions.
The result is a working document which is open and accessible to all. Participants will lead actions that were discussed during the workshop. We hope that participants from the community will contribute. The spirit of this project is intended to be open source and everything will be shared openly.
Here is the working document
| Name | Company | Category |
|---|---|---|
| Alain Chung | Corporate (co-organiser) | |
| Alik Sokolov | Sibli | Startup |
| Antony Diaz | Admis | Startup |
| Brennan Nichyporuk | MILA | Academia |
| Chris Arsenault | iNovia | Investor |
| Dan Wood | AMD | Corporate |
| Fatiha Beng hanem | Sibli | Startup (co-organiser) |
| Gabriel Sundaram | Mission.dev | Startup |
| Gael Humbert | PINQ2 | Non-Profit |
| George Korkejian | Next AI | Non-Profit |
| Jacomo Corbo | PhysicsX | Startup |
| Joseph Viviano | MILA | Academia |
| Laurent Maisonnave | Admis | Startup |
| Nectarios Economakis | Amiral | Investor (co-organiser) |
| Philippe Beaudoin | Waverly | Startup |
| Tal Arbel | MILA | Academia |
| Shibl Mourad | Corporate (co-organiser) | |
| Vaughn DiMarco | X-Machina | Investor |
| Branding and community. Inaugurate a unified diverse consultative board to represent AI stakeholders (ref: Cybereco, Betaworks) |
|---|
| Branding. Create a communications plan to "celebrate trying" through community platforms and beyond VC funding (ex: Poster session at Mila and conferences, media on learnings Element AI & Valence exit) |
| Talent and Academia. Build an alumni network at universities and Mila to plug into local startups & industry job opportunities (ref: Waterloo and Sherbrooke models) |
| Investments, Academia, and Government. Transparently mapping of grants that actually go to entrepreneurship programs, and where to provide feedback |
| Talent and Government. Align to Quebec government's efforts on immigration to attract and retain AI talent. Connect talent to industry, academia, ad startup opportunities [e.g., Canadian O1 Visa] |
| Community. Organize the next in-person unconference to measure and capitalize on progress |
| Community. Build and maintain a mailing list (or Slack, Discord, …) of members of the community that can be used to ask for advice, intros, coordinate efforts, etc. |
| Academia Host a mixed research/startup event at Mila that attracts investors from outside Montreal. (see https://www.upperbound.ai/) |
| Community Have a regular event for founders modeled on YC Tuesday Dinner |