The IRT Saint Exupéry opens outpost in Montréal

A hundred experts will be working out of this new research centre in the next five years

Montréal, 15 avril 2019 – Following a successful year of collaboration with the Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Québec (CRIAQ) and the Institute for Data Valorization (IVADO), the Institut de Recherche Technologique (IRT) Saint Exupéry, headquartered in Toulouse, France, announces the opening of a specialized outpost in Montréal. The centre will initially work on AI projects while based in the Mile Ex neighbourhood, in the heart of Montréal’s AI ecosystem.

This partnership launches the development of major AI and information and communications technologies research, and innovation projects between France and Québec, where the results would first be applied to the ground and air transportation sector. These projects would spearhead major advances in both ecosystems, while the researchers can focus working on various issues such as the security of critical systems, autonomous transportation, cybersecurity and 5G technology.

The opening of this new centre, which will strengthen university and industry relations between Québec and France, will allow IRT partners to access one of the most dynamic AI ecosystems in the world and encourage their members’ mobility, thus fostering the acquisition of new skills.

“This outpost is strategic for us since Montréal is a global AI hub. We will work with Montréal’s AI players, through our Québec partners, to tackle the challenges of the aeronautics, space and automotive industries. IRT Saint Exupéry will bring a strategic vision to deal with the issues specific to its partner businesses, and offer a collaborative model that is quite unique in the world,” said Guillaume Gaudron, Director of the Montréal centre.

For the President and CEO of Montréal International, Hubert Bolduc, IRT Saint Exupéry’s arrival will not only strengthen exchanges between France and Québec in the area of aerospace, but it will also boost collaboration between the research community and the industrial sector in both markets. “Greater Montréal is home to one of the most prestigious groups of deep learning researchers in the world and is the ideal place for IRT Saint Exupéry to develop innovative solutions that will benefit both Québec and French companies.”

“CRIAQ’s expertise in complex research partnerships with multiple players, has allowed us to build with IVADO and IRT Saint-Exupéry, an international R & D project pioneering aerospace and digital innovations. The technological leadership of our companies will be backed by a team of leading academic researchers to progress towards concrete aerospace applications of artificial intelligence. With this project, we can say that Quebec is at the forefront of digital aerospace in the world,” said Alain Aubertin, President and CEO of CRIAQ.

“Montréal’s artificial intelligence ecosystem will greatly benefit from the arrival of IRT Saint Exupéry and the innovative projects that will emerge from these France-Québec collaborations. Initiatives such as the Forum MobiliT.Ai are concrete examples of knowledge transfer on research and innovation in aerospace, advanced mobility and artificial intelligence resulting from this collaboration. IVADO is very pleased that this new centre has chosen to join Montréal’s thriving technology community,” affirmed Gilles Savard, CEO of IVADO.

About IRT Saint Exupéry
The Institut de Recherche Technologique (IRT) Saint Exupéry is a science, technological research and transfer accelerator in the aeronautics, space and embedded systems industries aimed at developing innovative, reliable, robust, certifiable and sustainable solutions.

By bringing public and private partners together for research projects based on technology platforms and high-level skills, IRT Saint Exupéry offers a collaborative environment at its Toulouse, Bordeaux, Sophia Antipolis and Montréal sites, integrated around four key areas:

• High-performance multifunctional materials: Composites, surfaces and assemblies – Metallic materials and processes
• More electrical aircraft: Dielectrics, conductors and plasmas – Power technologies and integration – Component modelling and reliability
• Intelligent and communication systems: Systems engineering – Intelligent systems and applications – Digital signal processing – DEpendable, Explainable Learning (DEEL) program
• Systems engineering and modelling: Multidisciplinary design optimization – Systems engineering

IRT Saint Exupéry is a technological research institute approved by the State as part of France’s Investment for the Future program.