Impact Report 2020-21
Impact
Report
2020-2021
Mila: A world-renowned artificial intelligence hub in Quebec
A word from Pierre Boivin, Chairman of the Board of Directors
A word from Valérie Pisano, President and CEO
A word from Yoshua Bengio, Founder and Scientific Director
OUTSTANDING GROWTH
CIFAR AI Chairs
As of October 2021, Mila’s growing community includes 48 active Canada CIFAR AI chairs, representing 44% of all AI chairs in Canada.
Faculty Growth
In the past year, Mila welcomed 23 new professors, increasing the number of faculty members from 64 to 87. The Mila faculty has more than doubled since 2019.
Students and Researchers
Today, some 700 researchers (master’s, doctorate, postdoctorate, interns, visitors) and over 130 students (professional master’s, DESS) are part of the Mila community, making it the largest concentration of academic deep learning researchers in the world.
Number of Researchers
The number of researchers at Mila has tripled since 2018, further confirming the attractiveness of Quebec’s AI sector.
Mila Employees
The number of employees increased from 60 to 71, up 18%.
A Quebec Institute
Mila is the result of a unique collaboration between Université de Montréal, McGill University, Polytechnique Montréal and HEC Montréal, and hosts professors from Université Laval in Quebec City, Université de Sherbrooke and the École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) in Montreal. Mila is also a first-class meeting place for our Quebec and global industry partners who reap the benefits of working closely with our rich talent pool and technology transfer teams. By attracting international talent and organizations to Montreal, Mila has a recognized economic, social, and scientific impact that strengthens Quebec's leadership position.
A MAJOR ECONOMIC DRIVER
Industry Partners
The number of Mila industry partners from Quebec, Canada, and the rest of the world has increased by 100% since March 2020, from 42 to 84.
Applied Research Projects
Since its inception, Mila's applied research team has worked on more than 112 projects to help companies at home and abroad accelerate the development and deployment of artificial intelligence in their products and services.
Startups at Mila
46 startups are members of Mila. Of those, 16 emerged at Mila.
Company Internships
More than 176 Mila interns have worked in Quebec companies since 2018 to help them make the shift towards AI.
International Students
Mila's attractiveness is confirmed as approximately 70% of its students come from abroad.
Mila graduates working in Quebec
The proportion of graduates of the Professional Master’s and DESS programs who work in Quebec organizations.
Quebec, a Leading AI Hub
Since 2018, over 30 international technology companies have set up an AI research lab or a place of business in Montreal.
The city is also 1st in Canada for university research funding in AI, with $1.34+ billion yearly.
There were more than 32,000 workers with AI-related skills in Quebec in 2021, of which more than 27,000 are located in Greater Montreal. This number grew by 4,650 between 2020 and 2021 according to an analysis of LinkedIn’s Talent Insights by Montréal International.
The AI community stands on a strong information technologies ecosystem representing over 230,000 jobs in Quebec.
RENOWNED SCIENTIFIC LEADERSHIP
Scientific Publications
Since 2018, 341 scientific articles have been published with co-authors from industry.
Scientific Publications
Number of peer reviewed articles since 2018.
Scholarships
A total of 795 scholarships have been awarded to students and researchers since 2018.
Research Projects
Last year, the number of research projects at Mila increased from 154 to 321, a 127% increase.
Participants
Training sessions, seminars, reading groups and other events attracted approximately 22,000 participants.
Media Mentions
This past year, Mila and its researchers were mentioned over 6,000 times in the media worldwide.
STUDYING AT MILA
“Mila offers a collaborative culture that allows me to share my research with my peers, meet inspiring colleagues, and be supervised by some of the world's best deep learning faculty. This wealth of ideas has the potential to create incredible innovations, and it is a privilege to be part of this adventure.”