Ericsson announced the inauguration of its Global Artificial Intelligence Accelerator (GAIA) innovation hub in Montreal, Canada.
The Swedish company said that its new innovation hub will focus on research and development in artificial intelligence and automation.
Ericsson said its Montréal GAIA will create more than 30 new jobs for data scientists, engineers, AI/machine learning architects, and software developers during this year, with potential for additional positions in the future.
“Maturing AI capabilities will have a significant impact on 5G and existing networks’ automation and evolution,” said Graham Osborne, head of Ericsson Canada. “The leadership shown by governments in Canada has helped create a robust Montréal AI ecosystem with world-class talent from which we can recruit.”
The Swedish vendor also said its new AI center in Montréal will accelerate the execution of Ericsson’s focused strategy by using AI and automation technologies to create intelligent products and services.
In Montreal, Ericsson already has 1,000 professionals working in the company’s R&D and services centre, including experts developing and implementing advanced and next-generation wireless systems for customers in Canada, United States, and across the world.
Ericsson has additional GAIA innovation hubs in the United States, Sweden and India. Globally, Ericsson will employ more than 300 data scientists, data engineers, ML/AI architects, and software developers across its global AI accelerators.
Samsung expands AI lab in Montreal
In related news, Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics announced the expansion of its AI lab in Montreal.
The SAIT AI Lab Montreal will focus on unsupervised learning and Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) research to develop disruptive innovation and technologies including new deep learning algorithms and next generation of on-device AI.
Samsung is planning to dispatch R&D personnel in its Device Solutions Business to Montreal over time and utilize AI Labs as a base for training AI researchers and collaborating with other advanced AI research institutes.
Samsung also highlighted that its AI lab in Montreal continues to build a strong relationship with Yoshua Bengio, one of the world’s experts on deep learning, machine learning, and AI. SAIT and Professor Bengio collaborated on deep learning algorithm research since 2014.
“SAIT focuses on research and development – not only in next generation semiconductor but also innovative AI as a seed technology in system semiconductors. SAIT AI Lab Montreal will play a key role within Samsung to redefine AI theory and deep learning algorithm for the next 10 years,” said Sungwoo Hwang, EVP and deputy head of SAIT.
