Thu, 25 Jan 2018

R&D Partners and Fundica Launch the Moving North Series: A Mission to Accelerate AI and NLP Funding worldwide

Earlier this month, R&D Partners announced Moving North, a series of events across the US and Europe with the mission of providing direct support to entrepreneurs looking to establish their Research and Development teams in Canada. The events are presented in collaboration with Global Affiars Canada, Invest Quebec, and Montreal International. Community support is provided by Creative Destruction Lab Montreal, Founder Institute and Startupweekend.

The first events are in New York City and Boston on Jan.31 and Feb.21, respectively. The theme for both events are AI and NLP. European events in London and Paris are scheduled for Q3 of this year.

The theme was chosen as a result of the notoriety Canada has garnered as global leaders in AI. Canada is undoubtedly a hub in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP). Just in Montreal, we host the highest concentration of deep learning researchers and have a running tally of over $1.3 billion locally invested in AI and NLP projects.

Montreal is notorious for having a winning formula for growing tech companies to thrive:

Abundant government funding: Home to the highest rate of government funding for R&D in North America, corporations can receive a refund of up to 74% of an engineer's or developer’s salary for eligible R&D work, while individuals moving to Canada and involved in R&D can receive a five-year personal provincial income tax holiday. Significant grants for hiring, training, marketing, and other activities are also available.

High concentration of universities and specialized talent: With over 9 000 university students in the field of AI or Data Science, Montreal has the largest university research center in Canada, with a model based on collaboration and public/private partnerships. Home to Institute for Data Valorization (IVADO) and Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms (MILA), one of the largest public deep learning labs.

Thriving Startup Ecosystem: Home to 26+ incubators and accelerators, grassroots AI groups, such as MTL Data and MTL Machine Learning, and over 20 affordable co-working spaces.

Low operating costs: Running a business costs less in Montreal than in any other major North American metropolitan areas. This is supported by competitive salaries ($86,418 avg. salary for a Software Developer), affordable rent (avg. rent is $21/sq. ft), and low energy costs.

So far, the New York event has over 50 participants registered, including the Founders and CEOs of Behold.ai, Woveon, Phospherus, MarketMuse, Haven Life, and more. Best of all, the event is free for all participants.

For tickets to Moving North New York please click here.

For tickets to Moving North Boston please click here.

About R&D Partners: Leading Canadian independent R&D tax advisor that has been in business for over 15 years with a focus on the Aerospace, ICT, Life Sciences, Multimedia, and Clean Technology sectors. A comprehensive and thorough understanding of the current R&D tax rulings is supported by their track record: successfully filed over 2 000 projects and $200 million in R&D tax credits. For more information, please visit their website.

About Invest Quebec: Invest Québec’s role is to help you make the most of everything Québec has to offer while guiding you through every phase of the set-up process. They offer financing solutions, strategic alliances, assistance in operating foreign-controlled subsidiaries, and in-depth knowledge of Québec. For more information, please visit their website.

About Montreal International: Montréal International’s mission is to contribute to the economic development of Greater Montréal and enhance its international status, which includes attracting foreign direct investments, international organizations and international strategic workers as well as promoting the competitive and international environment of Greater Montréal. For more information, please visit their website.

About Global Affairs Canada: Global Affairs Canada manages Canada's diplomatic and consular relations, promotes the country's international trade and leads Canada’s international development and humanitarian assistance. For more information, please visit their website.

About Creative Destruction Lab Montreal: CDL-Montreal, in partnership with HEC Montreal, runs a program mainly focused on artificial intelligence and data science to capitalize on Montreal’s expertise in the sector. Located in a city with one of the largest concentrations of AI researchers in the world, CDL-Montreal’s AI/Data Science stream will focus on projects and/or startups that make significant use of Artificial Intelligence and Data Analysis technologies. For more information, please visit their website.