AI Sweden, based in Gothenburg, has been working with the Canadian institution for over a year to cement the partnership, which will focus on “decentralised artificial intelligence” and “federated learning”.

Specific projects will look in depth at collaborative research, teaching and learning in “areas of common interest” – including scientific information sharing, faculty mobility, and student mobility.

The partnership will also look into collaboration on health-care innovation, cybersecurity and sustainability.

“When we heard that Concordia was starting an Applied AI Institute, we knew that it was spot on for us,” said the head of operations for AI Sweden, Peter Kurzwelly.

“There’s so much potential and such a willingness to collaborate on both sides, which will make the partnership that much easier,” he continued, referring to the 1,000 strong research community at the Québec institution that AI Sweden will now work with.

Kurzwelly will be joined in the project by Concordia International team members, and the co-directors of the Applied AI Institute co-directors Tristan Glatard and Fenwick McKelvey.

“One [line of partnership] is collaborating on industrial projects related to AI adoption and another angle focuses on the training side, because it’s difficult for companies to apply AI if they don’t have the workforce or expertise to do it,” said Glatard.

“We want to make things happen in ways that will measurably contribute to social betterment”

The project started on the heels of Concordia’s existing partnership with Ericsson Canada, which looked at AI research and development.

“As an institute, we strive to act as a conduit between the broad range of programs, faculties and educational mandates that have adopted AI as a strategy. We want to make things happen in ways that will measurably contribute to social betterment,” said Alex Megelas, manager of research innovation and business development at the Applied AI Institute.

“The partnership with AI Sweden is an incredible opportunity for us to position our students, programs, faculty and research in service of international commitments.

“We are coming up with funding strategies to attract students and researchers to Montreal, and for our students and researchers to go to Sweden,” Megelas continued.

“Canada has invested in AI research for a much longer amount of time than Sweden, and we’re not at the same level, in terms of research – but we do have a strong industry and a public sector that has a tradition for gathering data, which is why we want to focus on the value creation of AI,” Kurzwelly added.