For years, Montreal has produced some of the world\u2019s top artificial intelligence researchers.<\/p>\n
Now, a new program from the city\u2019s flagship AI institute, Mila, is trying to lay the seeds to turn more of them into pioneering founders \u2014 and keep them based in Canada.<\/p>\n
The institute\u2019s investment arm, Mila Ventures, is preparing to launch a four-month \u201cventure scientist\u201d boot camp, beginning this June, aimed at researchers with deep expertise in STEM fields, as well as ideas to tackle a significant problem, but perhaps little training in building companies. <\/p>\n
The ambition: produce high-growth startups, potentially even billion-dollar firms further down the road, said Jonathan Guillemette, director of scientific entrepreneurship at Mila Ventures. <\/p>\n
That next wave of game-changing startups, according to Guillemette, will come through people with deep expertise in particular fields, or what the institute calls \u201cventure scientists.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe venture scientist boot camp exists for people who know something very deep about science \u2014 knowledge that\u2019s not easily accessible through AI tools or Google,\u201d he said. \u201cThose are the people most likely to build deep-tech and AI companies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Initially, the program will target about 25 startups, though there is no fixed number, while the long-term plan is to scale to as many as 100 startups a year, Guillemette said.<\/p>\n
Scientists from across STEM fields (not just AI) are encouraged to apply, Guillemette said, adding that applicants must be able to work in Canada. <\/p>\n
There are also no quotas. The filter is quality research, Guillemette stressed.<\/p>\n
Those accepted will receive stipends of about $10,000 over the four months and work out of Mila\u2019s headquarters in Montreal\u2019s Little Italy.<\/p>\n
A high-pressure, fast-paced environment<\/p>\n
Ultimately, participants will work on their own startups while learning alongside others in a fast-paced, cohort-based environment designed to accelerate progress and prepare their companies for rapid growth, Guillemette explained.<\/p>\n
The program also seeks to address a wider challenge in Canada: keeping founders in the country. <\/p>\n
Less than a third of high-potential Canadian-founded startups in 2024 were headquartered domestically, according to a study by The Globe and Mail. Canada\u2019s leading startup hubs \u2014 Toronto-Waterloo, Vancouver and Montreal \u2014 have also shed a combined US$66 billion in ecosystem value since their respective peaks, according to the National Angel Capital Organization and Startup Genome.<\/p>\n
Mila itself, founded by Professor Yoshua Bengio, known as one of the world\u2019s Godfathers of AI, and home to a community of more than 1,500 members, accounts for a significant share of the world\u2019s most cited AI researchers. Still, only a small fraction of global venture capital flows to Canadian startups.<\/p>\n
\u201cOut of all the researchers I studied with, not a single one stayed in Quebec,\u201d said Guillemette, a Montreal native with a Ph.D. in physics from McGill University, speaking of his own experience. (After university, Guillemette went on to teach as well as start a company of his own. He joined Mila Ventures late last year.)<\/p>\n
This boot camp, he said, is designed to close that gap between discovery and commercialization.<\/p>\n
\u201cMila Ventures\u2019 answer is to say: we have the talent, we have an amazing ecosystem, let\u2019s build the rest of what is required to foster and nurture that early-stage talent.\u201d<\/p>\n
We have the hard part \u2014 the people.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJonathan Guillemette
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdirector of scientific entrepreneurship at Mila Ventures<\/p>\n
Guillemette noted that while figures like Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are widely known, a broader class of founders \u2014 scientists \u2014 have quietly built some of the world\u2019s most valuable companies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a ton of these \u2018venture scientists\u2019 hiding in plain sight at the top of major tech firms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In existence for about a year, Mila Ventures, under the leadership of St\u00e9phane Marceau, has already supported over 20 plus startups, joining wider a push in the city and province to better foster the tech ecosystem.<\/p>\n
Guillemette said about 80 per cent of this boot camp will focus on building, including customer interviews and product iteration,<\/p>\n
The remainder will cover topics such as identifying the limits of current AI knowledge and how to start a company, at a time when new AI tools are allowing founders to do more with smaller teams and lowering the barriers to launching companies.<\/p>\n
Participants will also be assigned \u2018venture managers\u2019, who will hold them accountable on a weekly basis.<\/p>\n
In the end, Guillemette said participants will hopefully incorporate and build their companies locally, and, in some cases, even begin generating revenue by the end of the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cCanada also needs to think more about sovereignty \u2014 in infrastructure, in IP, in how we build,\u201d Guillemette said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIdeally, they\u2019ve incorporated in Quebec or Canada, and they\u2019re able to build here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Do you have a story? I\u2019d love to hear it: hnorth@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n
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