The giant Swedish telecommunications group Eriksson announced on Thursday that it will set up a global center to accelerate artificial intelligence in Montreal, where giant technology groups such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft are investing in research in this field.
The Swedish group said in a statement that the specialized laboratory would develop "smart data-centric systems" in communications, especially fifth-generation networks (5G), adding that it would employ 30 researchers and developers in 2019.
In total, Ericsson will invest 40 million Canadian dollars (26.6 million euros) over five years in the project.
Graham Osborne, head of the Canadian branch of Eriksson, said the experts would work on "automating and developing existing fifth generation networks."
Ericsson has a research and development center with about 1,000 people in Montreal, which will be linked to the new lab.
The Canadian city, known for its diverse population, does not hide its ambition to become a major center for artificial intelligence research.
"The leadership demonstrated by the Government of Canada has allowed the establishment of a rigid artificial intelligence system in Montreal based on important talents that we can employ," Osborne said.
By the end of 2016, Google had adopted the Cambridge Training Institute in Montreal to work on systems capable of understanding and producing natural language.
At the beginning of 2017, Microsoft acquired the emerging Canadian company Maloba, which specializes in understanding language machines.
In mid-September 2017, Facebook in Montreal set up its second artificial intelligence lab outside the United States to "improve the effectiveness of virtual assistants by better understanding the mechanisms of online dialogue."
