Thales Canada is recognized for its pioneering work to provide world-class artificial intelligence solutions that are transparent, understandable and ethical while keeping humans as the primary decision-makers.
This innovative work earned the global AI leader the Mitacs Innovation Award — Canadian Innovative Company of the Year, presented by Mitacsa Canadian leader in innovation.
Supported by the Quebec Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Mitacs connects businesses and researchers to boost competitiveness and productivity in sectors such as clean technology, artificial intelligence, aerospace, life sciences, quantum, energy and social innovation. . The award will be presented during a ceremony at the National Arts Center in Ottawa on November 19.
Through its CortAIx laboratories in Canada, Thales strives to bring technologies that augment human capabilities (AI to assist humans rather than replace them) to advanced systems in defense, security, aerospace, cybersecurity and digital identity.
Over the past 12 years, the company has collaborated with numerous Mitacs researchers — more than 10 student interns per year in the disciplines of software engineering, physics, mathematics and psychology — from leading Canadian universities. plan, including Laval University and Polytechnique Montréal.
Last year, Thales partnered with Mitacs to create a broad research program that focuses student-led projects on improving the future of aircraft safety, such as providing autonomy solutions in terms of safety, obstacle detection, landing and takeoff. As Jean-François Gagnon, director of CortAIx Labs, explains, Mitacs researchers play a vital role in supporting the company’s internal research and development efforts.
“In addition to the direct impact of student work on solving critical business challenges, we also enjoy the indirect benefit of exposing our use cases to the broader academic community to solicit valuable feedback,” Gagnon said. “The company is also able to identify the best candidates, with former Mitacs interns currently making up about a third of our lab’s full-time staff.
Specifically, the award highlights a recent Mitacs research project aimed at overcoming challenges in the aviation maintenance industry, with the goal of ensuring compliance. Using generative AI and large language models (LLM), researchers are giving aircraft mechanics the tools they need to quickly and accurately retrieve critical information from masses of documentation that are often sparse and spread across diverse platforms. -shapes.
“The information compiled is not only accurate, but easy to understand to support intelligent decision-making,” Gagnon said.
Another Mitacs project aims to help planes make the right decisions when trying to avoid obstacles in flight. For example, if an autonomous drone carrying out a search and rescue mission must make a rapid movement to avoid an incident, the AI model responsible for piloting it must ensure that another collision or other risk will not occur later. cause of this movement, explained Gagnon.
“If you ask your AI assistant a question and it makes a mistake in its answer for a trivial situation, you might find it funny. Mistakes are no fun when AI is flying a plane,” Gagnon said. “What sets the majority of our research apart is that we cannot afford to make mistakes because human lives are at stake.”
As Thales Canada continues to advance its global technology leadership strategy, Mitacs interns also play a key role within AI@Centech, an incubator launched by Thales to support Canadian AI startups.
“Through our partnership with Mitacs, we are able to disseminate innovative ideas to the broader academic community, gathering feedback from their experts,” Gagnon said. “This is something that would be more difficult for our engineers to do otherwise.”
The Mitacs Innovation Award — Canadian Innovative Company of the Year recognizes a Mitacs industry partner whose leadership, adoption of growing technology, and support for cutting-edge research and development demonstrate continued commitment towards innovation in Canada.
Mitacs programs are supported by funding from the Government of Canada, the Government of Quebec and other provincial and territorial governments across the country.
Thales Canada is one of eight winners of the Mitacs Innovation Awards nationally, chosen from the thousands of innovators who participate in Mitacs programs each year. Additional 2024 categories, updated to better reflect Canada’s innovation landscape, include: Canadian Startup Innovator of the Year, Outstanding Research Leadership, Inclusive Innovator of the Year and four Innovation Awards exceptional.
In congratulating the winners, Mitacs CEO Stephen Lucas spoke of the organization’s long history and proven track record as a Canadian innovation leader.
“Not only do these awards recognize the achievements of exceptional innovators across Quebec and Canada, but they also highlight the infinite potential for impact when creative leaders work together,” said Dr. Lucas.
“As Mitacs celebrates 25 years as a leader in Canadian innovation, we reaffirm our belief that partnerships between research, business and talent – like those we honor with the Mitacs Innovation Awards – are the key to a prosperous and prosperous Canada,” he said. .
For more information on the Mitacs awards and a complete list of winners, visit www.mitacs.ca/newsroom.
This press release was prepared and distributed by Thales Canada.
