Montreal puts stake in ground for ethical AI
If Montreal has already emerged as a global AI leader, the city continues to forge new paths by articulating its ethical framework. Renjie Butalid, Associate Director of the ۲ݮƵ Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship and Co-founder of the Montreal AI Ethics Institute, shares his perspective on this important aspect of AI’s development.
These headphones can read your thoughts
Dobson X-1 Accelerator participants Orbityl are on a mission to develop a set of headphones that can be controlled by sensing your brain’s activity.
“A lot of the research that we’ve done is in brain-computer interface applications — looking for discrete thoughts that an individual is having as a mechanism to be used for control [of a device],” said Orbityl co-founder Sean Kaiser.
“No one ever says you can create your own job”: Catalyzing women’s big ideas
Randi Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media recently spoke at Place des Arts in Montreal about empowering fellow women to pursue their entrepreneurial ambitions without qualms, particularly in the tech sector.
Meet the women shaking up the startup scene
Hear from the women who have founded successful startups through the ۲ݮƵ Dobson Centre as they share their advice for navigating the heady world of entrepreneurship.
Read more in the Dobson Chronicles
Can AI improve depression treatments?
Montreal startup and ۲ݮƵ Dobson Cup winners, Aifred Health, has developed a system that uses artificial intelligence to help doctors treat their patients struggling with depression more effectively by developing personalized treatment plans for them.
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Mastercard Foundation in support of the Dobson Cup
The ۲ݮƵ Dobson Cup powered by National Bank is pleased to announce a new prize, the Mastercard Foundation-Dobson Startup Awards, which total $23,000 and will focus on innovations in Social Enterprise.
The award will be divided as follows: First prize at $15,000, Second prize at $5,000 and third prize at $3,000.
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The road to greatness for ۲ݮƵ startup
۲ݮƵ Dobson Cup participants Aifred Health won first place and a $35,000 Milestone Award in the latest stage of the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE. By doing so, they also became one of 30 teams to qualify for the next phase of the four-year, $5-million competition whose final winner will be announced in 2020.
Meet the Dobson Cup semi-finalists
After receiving countless applications from across ۲ݮƵ University and much deliberation, the 108 startups moving to the 2019 ۲ݮƵ Dobson Cup semi-finals have been selected. Learn more about their big ideas.
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Major funding propels TemperPack to next level
۲ݮƵ Dobson Cup winners TemperPack have raised $22.5 million in financing from a group of venture capitalists.
Presently operating in Virginia and Nevada, TemperPack engineers, manufactures and distributes sustainable packaging products that replace single use plastics.
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Montreal emerges as tech leader in 2018
The past year saw many significant milestones for Montreal’s tech sector, including its emergence as an AI leader, the significant financial backing of its many startups, and the recognition of the ۲ݮƵ Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship as a top university-affiliated incubator by UBI Global.
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National Bank helps ensure another decade of innovation at ۲ݮƵ
Building on their support of the Dobson Cup since 2011, National Bank has gifted a further $4 million toward ۲ݮƵ’s premiere startup competition, ensuring vital support for the next generation of innovative entrepreneurs at ۲ݮƵ.
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Witness the pitches from Demo Days 2018
Montreal, San Francisco, Boston, Toronto, and NYC – the ۲ݮƵ Dobson Centre has spent much of the fall on the road for ۲ݮƵ Demo Days and the pitches are not to be missed.
Take a moment to watch some of ۲ݮƵ’s most promising startups in action.
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Entr: A startup that investors are noticing
Montreal-based event planning platform Entr has successfully raised $1.3 million in seed funding from major serial investors who are seeing the value of their initiative.
Last year, Entr secured first place at the ۲ݮƵ Dobson Cup and were participants in this year’s Dobson Demo Days.
۲ݮƵ University recognized for excellence in entrepreneurship support
According to the 2018-2019 Pitchbook, ۲ݮƵ University is ranked 29th among 50 world universities producing VC-backed entrepreneurs. On a national level, ۲ݮƵ places 2nd in Canada and 1st in Quebec.
۲ݮƵ has successfully trained 330 entrepreneurs and has supported the development of 304 companies that have raised $7.06 billion in capital.
۲ݮƵ is named home of the Hult
۲ݮƵ University has been selected to host a local edition of the Hult Prize, the world’s largest student competition for the creation of new social enterprises.
The annual Hult Prize awards one million dollars in start-up funding to the student team that develops the most radical and breakthrough idea to solve one of our world’s toughest social challenges.