Already a leader in artificial intelligence (AI) research, the Université de Moncton (UMoncton) announced in February a million-dollar donation that will allow it to continue broadening its expertise in this much-buzzed-about field. The donation comes from the Excellence NB Association and Technology Venture Corporation, a private venture capital firm based in Moncton.

Francis LeBlanc, UMoncton Associate Vice Rector for Research, says the new funding will help the school grow its AI-related research activity in two ways. “First, we are creating a Research Chair in Artificial Intelligence in Health. We don’t know yet exactly what this Chair’s projects will be, as that will depend entirely on the successful candidate’s specific background and skills,” he says. “What I can say is that we are interested in a candidate who is an expert in AI first, health expertise would be a bonus. There is a wide array of health topics this Chair could lead, whether it’s in genomics, MedTech, or another healthcare subject. We have a great deal of existing expertise in health research, so it felt like a natural fit for our first AI Chair.”

UMoncton expects to fill the Research Chair position by the end of July 2024. Interested candidates are invited to apply here.

The donation will also establish the Excellence NB Research Fund which will fund health-related research projects utilizing AI technologies. LeBlanc says his team is excited to see which projects are submitted as part of this initiative. “We’ve been engaged in AI-related research well before it was even en vogue. We have seven research groups across all campuses that work directly in AI. So, there is solid foundation here both in health and AI,” he notes. “We have 12 dedicated AI specialists on staff, with another 15-20 that utilize AI in their research. Add to that their students and we have a robust AI talent pool that will no doubt submit some exciting projects for the Excellence NB Fund.”

UMoncton’s Health Focus

Pierre Doucet, Innovation Officer for the NB Centre of Precision Medicine at UMoncton, says this latest funding is great news for his team. “There are several AI opportunities in health for us. We can apply AI technologies to everything from glaucoma to diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, cancer, genetic profiling or even COVID-19, which is still an important research topic,” he says. “We’re also excited about efforts being made around smart hospitals. We recently connected with Schneider Electric around the building of smarter hospital infrastructure, which meshes quite well with our AI activity.”

“UMoncton’s simulation labs generate massive amounts of data. Our ‘sandbox’ environments recreate the hospital environment, where new MedTech can be tested. We can address multiple healthcare challenges. This includes the development of AI solutions that detect a nurse’s position when handling patients, monitor movements, and avoid injuries. Ultimately, we’re building partnerships that can bring data-driven research into intelligent hospital infrastructure.”

Fall 2023 saw UMoncton team with ResearchNB, Venn Innovation, and the University of New Brunswick’s McKenna Institute to deliver the first New Brunswick MedTech Summit. The two-day event allowed UMoncton to showcase some of its AI efforts to the academics and private sector players in attendance. LeBlanc says four new projects came out of the Summit, which are all currently in the works.

See a pair of UMoncton Summit Pitch decks here:

Supporting Industry

With federal and provincial government support, UMoncton’s Atlantic Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence and Data Management (PLEIADE) was established in 2022 to develop Canadian and international partnerships for internships, research collaborations, and student recruitment. Andre Chiasson, Director of Innovation Support at UMoncton, says his team serves as a research support office. “We do liaison work, both inside and outside the university, and help companies with technology transfer. That can involve helping to structure collaboration agreements, licensing or selling technology, launch startups, and more.”

Chiasson says with the launch of PLEIADE, UMoncton now offers micro-credentials in AI and data science and is looking to create similar offerings in robotics and automation. “The 2022 PLEIADE funding is helping us recruit students, and bring in more state-of-the-art equipment, which means increased collaborations with industry on technology transfer efforts. It’s already paying dividends; we went from 20 projects only two years ago to about 40 now, all in robotics and AI.”

He says projects touch all five of his team’s core AI focus areas — health, manufacturing, defence & security, fintech, and energy — and sectors like wood, food production, and agriculture. “As long as data is available, we can tackle just about anything.”

This has been a broad look at UMoncton’s world-class artificial intelligence research. To learn more visit https://www.umoncton.ca/bsi/en/node/12.