Université de Moncton partners with New Brunswick Power to launch a Centre for Artificial Intelligence

 
 
Two men tour room of desks
Photo: New Brunswick Power

Investment of $1.7 million over four years from multiple organizations will enable innovative applied research, help reduce costs and improve employee safety for the province’s public utility.

MARCH 29, 2021 – A new centre focussed on research in artificial intelligence, sensors and robotics at the Université de Moncton (UM) will strengthen efficiency and reliability at New Brunswick Power, the province’s publicly-owned electricity generation and distribution utility.

The NB Power Centre for Artificial Intelligence, hosted by UM, will be a state-of-the-art facility funded, by the utility in partnership with the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), Mitacs and the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF). In recent years, UM’s AI research group, Perception, Robotique et Intelligence Machine (PRIME) has executed numerous AI applied research projects and carried out high-impact technology transfers with several industrial partners. PRIME will be actively involved in the centre’s activities.

“The creation of the NB Power Artificial Intelligence Centre is coming at the right time for our team,” said Moulay Akhloufi, professor in the Computer Science Department and Director of the centre. “This collaboration with NB Power will be a chance to develop innovative solutions using leading-edge AI, industrial vision and robotics technologies.”

Akhloufi said the Centre will provide national and international collaboration opportunities and will help attract the best talent in the AI technologies to develop a highly-qualified AI workforce.

Click here to read the full announcement from Université de Moncton.

Click here to read the full announcement from NB Power.