Theme: Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence

TEDxMontrealSalon brings together the effervescent TEDxMontreal community several times a year to exchange ideas, foster friendships and kickstart collaborations. This July, the salon will take place at Centre Phi, a multidisciplinary arts and culture organization that cultivates all aspects of creation, development, production and dissemination.

Under the theme Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence, the lineup will be for the first time with French speaking speakers only.

Centre Phi
407 Rue Saint-Pierre
Montréal, Quebec, H2Y 2M3
Canada

Nicolas Merveille

Professor at UQAM, Management Sciences, Strategy Department, Social and Environmental Responsibility

Nicolas Merveille, Professor at UQAM, Management Sciences, Strategy Department, Social and Environmental Responsibility. Co-chairholder of the International Reference Center for the Life Cycle of Products. Since 2016, Nicolas collaborates closely with the administration of Montreal city on the social and political impacts of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Deep Learning. He believes IoT and AI made the human definition outdated, and make it always more difficult to define who we are. For him, we are living an amazing era, because we unintentionally created the conditions to reinvent ourselves. Nicolas defines himself as hedonist, and an unstoppable life enjoyer.

Valérie Bécaert

Director of Research Group at Element AI

Valerie is Director Research Group at Element AI. Before, she was director partnerships of the Institute for Data Valorisation (IVADO), which brings together more than 900 scientists working to extract economical and societal value from data. She holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering in environmental modelisation. Her career began as a researcher in the field of life cycle analysis, to evaluate the potential impact of human activities on the environment. She was also Director CIRAIG, International Reference Centre for the Life Cycle of Products, Processes and Services, and was co-founder of CIRODD, Interdisciplinary Research Center on Sustainable Development Operationalization. It is by working with optimization and mathematics researchers to solve environmental problems that she became convinced that our ability to generate, analyze and value big data would change the world. Valerie defines herself as a committed-green-techno-geek and looks to the future with optimism and wonder.