Smart partnership announced to support artificial intelligence research

EDMONTON -- The University of Alberta’s Department of Computing Science received a $1.25M donation from Scotiabank on Tuesday to enhance their work in artificial intelligence.

The money will fund the Scotiabank Artificial Intelligence Research Initiative over five years.

“By partnering with industry we let our students know there are real tangible outcomes to the work that they’re doing in the classrooms.” said Matina Kalcounis-Rueppell, Dean of Faculty of Science.

“Scotiabank being a part of the financial industry has needs that we can partner with as far as artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing and fraud detection.”

According to CSRankings.org, the U of A’s scores high in artificial intelligence research, ranking third globally over the last 25 years.

With this money they hope to keep that momentum going. It will fund a postdoctoral fellowship and buy new technological advanced equipment.

As well, the money sponsored 14 U of A students attending the CAN-CWic in Ontario earlier this month. It celebrated Canadian women in computing, allowing local students a chance to share their talents.