G+D sets up Montreal AI lab with Mila to strengthen EU-Canada collaboration

Montreal-based artificial intelligence research institute Mila and Munich mobile security giant Giesecke+Devrient (G+D), have partnered to strengthen the link between AI research and AI application in the industry.

A release says the collaboration partnership reflects “a shared ambition to help shape the future of AI through stronger connections between research, innovation, and real-world application, thereby accelerating time to market for solution development and value contribution.”

It also highlights the deepening ties between Canada and Germany on AI cooperation, as Canada reorients its economic and cultural relationships toward Europe to try and ease dependence on U.S. ties.

“Mila is driven to advance AI research and push the boundaries of the field, while fostering world class research, developing talent, and supporting responsible innovation so that progress in AI translates into meaningful benefits for society,” says Valérie Pisano, president and CEO of Mila. “This partnership reflects the kind of collaboration that helps translate research excellence into real world impact and further strengthens the growing relationship between Canada and Germany in building a more trusted and forward-looking AI ecosystem.”

Gabriel von Mitschke-Collande, CDO at Giesecke+Devrient, says “this collaboration brings together complementary strengths from research and industry to scale AI solutions and deliver meaningful outcomes, reflecting the kind of leadership required to help define the next chapter of AI innovation.”

As AI aims to take a central role in societies – presenting both opportunities and risks – international cooperation is increasingly crucial. Mila and G+D believe that organizations and governments must work to strengthen their capacity by turning research into “durable advantage,” expanding shared capability, and supporting lasting innovation ecosystems.

Mila, the world’s largest academic AI research center specialized in deep learning, is a non-profit partnership between Université de Montréal and McGill University that is “strongly supported by the Government of Canada through the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy and by the Government of Quebec.”

Canadian strategy angles for piece of AI revenue pie

According to a report from The Logic, G+D has pledged to spend $80 million in Canada over the next five years, covering employee salaries, research partnerships, compute costs and other development expenses. It will also maintain a staff of 15, adding to a presence in the country that already includes credit card production for Canadian financial institutions at a factory in Markham, Ontario.

G+D reportedly chose Montreal as “a place to put a team that could swiftly develop products and services for internal and customer use,” as it looks to use AI to boost employee productivity and accelerate development on new AI products.” Staff at the new AI lab will collaborate with IT teams in India and business units in Germany; the first project will be development of AI tools to detect anomalies related to eSIMs used to connect devices to mobile networks.

The piece quotes Canada’s AI Minister Evan Solomon, who says the new hub “highlights the strength and global competitiveness of Canada’s AI ecosystem.” Part of Solomon’s file is a new digital alliance with Germany, which sees the two countries agreeing to develop and share AI infrastructure, research and commercialization – a model Canada hopes to establish with more EU partners.

The long-term hope is to claim some of the revenue from technical innovation and commercialization for Canada, rather than exclusively to Silicon Valley, by providing more opportunities for publicly funded professors and AI institutes locally. In recent comments prime minister Mark Carney points to the U.S. blocking of Anthropic’s Mythos 5 and Fable 5 AI models as evidence of the dangers of relying too heavily on a limited number of U.S. providers.

G+D claimed €3.2 billion (about US$3.7 billion) in revenue in its 2025 fiscal year.

Article Topics

Canada  |  Giesecke & Devrient (G+D)  |  MILA  |  Montreal  |  research and development