CIRANO CEO Nathalie de Marcellis-Warin took part in several activities as part of the XIXᵉ Sommet de la Francophonie, which opened on Friday October 4 at the Cité internationale de la langue française in Villers-Cotterêts, France. 

Meetings were held with Catherine Cano, representative of the Government of Quebec at the Permanent Delegation of Canada to UNESCO and Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences responsable of AI ethics. Further meetings followed with Remi Quirion, Chief Scientist of Quebec, and Thierry Damerval, Special Delegate for Science, Technology and Innovation, attached to the DGRI at the French Ministry of Education and Higher Education. 

Discussions focused on science in French, content discoverability and scientific expertise. The social acceptability of AI, digital literacy and societal impacts were also raised. A great opportunity to give visibility to CIRANO, Polytechnique Montréal, RFICS and OBVIA.

Nathalie also took part in the Salon #Francotech at STATION F, which aims to strengthen the French-speaking economic area. Five themes were explored during the panels: 1) Artificial intelligence 2) Energy transition 3) Human capital 4) Logistics 5) Financing innovation. The show also provided an opportunity to discuss the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes Corridor research project on supply chain resilience and data science (GVCdtLab) with representatives from the ports of Montreal and Quebec. Great opportunities for collaboration ahead!

Many thanks to the FRQ, the Délégation générale du Québec à Paris, UNESCO and MRIF for organizing these meetings.
 

Anne-Marie Jean (Délégation du Québec aux affaires francophones et multilatérales), Martine Biron (Ministre des relations internationales et de la francophonie du Québec), Nathalie de Marcellis-Warin (CIRANO), Helene Drainville (LOJIQ, Coordonnatrice du Quebec pour le sommet de la Francophonie)

Photo with Catherine Cano, Quebec government representative at the Permanent Delegation of Canada to UNESCO

Photo with Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences, in charge of AI ethics, UNESCO

Photo with Remi Quirion, Chief Scientist of Quebec and Thierry Damerval, Special Delegate for Science, Technology and Innovation, attached to the DGRI at the French Ministry of Education and Higher Education.