The biggest tech show in the world opened this week in Las Vegas with nearly 5,000 companies on site. An arduous task awaits around forty Quebec companies trying to stand out among investors as artificial intelligence takes over.
“Artificial intelligence is everywhere at the show,” emphasizes Maxime Julien, president and founder of Solid State of Mind, an artificial intelligence (AI) company. We see some completely crazy things, including a pillow controlled by AI.”
“There is AI sprinkled everywhere. We see almost too much of it.”
Mr. Julien is aware that competition is strong in his field.
“The spearhead is to do better than everyone else. We were inspired by biology and cognitive psychology to create a new AI. We showed that we could do better with much less.”
Business people also take advantage of this to establish contacts for present or future negotiations. Many of them have the opportunity to meet partners for the first time since the pandemic.
Open doors
For companies like Bornes Québec or Niosense, this show represents a golden opportunity to solidify business ties in North America and internationally.
“We were able to meet several partners, including one who could give us access to more than 1,500 intersections in an American state and a Japanese company which has a huge fleet of trucks,” says Patrick Lauzière, CEO of Niosense, a company specializing in synchronization of traffic lights using artificial intelligence.
“We are looking for partners who could help us develop our market in the United States,” explains Maurice Côté, president of Bornes Québec, which invented a charging station for electric cars (EVERA). There is demand for this type of product.”
“We have already met a multinational that has problems and we could help them with our support service.”