Conference & Meetings World Supplements Canada AI Supplement | Page 13

Canada
From rocks to robots:
The robots are coming as Québec City adds
its Francophone charm to the country’s
scientifi c and AI strongsuits
T
hroughout 2018 Québec City will
be hosting some 13 international
and American conventions in
subjects ranging from geography and
geology, to robotics, and more.
Volunteer ambassadors have
played their role in this campaign,
promoting the city as a smart choice
for conferences. The conferences lined
up are expected to spur over $23m in
economic impact and include:
The 20th International
Sedimentological Congress 2018, to
be hosted in August at the Québec
City Convention Centre by local
sedimentology researchers. 800 earth
science specialists are expected to
attend as the convention returns to
Canada after a 36-year absence.
Five days of presentations, excursions
and fi eld trips to Canadian and US sites
will take place before and after the
Congress. The expected 5,700 person-
nights generated by the Congress at
local hotels will impact Québec City’s
economy by around $3m.
The 2018 International Geographical
Union Regional Conference underlines
Québec City’s research reputation with
2,000 geographers from across the
globe expected also in August.
“The society’s members from France,
Belgium, Haiti and French-speaking
African nations wanted French to
play a crucial role in the 2018 event
as homage to the society’s French
history,” said Matthew G. Hatvany,
associate professor of Geography at
the Université Laval and member of
Québec City’s Ambassador Club.
“The Québec City team decided to
re-emphasise the use of French in our
bid presentation,” Hatvany added. It
will be the fi rst time the event has been
held in North America in 25 years.
August is a busy meetings month,
with the robots joining the action, as
some 1,000 engineers gather for the
American Society of Mechanical
Engineers (ASME)’s International Design
Engineering Technical Conference
and Computers & Information in
Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE).
Championed by Ambassador
Clement Gosselin, director of the
Université Laval Robotics Laboratory,
the bid convinced the American
organisation to choose Québec
City for an event that is expected to
generate some $4.5m in economic
benefi t for the city.
The cradle of North American French
culture, Québec City has the attraction
of being a lively, living museum, as well
a leader in Life Sciences, ICT and AI
industries.
CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD
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