On May 29, hundreds of members of the Montreal tech community gathered for a new edition of Mila Techaide to support Centraide of Greater Montreal in its fight against poverty and social exclusion. Thanks to their generosity, $117,993 was raised, an amount that surpasses the previous edition and reflects the community's growing commitment to this cause.
The day featured a high-calibre conference program, with presentations by Oana Balmau (Mila/McGill), Jean-François Godbout (Mila/Université de Montréal), Natasha Jaques (Google DeepMind/University of Washington), Ivana Kajic (Google DeepMind), Hugo Larochelle (Mila/Université de Montréal/McGill), and Catherine Régis (Mila/Université de Montréal).
The success of this event rests on the exceptional generosity of many donors. Hugo Larochelle, Scientific Director of Mila, made a $25,000 donation. An extraordinary matching initiative also amplified the impact of the fundraising effort: Marc-Alexandre Côté (Microsoft) and Microsoft each contributed $10,000, to which a major donor added a contribution of $19,934.
Several industry partners also supported the event as sponsors, including Google DeepMind, which contributed $5,000, as well as Microsoft and ServiceNow, with contributions of $2,000 each. Linearis and LocusX each contributed $500.
A heartfelt thank-you to the organizing committee, made up of members of the Mila community, for making the day such a success: Ioannis Mitliagkas, Alex Hernández-García, Hugo Larochelle, Nadine Khairallah, and Mélany Mathieu.
Thank you as well to every participant and donor whose generosity contributes, year after year, to making a real difference for the most vulnerable people in Greater Montreal. A huge thank-you to everyone, and we look forward to seeing you again next year!
