Google Cloud's commitment to Québec: A hub for innovation and AI
Québec has long been a leader in technological innovation, with a vibrant ecosystem of businesses, from cutting-edge startups to global enterprises. We’re deeply committed to empowering this growth by providing the secure, scalable, and intelligent cloud infrastructure needed to build for the future.
Local companies in Québec are using our platform to solve complex challenges, accelerate their growth, and create incredible products that reach new markets. To support this new generation of innovators, we’re investing in the local ecosystem and providing teams with the skills they need to succeed.
Customer spotlight: innovating on Google Cloud
Québecois innovators are leveraging Google Cloud to solve complex challenges, reach new markets, and create impactful products. Today, we’re announcing new collaborations with leading institutions, demonstrating the power of a collaborative cloud partnership.
- Alloprof, a free educational support platform, is collaborating with Google Cloud and Google DeepMind on an AI research and development initiative designed to have a tangible impact on the learning and academic success of Quebec students. The partnership leverages Alloprof's extensive expertise in facilitating student learning and combines it with Google’s advanced AI tools, including the LearnLM framework and Google Cloud technology. This work will explore concrete applications to make educational support more effective, especially for students facing learning difficulties.
- Énergir, a leading energy company, is partnering with Google Cloud to improve its systems and meet customer energy needs in an increasingly efficient way. This collaboration began with the successful move of Énergir's core business system, SAP, to Google Cloud, establishing a strong and reliable foundation. Building on this new infrastructure, both companies are now exploring how AI can be used to unlock new value and drive significant advancements for Énergir's business and its customers.
- iA Private Wealth, one of Canada’s premier independent wealth management firms with over $70 billion in assets under administration, has partnered with Google Cloud to advance its digital transformation strategy. This collaboration is focused on delivering a seamless, end-to-end experience for financial advisors, their support teams, clients, and corporate staff. At the core of this initiative is AX360, a centralized digital workspace built on Google Cloud that unifies all aspects of an advisor’s business. Leveraging advanced tools such as BigQuery for scalable data management and Looker for intuitive reporting and business intelligence. Complementing AX360 is iAssist, an AI-powered assistant developed using Google’s Gemini models. iAssist enables advisors to quickly access information and generate data-driven lists. Together, these integrated solutions enable advisors to operate with greater efficiency, allowing them to dedicate more time to building client relationships and delivering personalized, value-driven advice.
- Plus Company, a global network of creative and marketing agencies, is working with Google Cloud to completely change how they deliver marketing. This collaboration allows Plus Company to combine their creative expertise with Google Cloud’s AI, including Agentspace, Vertex AI and Google’s Gemini, Imagen, Veo, and Lyria models. As a result, every agency within Plus Company is now AI-enabled, helping their teams work faster and deliver more insightful campaigns. A key outcome of this partnership is Smart Persona, a platform co-developed with Google Cloud, that uses data to create precise, privacy-safe audience models, helping brands reach customers with greater accuracy. Plus Company is also helping Canadian clients adopt AI powered solutions like Google Cloud's Agentspace, enabling them to maximize benefits from re-imagining internal workflows and addressing customer requests more efficiently.
- RONA, a Canadian home improvement and hardware retailer, is partnering with Google Cloud to streamline its digital strategy with a focus on better in-store technology. They are using Google Distributed Cloud (GDC) to run RONA's new in-store system, acting as a ready-made technology platform. This directly helps the software teams by providing essential features they would otherwise have to build from scratch. This helps RONA quickly roll out new digital services for customers and employees, which significantly cuts down on the costs associated with traditional in-store equipment and makes their future technology foundation more flexible and dependable.
Empowering Québec's AI workforce: no-cost AI skill-building initiatives
As AI reshapes industries, equipping the Québecois population with the skills to leverage this new technology is paramount. Google Cloud is expanding its AI skill-building initiatives in the province with new training and certification programs for developers, students, professionals, and higher- education institutions — available in both English and French at no cost.
These initiatives align with our broader commitment to fostering AI literacy and preparing the workforce for the future. By providing accessible, high-quality training resources via our on-demand learning platform, Google Cloud Skills Boost, we aim to bridge the skills gap and help support individuals to pursue rewarding careers in the cloud.
Key highlights of our expanded AI skill-building initiatives include:
- For developers: Developers can access 35 free Skills Boost credits per month for advanced training and credentials, specifically focused on using generative AI. They can learn to build and modernize applications (FR) and integrate generative AI (FR) into their data workflows.
- For students and professionals: Individuals can access Google Cloud's flagship AI courses on YouTube, covering introductory, intermediate, and advanced levels.
- For the French audio track, click the "Settings" gear icon (⚙️) in the bottom right corner of the video player, select "Audio track" from the menu, and choose French.
- For higher education institutions: Faculty and leaders can help build technical skills among their students through the cohort-based Google Career Launchpad program. Students gain no-cost access to entry-level Google Cloud certificates in cybersecurity, data analytics, and generative AI courses with skill badge credentials. Note: All courses will be available in French by the end of this year.
SMBs and startups can also elevate their team’s cloud skills with no-cost access to the entire Google Cloud Skills Boost catalog of on-demand courses and hands-on labs through Skills Boost for Organizations.
A continued partnership with Québec
We look forward to continuing our partnership with Québec's businesses and communities, helping to build a more innovative and digitally enabled future for everyone.
