About Us

The development and use of innovative information technology processes and solutions are important objectives for the global competitiveness of the Canadian finance sector. A key element driving future growth will be the sector’s capability to exploit big-data generated by digital marketplaces. This capability will depend on training a sufficient number of highly qualified personnel with expertise in mathematics, statistics, computer science, artificial intelligence, finance, and operations research.

The Fin-ML network or Machine Learning in Finance, was created to respond to these new challenges and to become a Canadian reference for acquiring specialized skills in the field of innovative machine learning technology in quantitative finance and financial business analytics. Our goal is to assist students and professionals to adapt and use the new wave of computer driven tools and techniques that are rapidly transforming our environment. We aim to form a new generation of finance professionals to meet the modeling and implementation needs of the quantitative spectrum of the Canadian financial industry and contribute to its global competitiveness. We will deliver:

• Activities (workshops, conferences, seminars, etc.) geared towards finance students and professionals seeking to understand and implement innovative machine learning techniques.
• A multidisciplinary training program, offered to students of participating universities – Université de Montréal, HEC Montréal, Concordia University, University of Waterloo, Queen’s University, and University of Calgary. This program is possible thanks to the grant received by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to deliver a Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) Program.

Our network is based on collaborations with the leading academic-industry cluster of artificial intelligence expertise in the country and has strong support from major financial institutions that have expressed a need for highly qualified personnel with this skill set.

Through our strong partnership with the Institute for Data Valorization (IVADO), we aim to bring together industry professionals and academic researchers to develop cutting-edge expertise and create opportunities for knowledge exchange and collaborations between academic knowledge and the business needs of organizations, from international corporations to start-ups. With over 1000 affiliated scientists (researchers, post-docs, PhD candidates and research associates), IVADO is an advanced multidisciplinary center for knowledge in sectors including statistics, business intelligence, deep learning, applied mathematics, data mining and cybersecurity. The institute therefore supports the development of processes to extract trends, metrics and concrete information from the jumble of big data.

In essence, we aim to seize an unprecedented opportunity to create a structural project that will be the foundation of a strong and viable ecosystem that integrates new technologies.