The Palais des congrès de Montréal has announced its collaboration with Polytechnique Montréal on a project to develop an AI system to manage waste generated by events at the Palais, which is one of Canada’s leading convention centers.

The Palais des congrès submitted the project to Polytechnique Montréal as part of a partnership established in 2019 between Canada’s leading engineering university and IVADO, an interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral research and knowledge mobilization consortium. Led by Université de Montréal with four university partners (Polytechnique Montréal, HEC Montréal, Université Laval and McGill University), IVADO’s purpose is “to develop and promote a robust, reasoning and responsible AI.”

“This is a fabulous opportunity for our public organization to implement and benefit from an integrated AI system in our operational processes,” said Simon Harris, director, Innovation and Business Intelligence of the Palais des congrès de Montréal. “This project reflects our desire to improve our productivity through artificial intelligence, while optimizing the efficiency and precision of our services. The future of our organization rests on technological innovation and this project marks a key step in this digital transformation.”

During the 2025 winter session, four bachelor’s students from Polytechnique Montréal’s Software Engineering program will work on designing an intelligent system capable of identifying, characterizing and quantifying waste produced during each event. This process will provide the Palais with precise data on the environmental impact of the events it hosts. Each student will devote 270 hours to this project, for a total of 1,080 hours of work.

Through this data collection, the Palais hopes to acquire a better understanding of consumption habits and waste production related to events. The ultimate goal is to develop customized strategies for each type of event in order to effectively reduce waste production and promote more sustainable alternatives.

“At IVADO, we believe in the power of data science and artificial intelligence to meet environmental challenges,” said Nancy Laramée, director of Partnerships at IVADO. “This project perfectly embodies this vision by mobilizing students around a concrete problem: quantifying and analyzing waste in order to optimize event waste management. By transforming data into action, this initiative will contribute to the emergence of sustainable solutions adapted to the realities of the Palais des congrès.”

This initiative also reflects the Palais’ desire to integrate AI into is operational processes so that it can improve productivity and offer added value to its clients. The Palais is developing other AI applications, such as a computer vision system to evaluate room occupation and management, and a performance optimization tool to gradually automate certain administrative tasks.