Bavaria-Québec News

Born in the COVID pandemic, our Forschungscafés/Science Cafés are a place to meet, learn and network. In an informal setting and collaborative environment, we welcome different speakers and explore with them a specific research topic, as well as cooperation and funding schemes, research tools and infrastructures or technological trends.

From 8 to 13 September 2019, the Bavarian Minister of State for Digital Affairs, Judith Gerlach, visited high-tech hotspots Montréal and Toronto.

At the initiative of the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy, a delegation travelled to Canada from 3rd to 8th June 2019 to visit high tech sites in Montréal, Toronto, and Waterloo.

On 14 and 15 April 2019, the Bavarian Minister of State for Science and the Arts, Mr. Bernd Sibler, visited Bavaria’s long-standing partner province Québec. 

On 24 January, 2019, the annual ‘’Bayern-Québec Student Network Meeting’’ took place at the invitation of WKS. In attendance were master and doctoral students who completed a research stay in Québec supported by the WKS mobility support programmes during 2017 and 2018.

From 11 to 12 October, 2018, the University of Passau hosted an intercultural and interdisciplinary colloquium, "Creativity and Innovation in Urban Ecosystems - Munich and Montreal in Comparison".

To strengthen the well-developed relations between Bavaria and Québec, a delegation of Bavarian experts from research and industry visited Montréal and Québec City from May 14-18, 2018. Led by the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Energy and Technology the visit focussed areas in aerospace, technologies in gaming, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. These sectors are of high relevance in research to both regions.

During his participation in the 9th Ministerial Conference of the Partner Regions in Québec, the Bavarian Minister of State for Digital Affairs, Media and Europe, Georg Eisenreich, signed an agreement with the Premier of Québec, Philippe Couillard, on cooperation between Bavaria and Quebec in the field of digital affairs.
On the basis of the long-standing cooperation between the two regions, the exchange on the use of artificial intelligence, the digital media industry and ethical issues relating to digitisation is to be intensified. Québec is one of the world's leading centres for research and teaching on digital technologies.

Read more here.

On 6 June, 2017, Prof. Manfred Broy, founding president of the Zentrum für Digitalisierung Bayern (ZD.B) presented on Industry 4.0 at the invitation of Printemps numérique. The presentation was part of Printemps numérique's #intersections VOL. 5: Industry 4.0 event, held at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montréal.

On March 28, 2017, representatives of the governments of Québec and Bavaria, as well as scientists from various Bavarian research institutes and representatives of the business community came together for the first time to discuss their current scientific activities in the Arctic at the invitation of the WKS (BayFOR). The topic "Arctic" has been present for several years in scientific cooperation in Bavaria-Québec, and these discussions will continue to occur at regular intervals. The next meeting will take place on May 16, 2017, in the context of the workshop "The Arctic - Law and Politics" at the University of the Bundeswehr in Neubiberg.