Welcoming Participants & Breakfast
This breakfast is offered to you by Polytechnique Montréal, CAE & Bombardier.
This breakfast is offered to you by Polytechnique Montréal, CAE & Bombardier.
Guillaume Côté
Chief Executive Officer
CRIAQ
Philippe Couillard
Charmain of the Board, CRIAQ |
Vice President of Global Engineering, CAE
From yesterday to today. Let’s imagine together the future of aerospace in Quebec.
Energy Transition at the Heart of Aerospace R&D Efforts.
The aerospace industry has adopted the ambitious goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. This necessary transition will require the pursuit of a range of measures including technological improvements, operational enhancements, sustainable alternative fuels and market offsets. Collaboration and research and development activities are…
Étienne Ferland
Managing Director
H55 Canada
Julien Caudroit
CCO & CBDO, Chief Communications and Business Development Officer
INSAT
This Coffee Break is offered to you by Ville de Montréal.
Maud Cohen
Chief Executive Officer
Polytechnique Montréal
Listen to presentations of innovation project ideas by industry experts and discover the latest technological advances! These experts are not only here to present their projects but are also eager to find partners for R&D collaborations.
Engange directly with the project presenters, ask questions about their projects, and express your interest in forming dynamic, stimulating partnerships that create value for the entire aerospace sector, driving us toward our shared sustainable and resilient goals.
How will the Espace Aéro zone enable Quebec to position itself for the future of aerospace?
Innovation zones are at the heart of the Quebec government’s economic vision, which aims to increase exports, investment, and business productivity. Espace Aéro, the designated innovation zone for the aerospace sector, is spread over three hubs in…
Guillaume Côté
Chief Executive Officer
CRIAQ
Mélanie Lussier
Chief Executive Officer
Aéro Montréal
AI for mission-critical systems
Marie-Pierre Habas-Gerard
Directrice générale
Confiance IA
This Coffee Break is offered to you by Ville de Montréal.
Emmanuel Levitte
Chief Technology and Product Officer
CAE
Digital Technology, a Key Area for Multi-Sector and International Collaboration
Xavier Louis
Director, Research & Technology
Thales Canada
Emmanuel Germaine
Professional Sr, Engineering
Bombardier
Yann Baptiste Pequignot
Professionnel de la recherche
Université Laval
This breakfast is offered to you by Polytechnique Montréal, CAE & Bombardier.
Guillaume Côté
Chief Executive Officer
CRIAQ
Étienne Leclerc-Jolette
Vice-President Partnerships & Strategy
CRIAQ
Present of projects carried out by emerging talents as part of the “My Aero Thesis in 180 seconds” contest, which aims to highlight the skills, knowledge, and cutting-edge perspectives. The audience will be asked to vote for the best student presentation!
This Coffee Break is offered to you by Ville de Montréal.
Listen to presentations of innovation project ideas by industry experts and discover the latest technological advances! These experts are not only here to present their projects but are also eager to find partners for R&D collaborations.
Engange directly with the project presenters, ask questions about their projects, and express your interest in forming dynamic, stimulating partnerships that create value for the entire aerospace sector, driving us toward our shared sustainable and resilient goals.
Rui Pedro Silva
Vice President, Engineering Functions, Research & Technology
Bombardier
Kathy Baig
Director General and Chief Executive Office
ÉTS
Advanced air mobility, a pan-Canadian collaborative project
This Coffee Break is offered to you by Ville de Montréal.
Quebec engineering in space
Horizon Europe, the World’s Largest Research & Innovation Funding Program
Mouhab Meshreki
Director General, Aerospace research Centre
NRC
Éric Laurendeau
Full professor, Mechanical Engineering Department
Polytechnique Montréal
Guillaume Côté
Chief Executive Officer
CRIAQ
Philippe Couillard
Charmain of the Board, CRIAQ |
Vice President of Global Engineering, CAE
February 25 09:35 — 10:00
Sustainable Development and Environmental Impact
Energy Transition at the Heart of Aerospace R&D Efforts.
The aerospace industry has adopted the ambitious goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. This necessary transition will require the pursuit of a range of measures including technological improvements, operational enhancements, sustainable alternative fuels and market offsets. Collaboration and research and development activities are at the heart of the solutions to be put in place, and the speakers on this panel will showcase concrete examples of the progress being made in Quebec and Canada. They will also open the door to other possibilities that will need to be explored in the coming years.
Étienne Ferland
Managing Director
Julien Caudroit
CCO & CBDO, Chief Communications and Business Development Officer
With a decade of experience working with various organizations in the Canadian and Quebec innovation ecosystems, Julien has extensive knowledge and experience in managing innovation and aerospace organizations.
In recent years, Julien has held the position of Vice-President and Partner at Innovitech, an innovation consulting firm, and for many years held a number of management positions within organizations such as the The Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Quebec (CRIAQ), the Consortium for Aerospace Research and Innovation in Canada (CARIC), the Green Aviation Research and Development Network (GARDN), the IRT Saint Exupéry Canada (Canadian branch of the Institut de recherche technologique de Toulouse), but also in other sectors such as MEDTEQ+.
Julien has also evolved in governmental and international contexts, with several experiences at the United Nations and Investissement Québec.
Involved today and in the past on various committees and boards, such as the McGill Institute for Aerospace Engineering (MIAE) and the Cercle international des jeunes leaders (CIJL), he is also Administrateur De la Relève (ADR. – Next generation Administrator).
February 25 10:35 — 10:50
Maud Cohen
Chief Executive Officer
An accomplished manager who is highly valued and respected by her teams and stakeholders, Ms. Cohen brings strategic leadership with accents on innovation, agility, individual development and continuous improvement.
Ms. Cohen holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Polytechnique Montréal (1996), an MBA from HEC Montréal (2004) and a designation as a certified corporate administrator from the Collège des administrateurs de sociétés of Université Laval (2012). She has a brilliant track record in ethics and the sound management of organizations with key missions in our society.
From 2014 to 2022, Ms. Cohen was President and CEO of the Fondation CHU Sainte-Justine. In this role, she oversaw the continued growth of the Foundation, enabling it to engage the community and support the Sainte-Justine university hospital in its pursuit of excellence and its commitment to providing children and mothers with one of the highest levels of health care in the world, now and in the future. Prior to this, from 2009 to 2012, she served three consecutive terms as President of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec, making her the third woman to hold this position since the organization was founded in 1920.
Her career also spans the globe. She led major projects in Europe and the United States as a project manager for Walsh Automation Inc. and Walsh Europe Limited. She was also a Director at CGI Group from 2008 to 2011, as well as for Invensys Systems Canada from 2001 to 2007.
At the same time, she has sat on various boards of directors for the past several years. Loto-Québec, Gestion FÉRIQUE and Aéroports de Montréal are among the organizations that have benefited from her expertise. Between 2021 and 2022, she put her experience in scientific governance to use as Chair of the committee of independent experts on the architectural and urban integration of the REM de l’Est.
In 2010 and 2018, Ms. Cohen was named one of Entreprendre magazine’s “100 Women Leaders of the Future.” In 2012, she was named a Fellow of Engineers Canada (FEC) for her commitment to the engineering profession. Also, in 2011, she received the jury’s special award in the category of executive, manager or professional in private enterprise from the Réseau des femmes d'affaires du Québec.
February 25 14:30 — 15:00
How will the Espace Aéro zone enable Quebec to position itself for the future of aerospace?
Innovation zones are at the heart of the Quebec government’s economic vision, which aims to increase exports, investment, and business productivity. Espace Aéro, the designated innovation zone for the aerospace sector, is spread over three hubs in Greater Montreal. The aim of this panel discussion will highlight be to highlight Quebec’s ambitions and strategies for positioning itself as a world leader in the aerospace industry, in the areas of decarbonization and autonomy. This discussion will also provide an update on activities surrounding the deployment of the zone since the announcement last May.
Guillaume Côté
Chief Executive Officer
Mélanie Lussier
Chief Executive Officer
Mélanie Lussier has nearly 25 years of experience in the transportation sector. She spent more than 15 years at Bombardier, where she led many strategic projects to improve costs, optimize supplier relationship management and implement Lean practices. She then joined Aéro Montréal, Québec’s aerospace cluster, where she led the cluster’s action plan by implementing economic measures, programs and awareness actions; flagship projects that increased reputation and productivity in the aerospace industry. In January 2021, she was appointed Vice President, Operations and Administration of Propulsion Québec, the cluster for electric and smart transportation. She contributed to the creation of a project office and worked to improve the mobilization plan for the cluster’s working groups and communities of interest. Ms. Lussier returned to the aerospace sector in January 2023, assuming role of President of Aéro Montréal.
View profileFebruary 25 15:00 — 15:30
AI for mission-critical systems
Marie-Pierre Habas-Gerard
Chief Executive Officer
Currently Chief Executive Officer of the industrial consortium Confiance IA, Marie-Pierre Habas-Gerard comes from R&D in Quantum Physical Chemistry as a Ph. D and post-doctoral student at several european universities. She added to her academic DNA, 25 years in the private sector in roles as director of digital transformation programs, AI Practices leader and as an entrepreneur and Associate in a Montreal startup in 2018.
Her approach to AI is pragmatic: AI must be applied to the business challenges of industries and must be a vector of growth for our Quebec and Canadian SMEs. Ethical and trustworthiness issues are intrinsically linked to the AI implementation and its adoption. The need to go beyond R&D in AI, to favor a faster and innovation-oriented approach applied to business performance challenges, to bring together a diverse and multidisciplinary set of industries around common use cases, is obvious to her. Able to challenge the status quo and unite around her vision, she works with industries to propel the creation of pre-competitive tools and to develop methods to qualify and quantify trustworthy AI.
February 25 16:05 — 16:20
Emmanuel Levitte
Chief Technology and Product Officer
Emmanuel Levitte is CAE’s Chief Technology and Product Officer. Emmanuel leads the global technology teams, shaping the company’s strategic direction to maximize business growth while maintaining CAE’s market leadership. He also drives alignment and integration of Global Technology and Products across CAE’s Civil and Defense & Security divisions, ensuring a cohesive approach to product management and innovation.
Emmanuel’s experience in aerospace spans over 20 years, taking off at Dassault Aviation and advancing through Bombardier before landing at CAE where he has held various leadership roles in Defense & Security, Engineering, and Global Procurement. He also previously diversified his skillset as Principal Product Manager at Amazon, where he managed the entire product lifecycle from concept to launch, sharpening his focus on speed and scaling technology to enhance customer value.
Emmanuel’s academic credentials include an MBA from HEC Montréal, a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Sherbrooke University, and a Mechanical Engineering degree from the Arts et Métiers ParisTech engineering and research institute.
February 26 14:30 — 14:45
Rui Pedro Silva
Vice President, Engineering Functions, Research & Technology
Rui Pedro Silva is a seasoned professional with over 30 years of experience in the aerospace industry, having led multidisciplinary teams across multiple Bombardier’s sites with focus ranging from Flight Testing, Product Development and Supplier Integration. As Vice President of Functional Engineering, Research and Technology at Bombardier, Rui Pedro is responsible for the development and retention of all Engineering skills and expertise so that Engineering teams are readily scalable to support the company’s future growth, as well as setting goals and defining priorities to ensure the successful execution of Research and Technology projects. Prior to this appointment, Pedro served as Bombardier’s Senior Engineering Director for Structures Integration and Aircraft Interiors where he was responsible for Design and Operational Support for both the Interiors and Green Aircraft for the Global platforms. Pedro holds a bachelor’s degree of Mechanical Engineering from École de Technologie Supérieure in Montreal, Québec.
View profileFebruary 26 14:45 — 15:00
Kathy Baig
Director General and Chief Executive Office
Kathy Baig, Director General and Chief Executive Officer of ÉTS since June 2024, is a member of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec (OIQ), a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, a graduate of Polytechnique Montréal and an MBA graduate of HEC Montréal. Ms. Baig served as President of the OIQ from 2016 to 2022 and performed a variety of functions as president of Engineers Canada from 2021 to 2024. Before that, Kathy Baig held the positions of Vice-President, Positioning and Business Development and Principal Director, Transport Operations – Montréal Métropolitain for the consulting engineering firm Stantec. She has also held engineering and management positions with IBM Bromont, PyroGenesis Canada Inc., Aéroports de Montréal, and Johnson & Johnson, where she worked in research and development. Deeply involved in her community, Ms. Baig has received a number of awards and distinctions and has served on numerous boards, including those of VIA Rail Canada, Fondaction, Nav Canada, the Institut sur la gouvernance d’organismes privés et publics and the Institut national d’optique. Recognized as one of Canada’s most influential engineers, she received an honorary doctorate from ÉTS in 2021 in recognition of her exceptional leadership and commitment to promoting women in engineering. In 2023, Concordia University awarded her the same honour for her positive impact on the profession. Her strategic approach, ability to inspire people, and her strong management experience are invaluable assets that will help build the profile, reach and growth of ÉTS.
View profileFebruary 26 16:35 — 17:00
Horizon Europe, the World’s Largest Research & Innovation Funding Program
Mouhab Meshreki
Director General, Aerospace research Centre
Dr. Mouhab Meshreki is the Director General of the Aerospace Research Centre at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). He is also an adjunct professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department at McGill University. Previously, he was the Director of the NRC's Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies Centre. Dr. Meshreki has played a key role in the development of the new Aerospace Research Centre's strategy. He brings a breadth of scientific competence and an empathetic and inspirational leadership style with a demonstrated experience in building and nurturing stakeholder relationships with industry and academia. He has over 20 years of experience in national and international research and development in aerospace and non-aerospace sectors as a researcher, group leader, program thrust leader, director and university professor. He conducted research and development projects with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and small and medium-sized enterprises in the aerospace manufacturing sector with a strong background in manufacturing-related activities in the areas of machining, metal and composite processing as well as robotized processes. He has led long-term strategic collaboration projects with national and international aerospace OEMs. Dr. Meshreki has a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University in the dynamics of multi-axis milling of thin-walled aerospace structures and Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the American University in Cairo with specialization in control and dynamics. He has published more than 50 publications including journals, conferences, book chapters, and technical reports.
View profileÉric Laurendeau
Full professor, Mechanical Engineering Department
Dr. Eric Laurendeau (B.Eng., McGill U., Canada, DEA SupAéro, France, PhD U. Washington, USA) is full professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Polytechnique Montréal and member of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec. Following his studies, he joined Bombardier Aerospace in the Advanced Aerodynamics Department (1996-2011), before joining Polytechnique Montréal in 2011. He holds the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair (2018-2024, renewed 2024-2031) in aircraft aerodynamic analysis and design, as well as the NSERC/CRIAQ/Bombardier Industrial Chair (2019-2025) in interdisciplinary aerothermodynamic analysis and design methods for transport aircraft. He sits on Aéro-Montréal's innovation monitoring and strategy working group and on the scientific council of Calcul Québec. His work covers aerodynamic modeling applied to aircraft, including aero-icing and aero-elasticity, as well as high-performance computing.
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