HumanIA

What HumanIA does

HumanIA is an inter-faculty interdisciplinary research cluster hosted by the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), established around 2018, that conducts humanistic and multidisciplinary studies on artificial intelligence. Its stated vocation is to constitute a global reference pole for the study of AI from a distinctly humanistic perspective, complementing peer institutions such as Mila and IVADO that focus primarily on technological AI development. The consortium aggregates researchers from multiple UQAM faculties (Communication, Arts, Sciences, Political Science and Law, Education, Management) and the broader Université du Québec network, organized through an orientation committee with faculty-level sub-committees.

The organization's research output spans a wide thematic surface, including AI ethics, algorithmic transparency and accountability, bias and discrimination, privacy, profiling, law and justice, philosophy, psychology, health, smart cities, natural language processing (including Quebec French speech and pathological speech recognition), computer vision for surveillance imagery, big-data analytics in gaming and social media, mental-health risk detection, and philosophical text mining. Research is delivered through academic publications, colloquia (notably Colloque HumanIA 2018 and 2019), workshops on algorithmic impact assessment and France-Canada algorithmic transparency, and knowledge-transfer activities such as continuing education and community services.

HumanIA does not operate a commercial business model. It has no disclosed pricing, no commercial products or services, no paying customer base, and no revenue figure; funding flows from public research granting agencies (CRSH, CRSNG, FRQSC, MITACS, IVADO, FCI), in-kind institutional support from UQAM, and collaborative relationships with more than 40 documented academic, governmental, municipal, and industry partners across Canada, France, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, China, and Lebanon. End users of its research comprise academic researchers, public policy makers, civil-society organizations, and private-sector technology companies seeking ethical and governance frameworks for AI.

Name

HumanIA

Legal name

HumanIA

Website

https://humania.uqam.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Short description

HumanIA is an interdisciplinary research cluster at UQAM in Montreal that conducts humanistic and multidisciplinary studies of artificial intelligence, producing academic research, colloquia, and policy guidance on AI ethics, governance, and social implications for academic, governmental, and industry stakeholders.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

AI Ethics Research

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYHDAAAMAA

AI Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) Platforms

Hardware, Technology & Telecom/Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning/AI Ethics & Compliance Solutions

SECONDARYHDAAAMAB

Model Transparency, Explainability & Interpretability (XAI)

Hardware, Technology & Telecom/Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning/AI Ethics & Compliance Solutions

SECONDARYHDAEANAG

Responsible AI, Security & Privacy Platforms (Safety, Guardrails, PII)

Hardware, Technology & Telecom/Enterprise Platforms & Databases/Artificial Intelligence Platforms for Enterprise

Keywords

• AI ethics research
• Humanistic AI studies
• Interdisciplinary AI research
• Responsible AI governance
• AI social implications

Headquarters

HQ city

Quebec

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations

Core offering

HumanIA is an inter-faculty academic research consortium at UQAM that conducts interdisciplinary, humanistic, and multidisciplinary research on artificial intelligence. It carries out theoretical and partnership-based research on the ethical and social dimensions of AI, delivers knowledge transfer via continuing education, and provides community services. The cluster coordinates research projects across ethics, law, philosophy, computer science, social sciences, arts, and management, and collaborates with academic, governmental, and industry partners across Canada and internationally.

Product overview

HumanIA is a research consortium at UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal), not a product company. It focuses on interdisciplinary and humanistic studies of artificial intelligence, conducting theoretical and partnership-based research on AI ethics, social impacts, and responsible AI development. The organization does not offer commercial products or services; instead, it produces research publications, organizes events (colloquia, workshops), and facilitates knowledge transfer through academic collaborations across multiple disciplines including ethics, law, computer science, social sciences, and arts.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability13 records

Partnerships

35 partnerships are on record, tiered core, secondary and minor.

• Institut de Recherche en Économie Contemporaine (IRÉC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternal UQAM partner offering recognized international expertise in contemporary economic research.
• Centre de recherche sur les innovations sociales (Crises)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternal UQAM partner specializing in social innovation research.
• Chaire Internationale sur le Cycle de Vie (CIRAIG)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational chair on life cycle assessment, associated with Polytechnique Montréal.
• Institut d'études internationales de Montréal (IEIM-UQAM)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternal UQAM partner for international studies research.
• Centre des humanités numériques (CRIHN)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDigital humanities research center at UQAM.
• Service des partenariats et du soutien à l'innovation (SEPSI-UQAM)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership and innovation support service at UQAM.
• Service aux collectivités de l'UQAMcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity service unit at UQAM facilitating research partnerships with communities.
• Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of the UQ network, contributing researchers to HumanIA projects.
• Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of the UQ network with researchers involved in HumanIA.
• Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of the UQ network contributing to HumanIA research.
• TÉLUQcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniversité TÉLUQ part of the UQ network with research contributions.
• Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of the UQ network contributing to HumanIA projects.
• Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of the UQ network involved in HumanIA research.
• Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational research institute with Urbanization Culture Société centre contributing researchers.
• École nationale d'administration publique (ENAP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational school of public administration in the UQ network.
• École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEngineering school partner contributing technical expertise.
• HEC MontréalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBusiness school contributing management and economics expertise.
• Concordia UniversitysecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational academic partner with collaborations on AI research.
• Université de MontréalsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor Quebec university partner in AI research.
• McGill UniversitysecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational academic partner with research collaborations.
• Université LavalsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerQuebec university partner in research activities.
• Université de SherbrookesecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniversity partner in ethics and health technology assessment research.
• Columbia UniversitysecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational partner from USA in academic collaborations.
• UCLAsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniversity of California Los Angeles partner in research.
• Carleton UniversitysecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerCanadian university partner in research collaborations.
• CHU Ste-JustinesecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerHealthcare partner for virtual reality and speech recognition research applications.
• Institut Philippe-Pinel de MontréalsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerPsychiatric institute partner for virtual reality applications in legal psychiatry.
• Behaviour InteractiveminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVideo game company partner in research projects.
• Ubisoft MontréalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVideo game industry partner contributing to gaming and AI research.
• UNESCOminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational organization partner in AI policy and ethics discussions.
• Banque nationale du CanadaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFinancial institution partner in research.
• Ville de MontréalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMunicipal government partner for responsible IoT governance research.
• ADISQminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndustry partner for Quebec cultural content discoverability research.
• AGE-WELL NCEminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTechnology and aging network partner in research.
• Fraunhofer InstituteminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGerman research organization partner in responsible AI research.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Mila - Quebec AI Institute: Mila is a larger Montreal-based AI research consortium co-founded by Yoshua Bengio. While broader in technical AI research focus, Mila is a clear Quebec counterpart covering societal-impact work and shares geography and partnerships (e.g., IVADO) with HumanIA.
• The Alan Turing Institute: The UK's national institute for data science and AI, hosting interdisciplinary research on the social, ethical, and policy dimensions of AI. It is a larger incumbent that overlaps with HumanIA's ethics-and-society agenda at greater scale.

Direct peers

• Centre for AI and Digital Ethics (CAIDE), University of Melbourne: CAIDE is a university-hosted interdisciplinary research centre studying AI ethics and digital rights. Mission overlap with HumanIA's governance/ethics focus is strong, providing a geographic counterpoint peer in the Anglosphere.
• Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society: Harvard's Berkman Klein Center conducts interdisciplinary research on the ethical, legal, and social dimensions of digital technologies including AI. It is highly comparable to HumanIA in operating model as a university-hosted, multi-funder research consortium.
• Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems (IAIS): Fraunhofer IAIS conducts applied AI research with explicit focus on responsible AI, trustworthiness, and societal impact. It is listed in HumanIA's partnership roster (Fraunhofer Institute) and closely mirrors HumanIA's applied responsible-AI research agenda.
• AI Now Institute: AI Now Institute is a research university-hosted organization producing interdisciplinary research on AI's social, ethical, and policy implications. Mission overlap with HumanIA's humanistic AI research focus is direct and substantial.
• Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI): Stanford HAI is a university-hosted institute conducting interdisciplinary research on AI's human-centered dimensions, including ethics, governance, and societal impact. It is the closest direct peer to HumanIA in mission and operating model.
• Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI): CFI is an interdisciplinary research centre studying the implications of AI for the long-term future. Comparable to HumanIA in operating structure as an academic interdisciplinary AI ethics consortium with international collaborators.

Regional players

• Berkeley Center for Law and Technology: Berkeley CLT researches AI's legal, policy, and societal dimensions at the intersection of law and emerging technology. It is comparable to HumanIA on the law/AI-governance axis but is anchored in California and the US legal ecosystem.

Emerging players

• Centre for Digital Built Britain / Connected Places Catapult (UK): CDBB focuses on digital transformation implications for built environments and smart cities — themes that intersect with HumanIA's research on smart cities and IoT governance, but it is narrower and emerging-stage compared with HumanIA.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/humania_ai
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/uqam

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about HumanIA