Alán is one of the world’s leading AI and advanced materials researchers. Learn more about him and the AC team.
Materials and molecules are the foundation of virtually every major advancement in human history, from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age, to the semiconductors that propelled the Information Age. They are also critical to solving nearly all the world’s major challenges, such as climate change, plastics pollution, and cancer. By convening experts across disciplines, sectors, and geographies, the AC aims to expedite research translation and commercialization that will drive the age of materials on demand.
We build self-driving labs—that combine material science with the power of artificial intelligence, robotics, and advanced computing—to rapidly design and test new materials. These autonomous labs reduce the time and cost of bringing advanced materials to market, from an average of 20 years and $100 million to as little as one year and $1 million.
To transform scientific innovation by leveraging self-driving labs to accelerate materials discovery, while making fundamental breakthroughs in AI, robotics, computational and materials science
To convene an innovation ecosystem of academia, government, industry and entrepreneurs to marry technological breakthroughs to commercial translation and company creation that address genuine market needs.
To create a nation-wide training platform to provide the next generation of talent with industry-relevant AI and material science expertise
A robotic lab then uses these predictions to autonomously synthesize and test it for said properties. This data is then fed back into the AI system, so that it can learn from the results to generate a new, better slate of candidates. After rounds of predictions, syntheses, and tests, a winner emerges. By inverting the usual discovery process, this closed-loop technology allows scientists to first define the desired properties and then work backwards to develop whole families of new materials without tedious hours of trial and experiments in the lab.
AC members are a diverse group, hailing from a wide variety of disciplines, including AI, computer science, mathematics, chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science and engineering, mechatronics, biology, pharmacology, robotics, techno-economics, and more.
Government support and investment is helping to create a new market for advanced materials. The AC is already working with the National Research Council of Canada, Natural Resources Canada, the Vector Institute and CIFAR.
The AC’s industry members have the opportunity to consult and collaborate with leading researchers, access a growing talent pool, and gain professional training and upskill technicians in the design and operation of self-driving labs.
Save the date for the Accelerate conference, August 22–25, 2023!