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Brain Canada Invests in Six Montreal-Area Platforms to Drive Open Science Innovation

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MONTRÉAL, May 16, 2025 /CNW/ – Six exceptional research platforms located in Montreal have been awarded funding through Brain Canada’s Platform Support Grants program. With this support, these platforms will foster partnerships across research disciplines and power solutions for people living with brain conditions. From biobanks to databases and standardized protocols, these unique platforms highlight the significant role infrastructure plays in Canada’s research ecosystem.

The Canadian Open Neuroscience Platform
Dr. Alan Evans, The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital), McGill UniversityThe Douglas-Bell Canada Brain Bank: Supporting human brain research in Canada and beyond
Dr. Gustavo Turecki and Dr. Naguib Mechawar, Douglas Institute, McGill UniversityAdvancing Brain Research Through Spatial Histology
Dr. Marie-Christine Guiot, Goodman Cancer Institute and The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital), McGill UniversityThe SLEEP HUB: An open science ecosystem for transforming sleep research
Dr. Nadia Gosselin, CIUSSS du Nord de l’Île-de-Montréal and Université de MontréalEthoLab: A platform for neurophysiological studies of natural behavior
Dr. Paul Cisek, Centre for Biomedical Innovation, Université de MontréalThe NECTAr platform: A pan-Canadian platform dedicated to Neonatal hypoxic-ischemic Encephalopathy — For patient Care optimization, Training, and education
Dr. Pia Wintermark, The Montreal Children’s Hospital and The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (Child Health and Human Development Program)   

Brain Canada’s flagship Platform Support Grants (PSG) program aims to support interdisciplinary collaboration and enhance Canada’s technical and research capabilities through shared tools and databases, to transform research into real world impact.

“Unlocking the brain’s complexities depends on reliable infrastructure and open access to scientific tools,” said Dr. Viviane Poupon, President and CEO of Brain Canada. “This investment will strengthen a culture of Open Science so that specialized knowledge can benefit everyone.”

Brain Canada is contributing over $18 million in this year’s PSG program through the Canada Brain Research Fund (CBRF), funded by Health Canada, as well as matching donations from sponsors for a total investment of $36.8 million.

By enabling access to cutting-edge tools and specialized skills beyond the reach of individual researchers, the PSG program plays a vital role in strengthening the research landscape. These Montreal based platforms serve as hubs for researchers to work together towards the common mission of advancing our understanding of neuroscience and mental health.

Over the coming weeks, Brain Canada will unveil the full list of 14 research platforms selected to receive PSG funding. The total investment of $36.8 million represents a major step forward in Canada’s ability to support cutting-edge brain research and improve outcomes for people living with brain-disorders.

Brain Canada is proud to highlight these six platforms that are driving progress not only in Montreal but across Canada, and around the world.

ABOUT THE PROJECTS

The Canadian Open Neuroscience Platform (CONP)

Dr. Alan Evans, The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital), McGill University

Total grant amount: $2,850,000.00

Many of the challenges faced by both basic and clinical neuroscientists can be tackled with open science approaches. To achieve these goals, Dr. Evans and his team have built the Canadian Open Neuroscience Platform (CONP), which aims to make neuroscience research, data, and tools accessible to everyone, with the ultimate objective of accelerating scientific discovery and its eventual translation to disease treatments. Through CONP’s online portal that provides open access to datasets and analysis tools, its “Evidence” open publication platform, and its development of data governance frameworks and toolkits to facilitate open data sharing, the platform takes a truly multifaceted approach to enabling Open Science practices in the field of neuroscience.

The Douglas-Bell Canada Brain Bank: Supporting human brain research in Canada and beyond

Dr. Gustavo Turecki and Dr. Naguib Mechawar, Douglas Institute, McGill University

Total grant amount: $2,850,000.00

The Douglas-Bell Canada Brain Bank (DBCBB; douglasbrainbank.ca), one of the most important brain banks in the world, currently houses and manages over 3,600 brains, as well as a large relational database containing demographic, clinical and developmental histories from brain donors with different neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease) and mental disorders (e.g., schizophrenia and substance use disorders). Through international recognition, the DBCBB receives tissue requests from a large number of neuroscientists from Canada and abroad. These continued efforts ensure that the platform will keep fuelling ground-breaking neuroscience research that will have immense potential for impact in the future, including identifying, screening and treatment for brain disorders.

Advancing Brain Research Through Spatial Histology

Dr. Marie-Christine Guiot, Goodman Cancer Institute and The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital), McGill University

Total grant amount: $570,000.00

The Histology Innovation Platform is a specialized facility that helps scientists study the brain at a cellular level to better understand neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s, brain cancer, and epilepsy. Through offering services such as tissue preparation, staining, and advanced imaging, as well as supporting research using technologies that map gene and protein activity within intact tissues, the platform acts as a key resource for projects that aim to find new treatments, diagnostic tools, and ways to improve patient outcomes by exploring how different brain cells interact and change in disease. By supporting this platform, Brain Canada is helping to advance research that could lead to better treatments for neurological diseases, ultimately improving the health and well-being of Canadians.

The SLEEP HUB: An open science ecosystem for transforming sleep research

Dr. Nadia Gosselin, CIUSSS du Nord de l’Île-de-Montréal and Université de Montréal

Total grant amount: $2,137,500.00

The SLEEP HUB is an innovative platform aimed at advancing sleep research and fostering collaborations at the local, national, and international level. Integrating three key resources, the Nights Bank, the Canadian Sleep Research Biobank, and the Snooz Toolbox, SLEEP HUB provides a vast collection of samples and data, including over 50,000 biological samples and sleep recordings from 15,000 participants. With the aim of developing a more integrated platform that will facilitate access to biological samples, sleep recordings and sleep analysis tools, SLEEP HUB will facilitate analyses on large samples and rare sleep disorders by providing researchers with access to polysomnographic recordings and biological samples. This robust platform infrastructure will transform our understanding and treatment of sleep disorders, which will benefit cognitive, physical and mental health.

EthoLab: A platform for neurophysiological studies of natural behavior

Dr. Paul Cisek, Centre for Biomedical Innovation, Université de Montréal

Total grant amount: $855,000.00

Technological advances such as wireless recording and AI-based automated quantification of behavior allow neuroscience to address the complexity of real behavior under naturalistic conditions. This allows scientists to better understand how different systems (e.g., perceptual, motor, cognitive, emotional, etc.) are seamlessly integrated during real-time interactions with the environment. The EthoLab will make use of these advances to establish a cutting-edge, shared experimental platform that will enable a wide range of neurophysiological experiments with freely moving animals. This platform will make it possible to study situations that capture the complexity of natural behavior and yield insights into the human brain that will translate to clinical applications with impacts in the real-world.

The NECTAr platform: A pan-Canadian platform dedicated to Neonatal hypoxic-ischemic Encephalopathy — For patient Care optimization, Training, and educAtion

Dr. Pia Wintermark, The Montreal Children’s Hospital and The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (Child Health and Human Development Program)   

Total grant amount: $1,710,000.00

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) can be caused at birth when babies do not receive enough oxygen to their brain and organs. While this life-threatening condition is responsible for 23% of babies’ deaths worldwide and often results in difficulties with learning and everyday functioning, there is currently no treatment to repair brain damage caused by HIE. The NECTAr platform will address this gap by creating a national, collaborative, and multidisciplinary platform focused on improving the care and long-term outcomes of babies with HIE. More specifically, the platform’s priorities include improving early treatments by collecting extensive data and comparing practices across hospitals, developing and testing new therapies to repair brain damage, empowering parents through their journey, and training the next generation of doctors and scientists to care for these vulnerable babies.

SOURCE Brain Canada

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Most Robots Still Aren’t Insured. YAS and Robolist Are Changing That.

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YAS and Robolist.ai partner to bring a free Risk Score and a path to insurance to robotics companies, giving firms, investors, and buyers a safer, more transparent foundation for an industry entering mass production

HONG KONG, Nov. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Artificial intelligence’s next phase is getting a body. Humanoid robot shipments are up sharply in 2026, with global shipments reaching roughly 30,000 units in the first half of the year alone, nearly 300% higher than a year earlier. But humanoids are only the headline category. Robolist.ai (“Robolist”), an independent market intelligence layer for robotics used by investors worldwide, tracks more than 4,200 robots from over 1,300 manufacturers across categories including industrial arms, warehouse AMRs, cobots, commercial cleaning, delivery, hospitality, and home robots, and growth is accelerating across nearly all of them.

Across every one of those categories, most of what is shipping today carries no insurance. YAS, a data risk intelligence platform that helps insurers underwrite EV, robotaxi, and now robotics risk, today announced a strategic partnership with Robolist to close that gap — starting with a free Risk Score for the companies Robolist already ranks, and a path to coverage for those who want one.

Putting safety first, for an industry still finding its footing

Robotics is moving from pilots to mass production, and that shift changes who is exposed and what’s at stake. YAS and Robolist both see the same underlying problem: an industry growing faster than the risk infrastructure built to support it. Pairing YAS’s risk intelligence with Robolist’s independent market data gives the industry one more layer of transparency, a shared, safety-first foundation that the companies believe is necessary for robotics to grow into a trusted, durable category rather than a fast-moving one with uneven guardrails.

What it means for robotics firms

Every manufacturer listed on Robolist is already independently ranked. Starting with this partnership, any of them can also request a free Risk Score, built with YAS, covering their systems across whichever category they operate in, not just humanoid. A strong, transparent risk profile is becoming a competitive advantage in its own right, a signal to enterprise buyers and partners that a company takes safety seriously. There is no cost to check it and no obligation attached.

What it means for investors

Robolist’s independent data has always given investors a clear picture of what a company has actually raised and shipped. Adding YAS’s Risk Score introduces a second, forward-looking signal: a working estimate of operational risk exposure, sitting alongside funding and deployment evidence. Together, the two offer a more complete basis for diligence, and support the kind of informed, patient capital that helps the category grow in a healthy, sustainable way rather than on hype alone.

What it means for buyers

Enterprises deciding whether to deploy a robot fleet have historically had almost no independent way to compare risk across vendors. The Risk Score gives buyers a transparent reference point alongside Robolist’s existing rankings, and a direct route to insurance for the deployments they choose to move forward with, so adoption decisions can be made with more confidence and less guesswork.

Status

The partnership is in its exploratory phase under a signed Memorandum of Understanding, beginning with Hong Kong, with other markets under consideration as it develops. The Risk Score is an indicative analytical tool, not a safety certification or a guarantee of coverage; insurance, where available, is issued by licensed carriers.

Quotes

“Robotics is scaling faster than the risk infrastructure around it. You can’t insure what you can’t measure — so we start by measuring. A free Risk Score, built on live operating data, gives every robotics company a transparent read on their exposure and, when they want it, a path to coverage. That’s how a fast-moving category becomes a durable one.”— Andy Ann, Founder, YAS

“We built Robolist as an independent market intelligence layer for robotics. Partnering with YAS deepens that layer. There’s a lot of natural overlap between what we do. Robotics insurance is a long-term project that benefits everyone in the industry, and it matters more now that the category is moving into mass production. Part of that is simply caring about what happens to the people and businesses actually using these machines.” — Matthew Cheung, Co-founder, Robolist.ai

About YAS

YAS is a Hong Kong-based risk intelligence platform for the machine economy, turning live operating data from vehicles, fleets, and robots into real-time risk scores used by licensed insurers to underwrite fairer, faster coverage. YAS works with insurance carrier partners across robotics and humanoids, EV and commercial fleets, with autonomous vehicles next.

About Robolist.ai

Robolist.ai is an independent market intelligence layer for robotics, used by investors to track what manufacturers actually raise, ship, and deploy. Robolist tracks more than 4,200 robots from over 1,300 manufacturers across categories from humanoids and industrial arms to cleaning, delivery, and home robots.

Learn more

Manufacturers can claim their profile and request a free Risk Score, and investors and buyers can explore the data, at robolist.ai. To learn more about YAS’s risk intelligence platform, visit yas.io.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/most-robots-still-arent-insured-yas-and-robolist-are-changing-that-302928742.html

SOURCE YAS

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UN Global Compact Convenes Latin American Leaders in Montevideo and Launches CEO-led Coalition

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MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Nov. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The United Nations Global Compact today convened its second Latin America and the Caribbean Leaders Forum in Montevideo, Uruguay, bringing together more than 300 leaders from business, government, finance, the UN and academia to accelerate collective action on sustainable development and showcase how Latin America and the Caribbean is delivering innovative, scalable solutions to global challenges.

Held today under the theme “From Ambition to Action: Latin America and the Caribbean Leading Global Sustainable Solutions,” the Forum builds on the inaugural regional gathering held in Paraguay in 2024. The United Nations Global Compact — together with its eleven Country Networks in the region: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Caribbean, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay and the team in Ecuador — convened the forum to provide a platform for regional dialogue, cross-border collaboration and practical solutions to some of the most pressing challenges facing businesses and societies across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Discussions at the Forum addressed the region’s evolving role in a rapidly changing global landscape, shaped by geopolitical shifts, technological transformation, climate risks and changing global value chains. Through high-level dialogues, leaders explored how Latin America and the Caribbean can leverage its natural resources, innovation and business leadership to strengthen competitiveness and resilience while advancing sustainable development. Key topics included responsible artificial intelligence, sustainable finance and investment, supply chain resilience, climate action, business integrity and inclusive economic growth, with a focus on translating sustainability commitments into tangible business, social and environmental outcomes.

The gathering also marks an important moment for the UN Global Compact’s growing regional engagement. Latin America and the Caribbean is its second-largest region by participation, with more than 4,300 participating companies, nearly 60 per cent of them small and medium-sized enterprises.

UN Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of the UN Global Compact, Sanda Ojiambo, joined regional business leaders and senior representatives at the Forum, underscoring the importance of private sector leadership and cross-border cooperation in addressing shared challenges and advancing sustainable development.

As a key milestone of the Forum, the UN Global Compact announced the launch of the Latin America Business Leaders Coalition (LBLC), a new CEO-led regional platform bringing together a select group of leading business executives to address shared challenges, advance regional competitiveness and prosperity, and amplify Latin America’s private sector voice on the global stage. At a pivotal moment for the region, the Coalition aims to strengthen Latin America’s influence in shaping global priorities, while positioning the region’s business community as a strategic partner in multilateral dialogue.

“Responsible business is resilient business. Latin America and the Caribbean has the resources, talent and entrepreneurial energy the world economy needs. Together we are harnessing these attributes to build a robust platform for business leaders to act together across borders,” said Sanda Ojiambo, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. “This Coalition changes that. It brings CEOs together to tackle shared challenges and give Latin American business a stronger voice on the global stage.”

Designed to move beyond dialogue, LBLC will enable CEOs to define shared priorities, mobilize their organizations, and translate collective commitments into coordinated action and measurable results. The Coalition is convened by the UN Global Compact, with support from Boston Consulting Group, and builds on the experience of the Africa Business Leaders Coalition, which brings together 75 leading companies operating across 52 African countries and has advanced collective action on climate, gender and intra-African trade.

Founding companies include Grupo AJE (Peru), Motiva (Brazil), Natura (Brazil), Softtek (Mexico), LATAM Airlines (Chile), UNACEM (Peru), Grupo Sancor Seguros (Argentina) and Grupo Mariposa (Guatemala).

The Forum also marked the publication of From Commitment to Action: Business Cases from Latin America and the Caribbean, a collection of practical examples showcasing how companies across the region are translating sustainability commitments into measurable business, social and environmental outcomes, released in Spanish, Portuguese and English to ensure broad accessibility. The publication demonstrates how integrating sustainability into business strategies and operations can reduce costs, manage risks, improve working conditions and unlock new commercial opportunities. These examples highlight the business value of sustainability and offer practical insights to inspire further action across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Notes to Editors

About the Latin America Business Leaders Coalition
The Latin America Business Leaders Coalition (LBLC) is a CEO-led initiative convened by the United Nations Global Compact, with support from Boston Consulting Group. Launched in Montevideo on 3 November 2026, it brings together business leaders from across Latin America to advance shared priorities, strengthen regional cooperation and amplify the region’s business voice globally.

About the United Nations Global Compact
As a special initiative of the United Nations Secretary-General, the UN Global Compact is a call to companies worldwide to align their operations and strategies with Ten Principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Our vision is clear: to mobilize business to transform sustainability ambition into action at the scale the world demands. With more than 25,000 participants and a presence in over 100 countries through 5 Regional Hubs and more than 70 Country Networks and expansion territories, the UN Global Compact is the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative. For more information, follow @globalcompact on social media and visit the UN Global Compact website.

SOURCE United Nations Global Compact

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Fractal delivers its first ever $100 million revenue quarter, reports EBITDA growth of 71% YoY

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Fractal Q2 Net Income Jumps 139% on revenue growth of 20%

NEW YORK, Nov. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Fractal Analytics Ltd (BSE: 544700) (NSE: FRACTAL), an enterprise AI company that builds its own AI models, platforms and products for Fortune 500® organizations, announced its consolidated financial results for Q2 FY27, ending September 30, 2026.

In Q2 FY27, the Company reported consolidated operating revenue of INR 9,565 m, a growth of 20% year on year (YoY) and 10% in constant currency terms YoY. Revenue growth was led by the company’s Healthcare and Life Sciences (HLS) industry, which clocked 79% growth YoY. Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) also performed very well, growing 30% YoY in Q2 and the company has delivered strong sustained growth in HLS and BFSI over the last several quarters. Fractal’s largest industry vertical, Consumer Packaged Goods and Retail (CPGR), grew 11% YoY. TMT saw strong sequential recovery with 6% QoQ growth. Fractal’s products, including the Cogentiq agentic AI platform, reached an annual revenue run-rate of over INR 1,500 m, up 39% YoY.

Fractal’s focus on deepening customer relationships continues to yield good outcomes. Its clients collectively increased their spending with the company, as reflected in the Net Revenue Retention1 of 115% in Q2. Further, its Net Promoter Score (NPS) during the period stood at 76.

The company reported improved profit margins at all levels. Adjusted EBITDA Margin expanded by 123 bps2 YoY to 16%. Net Income grew 139% YoY to INR 792 m.

Commenting on the performance, Srikanth Velamakanni, Co-founder and Group CEO of Fractal said:
“AI models are getting more capable every week and cheaper every quarter. Within the next few quarters, we will cross a threshold where it becomes irresponsible and downright risky for companies to leave their most important decisions unchanged. We are building Fractal for that moment, and this quarter shows it: revenue crossed $100 million and net income more than doubled.”

About Fractal 

Fractal Analytics Ltd (BSE: 544700) (NSE: FRACTAL) is an enterprise AI company with a vision to power every human decision in the enterprise. Fractal builds AI models, platforms and products, and engineers them into the critical decisions of Fortune 500® organizations. Fractal’s strategy is focused on three pillars: AIT, which rebuilds business workflows and decisions with AI; AIF, which builds the trusted, governed data and knowledge layer that enterprise AI reasons with; and AIW, which helps organizations redesign work, develop AI-ready talent, and build the capabilities needed for the AI-native enterprise. All three pillars are powered by Cogentiq, Fractal’s flagship agentic AI platform.

With over 6,000 professionals across North America, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific, Fractal partners with business leaders to drive competitive differentiation for their organizations by embedding AI into critical decisions across business functions and industry verticals.

Fractal invests more than 6% of its revenue in AI R&D, and its research team builds its own models, including the Fathom reasoning models. Fractal was selected under the IndiaAI Mission to build a large reasoning model for India. Its models and products include Vaidya.ai, whose Vaidya 2.0 model was the first to score above 50 on OpenAI’s HealthBench (hard), and PiEvolve. Fractal also incubated and spun out Qure.ai, a global healthcare AI leader focused on the rapid identification and management of tuberculosis, lung cancer, and stroke. Fractal’s businesses also include Asper.ai (a Revenue Growth Management product for CPG companies) and Analytics Vidhya (an Ed-tech platform).

For more information, go to www.fractal.ai.

1 Net Revenue Retention in our Fractal.ai segment measures how effectively we retain and expand revenue from our existing clients over a defined period and is calculated by comparing the current period’s revenue from the clients who existed at the start of the period, with their revenue in the previous period – including the effects of upsells, cross-sells and contractions

2 Basis points = 1/100th of 1%

 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/fractal-delivers-its-first-ever-100-million-revenue-quarter-reports-ebitda-growth-of-71-yoy-302928760.html

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