HANGZHOU, China, July 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- NetEase, Inc. (NTES) ("NetEase" or the "Company"), one of China'sleading internet and online game services providers, has launched a new video games studio in Montréal, Québec, which is considered to be Canada's premier video game production center. NetEase plans to hire local and international talent for this R&D-focused studio in North America.

"Global expansion is of great importance to the strategic growth of NetEase's online games business. We have made considerable progress in recent years, and our new Montréal games studio is another significant milestone for our global market ambitions," said William Ding, Chief Executive Officer and Director of NetEase. "Known for being a world-leading video game and entertainment content production hub, with rich resources in talent and technologies, Montréal offers clear advantages and favorable conditions to international online games companies such as NetEase. We were warmly welcomed by Montréal International and Investissement Québec, and we are thrilled at this remarkable step which can push us forward on realizing our global objectives."

MONTREAL — As Toronto and Vancouver struggle to keep housing affordable for anyone but the wealthy, Montreal says its new, first-on-the-continent development model will help it succeed where other big cities have failed.

Montreal led big Canadian cities in 2018 with economic growth of almost 3 per cent, while its real estate market outperformed Toronto and Vancouver’s for the first time since 1998.

WeWork is partnering with the cities of Kitchener, Montreal, Ottawa, and Waterloo, and companies affiliated with their respective innovation hubs, to expand the Startup Passport program. The Startup Passport looks to offer city-based entrepreneurs a network of sites to work and meet at WeWork’s various locations.

The program, which initially launched in Toronto last summer, was available to MaRS Discovery District, the DMZ at Ryerson University, the University of Toronto Entrepreneurship, and York University. Now, the program is available to other innovation hubs in Ontario and Quebec, including Communitech, Montreal International, and Invest Ottawa.

Recently, TELUS Corporation TU announced that it is going to invest $53 million in its wireless and wireline networks in Greater Montreal this year. The move is in accordance with the Canadian telecommunications company’s five-year billion-dollar pledge in Quebec. It is aimed at helping Montreal to become one of the smartest cities in Canada, while paving the way for the impending 5G technology across the region.

Markedly, these investments are part of a 20-year partnership between TELUS and the Old Port of Montréal Corporation, announced in 2017, to provide the location with a number of cutting-edge technologies and a free high-speed Wi-Fi zone. The company also stated that it would deploy Centralized Radio Access Network technology to enhance the performance of its Long Term Evolution-Advanced wireless network.

Sébastien Gagnon, Vice President of Sales & Public Affairs at bciti is a recognized leader in the municipal world in municipal management and intergovernmental relations. He has more than 20 years of experience in intergovernmental relations, and has worked both in the public and private sectors. He has a Master’s Degree in Marketing, a Postgraduate Degree in Commerce and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations.

Montreal-based software company Lightspeed’s plan to go public on the Toronto Stock Exchange is being hailed a success story for Montreal’s tech industry.

On Wednesday, the company, which makes cloud-based payments software aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, filed a prospectus with securities regulators — a major step in the initial public offering process.

It would be the first notable IPO by a Montreal technology company since Stingray Digital, now Stingray Group, went public in 2015.

When is the last time you visited your local library? If it’s been a while, then you might want to take note of an initiative from Montreal’s NDG borough that’s bringing the books to you.

“It’s about promoting literacy through the book, the magical powers of the book,” said Helen Fortin, CEO and executive director of the Fraser Hickson Institute.

Fortin and her team of three have created the MINIBIBLIOplus program.

In this episode of The Intelligent Community, ICF Co-Founder speaks with Harout Chitilian, who served as a city councillor of Montreal when the city won the Intelligent Community of the Year Award in 2016.

A Montreal program is trying to help get more women working in artificial intelligence.

Twenty-eight women, mostly senior undergraduate students, began the six-week AI4Good summer lab on May 14.

Almost none of the participants have any experience with AI or machine learning, said Doina Precup, one of the program’s creators.

Zayo Group Holdings (NYSE: ZAYO) says it will construct a dark fiber ring in the Montreal metro area for a global cloud provider Zayo didn't further identify. The 60-km dark fiber ring will run along the South Shore section of the city, which Zayo says is an emerging technology and data center hub.

The ring will connect multiple data centers for the client. Zayo asserts it won the contract due to "its leading fiber network in Canada, deep experience in building high-performance fiber network, and flexibility in planning for the customer's continued growth."