Information and communications technology

A strategic industry that is diverse and competitive

For several decades, Québec has offered a fertile ground for information and communications technology.

Profile

• More than 7,300 ICT locations in Québec, including some hundred multinational companies.
• Nearly 130,000 jobs in 2014.
• Some 33.2 billion dollars in revenue in 2013.
• R&D investments in the order of 827 million dollars in 2012.
• 2.7 billion dollars in total goods exports in 2014.
• In 2014, venture capital investments in Québec’s information technology sector totaled 225 million dollars, or 37% of total venture capital investments in Québec.

Strengths

• Québec’s fields of expertise:
  • IT services
  • telecommunication services
  • software
  • microelectronics
  • instrumentation and optics-photonics
  • telecommunication material
  • video games, animation, and special effects
• The impressive expertise on display in Québec includes prime contractors from Québec and Canada, as well as subsidiaries, such as CGI, IBM, Ericsson, Ubisoft, Warner, Bell Canada, Videotron, Telus, Exfo and many others.
• Québec is also recognized for the expertise of its SMBs, able to act as sub-contractors for multinational companies or as suppliers of products and services for the end customer. This contributes to the significant drawing power that Québec has to attract industry leaders in the sector of information and communications technology (ICT).
• Montreal stands among the world’s most important regions in the design and development of video games. Most large video game publishers are present. Also, a significant amount of special effects seen in the movies produced in the United States use animation tools designed and developed by Québec companies.

Montréal World Class Tech Hub
Representatives of the business community and the universities confirm that if you want to invest in new technologies, launch operations, expand, achieve peak performance and live well, Montréal is the ideal place to do so.

Prosper in a knowledge-rich environment

Information and communications technology is at the heart of an emerging economy that turns upon creation and innovation in Québec. It’s easy to see why these companies choose to make the most out of the powerful commercial and financial synergies driving this economy.

Research and innovation

Québec boasts significant private and public research infrastructures thanks to the presence of numerous ICT companies and recurring investments from the Government of Québec in numerous specialized research and transfer centres, notably the National Institute of Optics (INO), the Computer Research Institute of Montreal (CRIM), the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT), and the Defence Research and Development Canada centre of Valcartier.

Fiscal incentives

Québec offers attractive fiscal incentives, such as the R&D tax credit, the tax credit for the production of multimedia titles, the tax credit for the development of e-business, the tax credit relating to information technologies in SMBs, and the tax holiday for large investment projects.

Groupings

Québec is home to business groups and associations such as the TechnoMontréal cluster, the Quebec Technology Association (AQT), Alliance numérique, and PROMPT, a group that promotes the creation of industry-university R&D partnerships in information and communications technology.

Montréal international game summit

Montréal International Game Summit brings together Québec and global industry. In addition to an exposition zone, it features world-class guest speakers, on the business, the art and visual effects, the design or the production and technology of video games. It is Canada’s biggest event of its kind.