Bridging the Innovation Gap in Quebec 

By Michel Bernier, Senior Partner, and Sofiane Benyouci, Managing Partner — Innovitech 

An article published in La Presse on November 3 offered a clear, and at times, troubling portrait of the state of innovation in Quebec. It reminded us that while the province ranks among the best in Canada for research and development, it lags far behind when it comes to turning discoveries into products, markets, and tangible benefits for our society. 

In other words, Quebec excels at fuelling innovation but still struggles to turn that potential into tangible results. 

This situation is not new. For years, reports have accumulated and diagnoses have been repeated. 

The real question is: what prevents us from turning our remarkable capacity to innovate into a genuine, collective, and lasting advantage? We have the talent, the ideas, the institutions, and the infrastructure. Yet but somewhere between the lab bench and the market, the momentum breaks down. 

Innovation only flourishes when it’s part of a vibrant, interconnected ecosystem. 

After decades of observing, supporting, and sometimes even repairing innovation ecosystems, from SMEs to large corporations and public development agencies, one conviction stands out: innovation is not an isolated act. 

It arises from a living system built on collaboration, experimentation, failure, and learning. 
And like any living system, it needs a coherent ecosystem to thrive. 

Over 35 years of working with SMEs, major corporations, cities, and economic development agencies, in Canada and abroad, a few clear lessons have emerged. 

1. Innovation Is a Team Sport 

• Behind every successful innovation are multiple actors who chose to work together: researchers, entrepreneurs, industrial partners, investors, regulators, and end-users. No one innovates alone. 

• The projects that succeed are those with a clear path: research → experimentation → demonstration → transfer → industrialization → deployment. 

• Each stage involves different players and skill sets. That’s why we need spaces, mechanisms, and resources to ensure continuity across the chain. 

2. Collaboration can’t be mandated, it must be designed

• Bringing organizations to the same table is not enough. Collaboration requires clear governance, shared objectives, aligned incentives, and the ability to manage intellectual property, data, risks, and benefits. 

• The most successful projects we’ve supported are those where the ground rules were established from the outset, and where every partner had a tangible reason to contribute. 

3. Innovation Requires Continuity

• One of Quebec’s recurring challenges is the discontinuity of strategies. Programs and budgets change, and many initiatives are halted before reaching maturity. 

• But innovation thrives on long-term effort. It can take a decade for a technology to evolve into an export-ready company or a transformative practice.
   
• The ecosystems that succeed are those that stay the course, consolidating what works, amplifying results, and learning collectively. 

4. Innovation Only Matters When It Creates Impact

• Investing in research is essential, but it’s only part of the equation. The true measure of success lies in the outcomes: new products, skilled jobs, technological sovereignty, emission reductions, and improved quality of life. 

• One simple lesson from experience: innovation moves faster and farther when it unfolds in real environments, with real users. 

Innovating in How We Innovate 

In light of these observations, we believe Quebec doesn’t need more initiatives. 
What’s needed now is stronger links, bridges, and continuity.  

Put simply, Quebec must start innovating in the way it innovates, turning major public investments into living examples of productive innovation. 

Turning Major Public Systems into Living Labs  

Quebec is preparing to invest billions in new hospitals, including those in Vaudreuil-Soulanges and East Montréal. These facilities will stand for decades, representing far more than construction projects, they are historic opportunities to make Quebec’s hospitals true showcases for applied innovation.  

Designed as living labs, these hospitals could integrate, from the design phase:  

• digital hospital twins to simulate and optimize patient, material, and energy flows; 

• clinical AI to support medical decision-making; 

• automated logistics platforms, eventually including medical drones; 

• interoperable and secure information systems to ensure continuity of care and responsible data use. 

Major initiatives such as TransMedTech, MEDTEQ+, IVADO, and CHUM’s clinical innovation programs already exist. Connecting them directly to hospital projects would have a transformative effect: solutions conceived here, demonstrated here, then exported abroad. 
Our hospitals would become not only centres of care, but also platforms for innovation and engines of industrial sovereignty. 

The same principle applies to active ageing, connected housing, assistive technologies, social innovation. In an ageing society, these are not optional, they are essential to preserving dignity, safety, and quality of life.  

Building a sustainable, technology-driven industrial base by uniting Quebec’s strengths 

In security and defence, Quebec already has powerful assets that together form a competitive ecosystem: cybersecurity leadership, recognized AI expertise, world-class aerospace, and innovative SMEs in sensors, drones, communications, and robotics. 

Yet these strengths often remain fragmented, divided across programs, regions, and markets. 
An integrated cluster could connect them along a single value chain: from research to production, from certification to export, much like models found in South Korea or Scandinavia. 

Such collective governance would not only strengthen strategic autonomy but also provide a strong export engine for Quebec firms. 

This approach also applies to other sectors of the economy, notably in clean and intelligent reindustrialization, energy, and major infrastructure — including ports and airports — where significant investments are planned by both Canada and Quebec in the coming years. 

A case in point: Campus YMX in Mirabel. 

It brings together aerospace, artificial intelligence, defence, and advanced air mobility in a single ecosystem. It’s more than a business park — it’s a space for designing, testing, certifying, and industrializing solutions such as logistics drones, electric air taxis, air traffic management systems, and intelligent maintenance. 

This model could be extended to ports (for automated logistics), agriculture (for agri-tech), or remote regions (for green energy). 

In doing so, the territory itself becomes an accelerator of applied innovation and a powerful lever for global visibility. 

Rethinking Innovation Governance and Financing Mechanisms 

True innovation isn’t just about funding, it’s about how we turn major investments into engines of industrial and economic sovereignty. In other words, we need to start innovating in the way we innovate. 

Quebec is rich in organizations, programs, and initiatives dedicated to innovation. Individually, many perform well. Collectively, however, they sometimes struggle to generate the expected momentum. The issue is not lack of effort — it’s how those efforts connect. 

In an ecosystem where actors, programs, and mandates constantly evolve, maintaining continuity becomes difficult. Yet innovation requires stability and clarity — rules that don’t change too often, and structures that can learn, adapt, and mature over time. 

In most strategic sectors (health, education, mobility, energy, public safety, social services)  the state is one of the largest buyers of technology in Quebec. 
If it acts as the first customer of innovation, it can change the game. 

That means:  

• favouring calls for solutions rather than rigid tenders; 

• allowing innovations to be tested in real environments; 

• and assessing projects based on long-term value, not just immediate cost. 

It’s a powerful model already visible in Estonia, the UK, and several Nordic countries: the state is no longer just a regulator or funder, but an accelerator of impact. 

Conclusion

The countries that succeed are not those that innovate the most, but those that deploy innovation most effectively. 

At its core, innovation has never been solely about technology — it’s about continuity, trust, and orchestration. 

At Innovitech, we’ve witnessed these forces at work for more than 35 years. 
Our mission is to help public, private, and scientific actors turn ideas into lasting impact by building dynamic and living innovation ecosystems.