Everyone dreams of it, but very few achieve it. Transforming Quebec university research into profitable commercial applications is a challenge that transcends generations, but one that Prompt has been tackling in its own way for 20 years now.
Which, in itself, is no small feat. Quebec is a world leader in university research in several cutting-edge sectors, such as artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. Like the rest of Canada, the province is becoming a dunce among developed economies when it comes to commercializing the fruits of its university research to transform it into viable and sustainable businesses.
Sector organizations like Prompt have the mandate to reverse this trend. To solve the squaring of the circle of Quebec innovation, in other words.
Collective wealth 101
Even after 20 years, Prompt remains an organization little known to the general public. Its funding still comes from the provincial government and is currently part of the Quebec Strategy for Research and Investment in Innovation. Its objective is therefore one that is unanimous both in government and everywhere where it is a question of making the Quebec economy more efficient: increasing the productivity of Quebec businesses by focusing on innovation and the creation of intellectual property.
With this in mind, Prompt has financed over the last two decades more than 500 innovation projects linked to technologies which have put university and public research centers in contact with Quebec companies, most of which embody the “M” of ” SME”, in order to create this proverbial collective wealth, so dear to the leaders of the province.
To help these projects worth a total of $350 million, Prompt directly extended some $115 million. Most of the time, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada also participated in the financing of projects submitted to Prompt, the rest of the envelope being provided by the participating companies.
The money is then given to the universities responsible for research and development of the solutions imagined by the researchers themselves or by the companies.
Focus on intellectual property
In the last ten years, Prompt has created some 900 jobs in the Quebec technology sector, according to its estimates. The innovations that the organization financed over this period led to the filing of 200 patents, which its general director, Liette Lamonde, describes as creating lasting wealth for Quebec.
“We seek to increase the productivity of Quebec businesses through technology and innovation,” she said in an interview with Duty. What I hope for the future is to help SMEs and smaller businesses to innovate more, so that they benefit from our help in a more sustainable way. »
This is a colossal mission, given that the share of their income that Quebec SMEs invest in research and development has been declining in recent years. A survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business reveals that 60% of them are unaware of the existence of most of the tax credits and government assistance that exist to help them in this regard.
“Productivity is not just about buying a technological solution created elsewhere,” continues Liette Lamonde. In everything we do, the message we send, both to researchers and to businesses, is the importance of protecting their intellectual property. This part interests me the most, because the innovation must end up being used in Quebec and abroad. »
A crucial message as foreign companies – especially American – do everything possible to reap the benefits of the most recent innovations, such as applications of generative artificial intelligence, in the manufacturing of semiconductors or in cybersecurity.
Quebec is very active in these sectors… especially in terms of research. “There’s a lot of movement in these sectors. We can tie in with American ambitions to build something here too, says Mme The world. This is why we are making efforts: to position Quebec at the heart of all this. »