This text is part of the special section Philanthropy
While HEC Montréal has the mission of training the leaders of tomorrow, the HEC Montréal Foundation supports the School in the major initiatives it implements to achieve this. “It is certain that we cannot support all the projects, but we are concentrating on the most strategic, the most aligned with institutional priorities,” explains Michel Patry, CEO of the HEC Montréal Foundation.
Given the growing importance given to ESG issues, HEC Montréal is collaborating with the Saïd Business School of the University of Oxford to create Measuring Beyond. This initiative will allow the two academic institutions to reflect on common evaluation criteria to measure the performance of companies on ESG issues. This work will also be done in collaboration with the North American office of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), based in Montreal, which has precisely this mission. For this project, the Foundation was able to count on the support of $1 million from the Montreal firm Lallemand inc. and $600,000 from KPMG.
There are of course also, on occasion, facilities to be financed, such as the new downtown building for which the Foundation has mobilized its entire community and its partners from the business community.
In research now, Pierre-Olivier Pineau, professor in the Department of Decision Sciences, produces in particular each year the report The state of energy in Quebec, which includes a tool to visualize the entire Quebec energy system and assess its efficiency. “It’s a fine example of research that raises the level of discussion in society,” says Michel Patry. A dozen generous partners allow this project to develop and have an impact on public debate. »
Growing needs
Another successful example is the Tech3Lab. “It’s the largest academic lab specializing in user experience (UX) evaluation in North America,” he adds. Here too, we had to find potential partners, then attract talent, for example by offering scholarships for master’s students. »
HEC Montréal is also one of the founding partners at the head of IVADO, an interdisciplinary and intersectoral consortium of research, training and knowledge mobilization that builds and promotes robust, reasoned and responsible artificial intelligence. “It took a lot of research support and people studying at the master’s and doctoral level to create IVADO,” notes Mr. Patry.
Scholarships for admission, merit, entrepreneurship or mobility represent a large part of the funds given by the HEC Montréal Foundation. “They come directly to change people’s lives, notes the CEO Some people would not have had the means to continue their studies, or even to carry out an exchange session abroad as part of their course university. »
The Foundation also supports entrepreneurship by financing Parcours Rémi-Marcoux, EntrePrism and the National Bank – HEC Montreal Accelerator. “A hundred entrepreneurs are supported each year by our incubation and acceleration programs which allow, after a few years, to see the emergence of technological entrepreneurial projects that have a great impact on Quebec,” says Michel patry.
In 2022, the HEC Montréal Foundation obtained around twenty million dollars in pledged donations. “It’s a lot and a little at the same time, because the needs are obviously greater,” concludes the director of the Foundation. But we are still making progress. »
This content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.