This text is part of the special section Municipalities
Concentration of talent, economic development, high technologies, growth in private investment, Québec’s international influence: all these terms often resonate when we talk about the creation of innovation zones, the first two of which were announced in February by the Legault government. But these areas seek to be much more than industrial park or economic development projects: they also want to be living environments.
“There are different ways of doing economic development and land use planning, argues Évelyne Beaudin, Mayor of Sherbrooke, when her city was one of the first two to be designated an innovation zone with the city from Bromont. We could sprinkle investments across the city, but concentrating them in a given sector, with a long-term vision as we do with the innovation zone, is the approach that I think will be the most long-term winner. »
An innovation zone consists first of all in attracting talents in a predetermined territory around the same field. Their creation seeks to “increase the commercialization of innovations, exports, local and foreign investments as well as the productivity of companies”, we read on the website of the Ministry of Economy and Innovation. A zone brings together actors from research, industry, education and entrepreneurship in order to promote collaboration and innovation.
Last February, the Legault government announced public and private investments of $255 million for the creation of Bromont’s digital technology innovation zone, Technum Québec, and $435 million for the innovation zone in quantum sciences from Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke quantique.
A new living environment
“We had heard about it for a long time. [avant l’annonce]it was not a surprise for Sherbrooke residents, indicates Mme Beaudin. The fears that were identified in the population were related to the creation of an industrial park. Our challenge is to prove to the population that this is not just an industrial park revitalization project, but really the creation of a living environment. And according to her, it is even simplistic to speak of an industrial park when speaking of the innovation zone.
The Sherbrooke innovation zone will physically connect the University of Sherbrooke and the city center, the two most important sectors of the city. “We will connect them and we will beautify them so that it is pleasant to move from one sector to another”, illustrates the mayor, speaking, among other things, of the creation of green spaces and local shops and the enhancement of industrial heritage. .
“We have disused industrial buildings in Sherbrooke, as in many places in Quebec, and everyone would be happy to reuse them and enhance them,” she continues. If we manage to translate the vision of the zone on the ground, it is not just the people who work in the quantum field who will benefit, but everyone. »
According to the mayor, this designation gives a big boost to revitalize and energize the city. “It allows us to have accelerated development and a global vision to do so,” she says. There are high-tech industries, and there is everything around it, as we try to encourage mobility, meetings, to create spaces where people can live, play and work. »
Indeed, the vision of innovation zones goes beyond economic development. “In addition to hosting industrial, entrepreneurial, knowledge-based, connected and collaborative activities, innovation zones rely on a diverse environment conducive to quality of life and well-being”, we still read on the website of the Ministry of Economy and Innovation.
Build on the territories’ existing strengths
The mayoress of Sherbrooke is already seeing the snowball effect that the creation of the innovation zone can generate in her city. “When you have a devitalized sector, it takes massive investments, and a kind of kick-off to then attract [des partenaires]. As we can see, it is already happening. »
The city had already started revitalization projects in the city center, to which the vision of the innovation zone finally clings. And now Ubisoft recently announced its installation on South Wellington Street, where major investments have been made. A very nice surprise for the city, while the Entrepreneurship Headquarters is also under construction in the same sector, a state-of-the-art six-storey building that will become a nerve center for entrepreneurship in the territory. . Almost all the premises in this new building have already found takers.
According to the mayor, the vision of collaborative work underlying the innovation zones project makes it possible to further develop the already existing strengths of her city. “It’s already a reflex that we have to talk to each other, the City, the University, the Cégep and the private companies that are in the territory, she says. For us, this designation was like a recognition of our greatest strengths. Now, we have a great opportunity, with the zone, to develop these partnerships so that it can go even further. »
The same goes for Bromont, while the Technum Québec innovation zone relies on strengths already in place, namely an industrial and educational ecosystem already recognized worldwide in the field of intelligent electronic systems. Private companies such as IBM Canada, Teledyne Dalsa, Aeponyx as well as C2MI, a world-class collaborative innovation center, have already set up shop there.
“We could already count in our science park on companies renowned in digital technologies, indicates the mayor of Bromont, Louis Villeneuve. Technum Québec, in addition to being a new impetus for our industrial sector, is a great showcase for our city and our region. »
According to the Minister of Economy and Innovation, Pierre Fitzgibbon, other cities could get the green light this year, and even by summer, to develop their innovation zone. About thirty projects have been submitted for the creation of innovation zones, among others by the cities of Quebec, Montreal and Rouyn-Noranda. Quebec would like to make ten of them a reality.