Press release
The Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal welcomes the
Quebec strategy for research and innovation
Montreal, December 4, 2006 The Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal welcomes the Quebec Government's announcement of a Quebec strategy for research and innovation as well as the major investments that will be devoted to its implementation over the next three years.
Innovation is vital to the success of any company wishing to maximize productivity and increase competitiveness. We are therefore greatly encouraged to learn that the Quebec Government is prepared to back up its new strategy with additional investments, declared Isabelle Hudon, president and CEO of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal.
We are also pleased that Raymond Bachand, Minister of Economic Development, Innovation, and Export Trade is committed to ensuring that this strategy will have optimal impact on the Quebec economy, particularly on the creation of jobs and wealth. In our opinion, the concentration of effort in Quebec's most high-performance sectors is an excellent business decision, continued Hudon.
This strategy offers promising prospects for helping companies to maximize the potential of commercializing innovations. This is all the more important in that we must reinforce our already strong position in several leading-edge sectors, not just locally but also internationally, added Hudon.
That said, while efforts such as the strategy unveiled today are particularly useful for supporting the development of innovations, it is no less important to encourage companies to adopt them, particularly by focusing more on continuing education enabling them to appropriate and integrate those innovations, she said.
The Board of Trade has often stressed that it is vital for more companies to invest in innovation.
As this strategy rightly suggests, we must continue to sell SMEs on the importance of scientific know-how and innovation. We must also continue to move toward an economic environment rewarding corporate investment in innovation and leading companies to more naturally incorporate innovation in all their efforts to increase productivity and competitiveness, concluded Hudon.
The Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal has some 7,000 members. Its mission is to represent the interests of the business community of Greater Montreal and to provide individuals, merchants and businesses of all sizes with a variety of specialized services to help them achieve their full potential in terms of innovation, productivity and competitiveness. The Board of Trade is the largest private organization in Quebec dedicated to economic development.
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Source:
Sylvie Paquette
Coordinator, Media relations
Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal
Tel.: (514) 871-4000, ext. 4015
sylvie.paquette@ccmm.qc.ca