Overview
Quebec boasts a diverse and powerful digital economy, with top cities for growth being Montreal, Quebec City and Laval. In 2018, Montreal was recognized by FDI Magazine as a top location for foreign direct investment. It won the award for “Best Digital Foreign Direct Investment Strategy,” surpassing competitors from around the world, including Los Angeles and New York.
The city is becoming a top global hub for research in AI and robotics. It is home to the SCALE AI Supercluster. Montreal has over 5,000 tech companies. Organizations such as Google Brain, DeepMind, MILA, and Element AI make Montreal their base for research and development.
Montreal is also a hub for the gaming industry, with 150 games studios and 12,000 game developers. Ubisoft Entertainment, a major player in the gaming industry, has operations in Montreal, employing approximately 3500 individuals.
The smaller urban centre of Quebec City has over 500 high-tech companies that generate nearly $2 billion in revenue annually. It has a flourishing technology ecosystem. The city has Canada’s highest ratio of researchers to population, with more than 5,500 researchers and 400 laboratories, research centres and institutes.
PWC investment report recently noted that Quebec City’s is attracting increasing levels of venture-capital funding. The life-science and health-technology industries are also vibrant sectors in Quebec City.