Archive for May, 2010

May 25th, 2010

Innovation myths

The Association de la recherche industrielle du Québec (ADRIQ) published an interesting newsletter in April on business innovation in Quebec in which it dispels certain myths such as which companies are really innovative and how they do it.

ADRIQ made a key distinction, namely that an invention or improvement only becomes an innovation when it leads to a marketable product or service. So if it has no impact on your products or sales, it can’t really be called an innovation.

In a context of economic recovery and a strong dollar, innovation becomes an absolute must for Quebec businesses. We should therefore be hearing a lot more about this topic in the months ahead. In fact, Minister Clément Gignac will be announcing the MDEIE’s new innovation and research strategy any day now. On Les Affaires.com, you’ll find an interesting interview the Minister gave on the subject during the BIO conference.

In its newsletter, ADRIQ points out that more than 90% of innovation takes place in well-established companies and less than 10% occurs in tech start-ups. As well, 90% of innovative businesses sell to other businesses (B2B) and not to consumers even though we hear much more about novel consumer products.

In the U.S., an estimated 80% of innovations involve product or process improvements in response to customer or market imperatives, while 20% stem from technology breakthroughs, inventions or scientific discoveries. According to ADRIQ, the ratio in Quebec is more like 85-15 or 90-10 because we have more SMEs, which don’t always have the means to turn a technological breakthrough into a marketable product.

Rather than present a definitive point of view or position on the topic, the ADRIQ newsletter offers an objective picture of innovation in Quebec. That said, I think their goal was to show that innovation is market-driven and that it is mostly the domain of successful companies rather than tech start-ups. But the truth is everyone can and must be innovative, even companies in the most conservative industries. It will be interesting to see if Minister Gignac takes the same approach in his upcoming research and innovation strategy.

Bruno Séguin

May 12th, 2010

Visit of a Moroccan Minister in Laval

On May 6, we had the honor to receive the visit of the Minister of Industry, Trade and New Technologies of Morocco, Mr. Ahmed Reda Chami. Mr. Chami, who was coming to the Montreal Area to visit a couple of large companies in Quebec took the opportunity to make a stop in Laval, in order to meet some local companies and economic development agencies. The event was organized by Flex Group, a Laval company that does a lot of business in Morocco, North Africa and West Africa. Mr. Gilles Vaillancourt, Mayor of Laval, was present to welcome the Minister.

The conference was very interesting and attracted nearly a hundred people, including some companies from Laval. However, Morocco remains a largely untapped market by Quebec firms, despite the country’s many efforts to open up trade, its proximity to Europe and major markets in Africa, and the natural connections with the important Quebec population of Moroccan origin. A colleague informed me at the end of the conference that, as in all of Quebec, there are only 160 companies doing business in Morocco.

As pointed out by different speakers, this conference marks the beginning of a possible intensification of business relations between Morocco and Quebec, and especially with Laval. It would be interesting for the International Business Centre to possibly further activities for local companies interested in Morocco.

However, before launching large-scale activities such as a trade mission or another, it is important to ensure that there is an interest in this market for a sufficient number of Laval companies. I therefore invite all Laval companies that are already doing business or are planning to do business in Morocco to contact us. We would be pleased to discuss your projects, and potentially put you in touch with key contacts in Morocco and eventually get you involved in more extensive projects such as business development on the market.

Bruno Séguin