According to Fast Company magazine and the Startup Genome, Montréal is one of the world’s most active startup hotbed cities, home base to over 2,500 active startups on the island of Montréal. With over 8,000 employees working primarily in the fintech and Artificial Intelligence industries, the city was also named fDi Magazine’s 2020 Top City of the Future in Canada, marking Montréal as the place to be for startups!
Putting innovation on the map
Montréal’s unique spirit of joie de vivre extends above and beyond the vibrant neighbourhoods and cultural offerings into its work, with an open playing field for new ideas and startup organizations. The city’s incubators (like the Founder Institute Montréal, the world’s largest startup training and creation program, and MT Lab, Montréal’s tourism start-up incubator created in collaboration between the UQAM School of Management, the Ville de Montréal and Tourisme Montréal) offer strong support for fresh thinking and trend-setting solutions, and there’s even the Innovation District (the Quartier de l’innovation to the city’s French speakers) putting startups directly on the Montréal map.
A city of events
Each calendar year, Montréal hosts some major startup-related events, ranging from the epic C2 Montréal, bringing business leaders and creative thinkers together, Startupfest’s hip and happening networking and connection building and the Salon des Jeunes Entrepreneurs International, promoting entrepreneurship to young adults who’ve immigrated to Canada. Here’s just a few calendar highlights we’re proud to play a part in:
- C2.MTL (2012-2019): 1,300 delegates
- Expo Entrepreneurs (2018): 8,000 delegates
- Startupfest (2018): 7,800 delegates
- FAB16 (2020): 1,000 delegates
- World Summit AI Americas (2019-2020): 800 to 5,500 delegates
- World Design Talks (2018): 500 delegates
- World Robot Olympiad (2020): 2,200 delegates
- xChange (2019): 500 delegates
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