A strategic agreement to foster innovation between France and Quebec
As part of the Franco-Quebec Innovation Year, launched on November 16, 2022, by Olivier Becht, Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade, and Martine Biron, Quebec’s Minister of International Relations and La Francophonie, a new wave of cooperation was officially launched between the innovation ecosystems of the two regions.
During the 2023 Rendez-vous Carnot, PRIMA Québec—the Research and Innovation Cluster for Advanced Materials—and CRIBIQ—the Consortium for Research and Innovation in Industrial Bioprocesses—signed a memorandum of understanding with the Carnot Institutes. This agreement paves the way for joint funding of collaborative innovation projects aimed at addressing common industrial challenges.
This initiative is part of a strong commitment to strengthening synergies between French and Quebec research centers, companies, and innovation structures by capitalizing on complementary expertise in advanced materials, bioprocesses, and cutting-edge technologies.
Thanks to this agreement, companies based in both France and Quebec will gain new tools to accelerate their innovation projects. Joint funding will support ambitious initiatives led by mixed consortia, combining scientific expertise, technical capabilities, and industrial needs.
This initiative aims to boost economic competitiveness by fostering the emergence of innovative solutions that address shared challenges: the green transition, industrial process performance, resource recovery, and the development of technologies with a low environmental footprint. Promising initial discussions have already taken place during the Rendez-vous Carnot events, hinting at the creation of transformative projects in the years to come.
The Carnot Institutes, whose model is centered on collaborative research, play a key role in this cooperation. By linking their member organizations with the Quebec innovation clusters PRIMA Québec and CRIBIQ, they enhance access to a network of scientific and technological excellence, while creating an environment conducive to the co-development of innovative industrial solutions.
This memorandum of understanding thus marks an important milestone for Carnot MICA and the entire Carnot network. It opens up prospects for sustainable collaborations, enriched by complementary expertise and a shared vision of innovation as a driver of economic development.
Exciting meetings and collaborative projects are already in the works, demonstrating the dynamism of this France–Quebec cooperation and its potential to support companies in their future industrial challenges.
