Look back on an outstanding 2017
Like Greater Montréal, Montréal International (MI) has had another successful year! After announcing it had helped attract $1.347 billion in foreign investments in 2016, Greater Montréal’s economic development agency anticipates results that are even more promising in 2017. These will be announced in spring, at its General Assembly. Here is a recap…
More investments and international organization projects
“In the past few years, Greater Montréal has positioned itself as a global hub for a number of leading-edge industries, including AI, video games, visual effects, aerospace, and life sciences and health technologies. The number of investors we have supported in 2017 shows that Montréal has never been as attractive on the international stage,” said Hubert Bolduc, President and CEO of Montréal International.
The region benefited from a number of investments that have already been announced, including F.List and AAA Canada (aerospace), ABB and Siemens AG (energy), Hikvision, Google and Agylis (ICT), Double Negative, Mathematic Studio and Ubisoft (video games/visual effects) as well as Microsoft, Facebook, DeepMind and Thales (AI).
As for international organizations, MI completed three ambitious projects in 2017, including AIESEC locating its international secretariat in Montréal, the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) establishing its international secretariat in the city, and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) expanding its operations. The final agreement with the World Anti-Doping Agency will be initialed in the coming weeks
Recruiting missions tripled!
With the strong growth in technology sectors, more and more companies are adopting an international recruitment strategy. Case in point, the MI team tripled the number of recruiting missions in 2017, making repeat visits to London, Paris, Toulouse, San Francisco and Long Beach.
A record 31 Greater Montréal businesses, accounting for a delegation of 80 people, called on MI to take part in the Journées Québec recruitment drives in Paris, in November, surpassing the record number of registered participants in June. More than 12,000 potential candidates were sent to participating companies to fill one of the 350 job postings. More than 2,200 interviews were conducted in a mere two days.
I choose Montréal: actively present on campuses
The 32,000 international students enrolled at one of the Greater Montréal higher education institutions can now count on I choose Montréal for information on immigration, life and work in Greater Montréal.
The ichoosemontreal.com site was officially launched at the start of the year. The site posts job and internship opportunities meant for international students, and also contains a slew of information on resources for francization and how to obtain permanent residency. I choose Montréal also joins forces with a number of partners to offer contests, customized events and exclusive offers through its monthly newsletter and its Facebook and LinkedIn pages.
Unprecedented international profile
Investments and international talent are a major driver of wealth for Greater Montréal and that is why MI has made all the necessary efforts to promote Québec’s advantages and leading-edge sectors around the world. MI produced four promotional videos in 2017 for that purpose:
Artificial intelligence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVXkISpbq2k
Life sciences and health technologies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiKeYKBks1Q
High-tech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-xhktbMC7k
Montréal is the best student city in the world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW2S4ixKIoE
All the promotional efforts have stirred up some very positive international media coverage on Greater Montréal’s economy. Here’s a sampling:
New York Times: As Trump tightens legal immigration, Canada woos tech firms
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/nyregion/trump-legal-immigration-canada-tech-jobs.html
Forbes, ”Why Montreal has emerged as an artificial intelligence powerhouse”: https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterhigh/2017/11/06/why-montreal-has-emerged-as-an-artificial-intelligence-powerhouse/#4f93b00a23bd
Becoming Human Blog, ”Forget about Amazon HQ2, where will AI be headquartered?”: https://becominghuman.ai/238-cities-have-vied-to-become-amazons-second-headquarters-b31c2944076
Financial Post, ”Revolution AI: why everyone wants in to Montreal’s deep-learning hub”: http://business.financialpost.com/entrepreneur/revolution-ai-everyone-wants-in-to-montreals-deep-learning-hub
Forbes, ”There’s an AI revolution underway and it’s happening in Canada”: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bijankhosravi/2017/06/09/theres-an-ai-revolution-underway-and-its-happening-in-canada/#53115508c73b
New York Times, “A Trump dividend for Canada? Maybe in its A.I. industry”: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/09/technology/a-trump-dividend-for-canada-maybe-in-its-ai-industry.html?_r=0
Site Selection, “Behind the big data rush to Montréal”: http://siteselection.com/onlineInsider/behind-the-big-data-rush-to-montreal.cfm
