Information and communication technologies
Software: A thriving industry
Hundreds of Québec-based businesses known for their daring creativity specialize in developing and publishing application and system software.
The playing field also includes major leaders of the industry such as Autodesk, CGI, Dassault Systèmes, Fujitsu, Google, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Kronos, OpenText, Oracle, Sagem and SAP.
Application softwareExpand/Collapse
- back office software
- personal software and groupware
- engineering software
- front office software
System softwareExpand/Collapse
- system and network management software
- information management software
- application development software and middleware
Consulting services for every need
ICT businesses that choose Québec also benefit from the guidance and expertise of large consulting firms such as Capgemini Consulting 
, CGI , Fujitsu and IBM , as well as the services of numerous innovative SMBs such as ACCEO Solutions , Ace Technology , Alithya , Cofomo and R3D .
Global success stories
Québec businesses are known worldwide for their expertise and creativity. Many companies have earned international reputations for their superior products and services, and their success stories are inspirational.
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CGI
: The little business with big ambitions!
Québec has some Apple-style IT success stories of its own! In 1976, Serge Godin and André Imbeau, then in their 20s, started a business in their basement armed with just one telephone and lots of ambition! Today they head a company with more than 70,000 employees in over 40 countries that’s known worldwide for its superior consulting services and incomparable IT expertise. -
Travelling made easy with Busbud
Now travellers can check out bus routes all over the world, thanks to Busbud 's powerful search engine. Founded in 2011, this Québec company created the first bus travel aggregator service in the world. Travellers can purchase tickets online from about 100 bus companies in 10,000 cities and towns across 63 countries. -
Coveo, an insight engines leader
Coveo has revolutionized information management by creating the world’s most scalable enterprise search platform. This technical search innovator has designed powerful tools that allow businesses to easily find information on their internal servers and the Internet and make better use of their information ecosystems. In 2017, analysis and consulting firm Gartner named Coveo an insight engines leader, ahead of giants Microsoft, IBM and HP. -
See things differently with HumanWare
Visually impaired people don’t want to be left behind in the rush towards increasingly sophisticated technologies. And now, thanks to the magnifiers, Braille keyboards and notetakers provided by HumanWare , they won’t be! With groundbreaking products used worldwide, HumanWare is giving visually impaired people back an invaluable gift: their independence! -
2020's virtual design software
Who doesn’t like to redecorate from time to time? With Technologies 2020 , you can do so virtually! Created for furniture designers and retailers, the Québec company’s software, now available in 90 countries, can be put online to let potential customers have fun and try out a new décor. It’s software that turns dreams into sales! -
Fighting crime with Ultra Electronics Forensic Technology
Ultra Electronics Forensic Technology can take pride in having been a trailblazer in its field. Its ballistic-analysis tools enable investigators to solve crimes faster and collect evidence essential to the judicial process. Used by crime scene investigators, its solutions can compare thousands of firearm-cartridge images in just a few minutes!
Bringing innovation and research to lifeExpand/Collapse
Québec is home to many public research institutions and universities with experienced researchers working in partnership with the private sector. Here are just a few of them.
Centre d'entreprises et d'innovation de Montréal (CEIM)
CEIM provides specialized consulting and related services for IT start-ups.
Centre for Interuniversity Research and Analysis of Organizations (CIRANO)
CIRANO has over 230 affiliated professor-researchers specializing in different disciplines such as economics, finance, management, information systems, computer science and operational research, psychology, sociology, political science, law, history and medicine.
Centre de recherche informatique de Montréal (CRIM)
CRIM is an IT applied-research centre that supports companies in the start-up phase. Like an incubator, the centre provides training, invests in initial development stages and helps beneficiaries become independent, functional companies. CRIM has earned a reputation for the excellence of its quality-control testing.
Inno-centre
The mission of Inno-centre is to accelerate the start-up and growth of companies by providing the business intelligence they need to succeed. The centre also provides a wide range of professional and support services to businesses and parapublic organizations.
Laboratoire de recherche en génie logiciel (GÉLOG)
This research laboratory contributes to the application of internationally recognized standards with a view to ensuring IT project quality. It develops means of enhancing software maintenance, software engineering standardization and software quality assurance. It also serves as a consultant to the private sector through productivity studies, IT project estimates and software quality analysis.
Mobile Computing and Networking Research Laboratory (LARIM)
LARIM welcomes a large number of master’s and doctoral students as well as post-doctoral trainees and other students from foreign universities. Its research activities focus mainly on network infrastructures, services and related applications, taking into account the possible multiple effects of mobility.
Computer System Architecture Research Laboratory (LASI)
The LASI research team comprises students, professors and researchers from the École de technologie supérieure’s Department of Software Engineering and IT. Their research projects revolve around five main activities: service and network engineering, software and design architecture, security, software re-engineering and model-driven engineering.
Working with artificial intelligence and big dataExpand/Collapse
Institute for Data Valorization (IVADO)
The IVADO aims to bring together industry professionals and academic researchers to develop cutting-edge expertise in data science, optimization (operational research) and artificial intelligence. IVADO members provide data management methods and inform decision-making for optimal resource use. Some $230 million in public and private funds have been invested in the IVADO to date.
Centre de recherche en données massives de l’Université Laval (CRDM_UL)
The CRDM_UL (French website) brings together over 30 researchers working on problems related to data processing and analysis. The CRDM_UL stands out because it does not use methods and processes related to big data—it develops them.
The Canada Excellence Research Chair in Data Science for Real-Time Decision-Making which is held by Professor Andrea Lodi, works to develop new tools and methodologies that will allow enormous volumes of data from multiple sources to be processed and analyzed in real time—in order to obtain useable knowledge and automate decision-making.
Montréal Institute for Learning Algorithms (MILA )
Researchers from MILA have pioneered the field of deep learning and deep neural networks (both discriminative and generative) and their applications to vision, speech and language. MILA is world-renowned for many breakthroughs in developing novel deep learning algorithms and applying them to various domains. They include neural language modelling, neural machine translation, object recognition, structured output generative modelling and neural speech recognition.
Group for Research in Decision Analysis (GERAD )
GERAD is a multi-university research centre founded in 1979. It involves some 70 experts from a mix of disciplines: quantitative methods for management, operations researchers, computer scientists, mathematicians and mathematical engineers, from HEC Montréal, Polytechnique Montréal, McGill University and Université du Québec à Montréal
Stay on top of industry developmentsExpand/Collapse
Industry-specific associations give members a chance to network and learn more about the various challenges and opportunities for software publishing in Québec.
Top News in Québec
Other
sites
Productivité innovation website (in French only)
Compétivert(in French only)