MT Lab and the Ministère du Tourisme (MTO) are pleased to announce that 19 innovative tourism businesses will share $830,000 in grants, to help their businesses and ideas grow, and actively participate in the revival of the tourism industry in Quebec, thanks to the Programme d’aide financière pour l’innovation touristique.

The tourism innovation fund set up by MT Lab with funding from the MTO, aims to democratize innovation for the entire tourism industry in Quebec, and accelerate the realization of structuring projects to enhance the quality of tourism businesses’ offerings and counter the scarcity of manpower. The purpose of the Bursaries component is to support innovative Québec companies with strong economic or tourism growth potential, who have difficulty finding traditional financing quickly, or who have difficulty fitting into other government programs.

The 2021 winners

Excellence grant of $100,000 per company

Aimed at young innovative companies with high growth potential in tourism that have shown signs of success and would benefit from additional support to improve their product or service and grow their business.

UNIQ Hotel
Hôtel Uniq fills the accommodation gap during festivals by offering ephemeral accommodations that are a happy blend of camping and classic hotels. It’s a turnkey service that introduces visitors to exclusive natural sites through an eco-responsible experience in the form of a 15-unit ephemeral village, with double or triple occupancy, toilets, showers, kitchen, communal rest area and pop-up activities organized every day according to the location and local cultural events.

MySmartJourney
MySmartJourney is a tool for creating digital itineraries for tourist and cultural sites. Tourism professionals have access to a library of pre-programmed functionalities for rapidly creating and setting up multimedia information in locations using QR codes, NFC chips and URLs. The aim is to become the benchmark for the rapid deployment of multimedia information in physical locations, both destinations and tourist and cultural establishments.

WeChalet
WeChalet is a 100% Quebec-based online reservation platform for nature accommodations. It helps owners centralize the management of their property offers across multiple sites. WeChalet aims to become the benchmark for nature cottages and accommodations in Quebec. The company plants a tree for every reservation made through its platform.

HR grant of $50,000 per company

This category supports young innovative companies with high growth potential in tourism, to pay the salary of an in-house resource to accelerate their growth.

Alpha Premium
Alpha Premium helps lodging and ecotourism businesses increase their online revenues using dynamic pricing, digital traffic generation and data strategy. The company currently manages revenues for 10 hotels in California, and trains 45 members of the Association des Stations de ski du Québec and Aventure Écotourisme Québec in revenue management and coaching strategies.

Heralys Talent & Immigration
Heralys develops tools to improve the integration of immigrant talent. It aims to reduce the labor shortage in the tourism sector by attracting immigrants, and to become the benchmark for their placement and integration in the country.

HookMotion
HookMotion is a software program used mainly in casinos, which enables the automatic detection and tracking of small objects in real time from video. This technology uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automate real-time monitoring of casino gaming tables, without face detection. This reduces the workload on casino employees, allowing them to concentrate on customer service and support.

Locapaq
Locapaq rents high-end outdoor equipment aimed at the novice tourist, with the option of turnkey training and accompaniment. This solution makes the outdoors accessible and accessible to all, and, thanks to its comprehensive service, helps people connect with nature, especially visible minorities.

Nature Shuttle
Navette Nature (NaNa) offers a mass transit service between downtown areas and Quebec’s nature parks. NaNa has the potential to become a leader in sustainable mobility.

OTIS Nature
OTIS Nature offers a structured network of universally accessible glamping-style tourist accommodations to enable people with limitations and/or aging generations to enjoy the outdoors and camping. OTIS Nature is the first structured network of universally accessible tourist accommodations.

Snow slope
Pente à neige has been offering a city ski resort at Ignace-Bourget Park for the past three years. In winter 2022-2023, it would like to set up îlot 360 at Parc Jean-Drapeau and become the only place to ski within 10 minutes of downtown. Its new îlot 360 project includes tubing, festive baths and co-produced shows. This winter activities project could be a major trigger for tourism, making it THE winter leisure destination of the metropolis.

Radish
Radish is a platform for pooling the technical needs of companies and individuals in the foodservice industry by hiring, offering delivery service, training professional delivery drivers and offering digital equipment to foodservice players. As a cooperative, Radish has the advantage of offering restaurateurs a much more affordable service than the home-delivery giants.

Stay22
Stay22 offers events a service that locates available accommodation nearby. In the form of an intuitive map, travelers can see the prices and types of accommodation closest to the event they are attending.

Sailing Sansoucy
Voile Sansoucy plans to transform itself from a sailing club into a nautical outdoor center, offering customers more activities such as kayaking, windsurfing, paddleboarding, SUP Yoga and more. The company is also planning to launch into artisanal sailmaking. Voile Sansoucy aims to raise the profile of the Laurentians and enhance the tourism offering, especially for excursionists.

Incubated grant of $5,000 per company

This bursary is intended for young innovative companies with high growth potential in the tourism sector, who are following an incubation program offered by a start-up support organization supported by the Ministère de l’Économie et de l’Innovation du Québec, to encourage the development of innovative entrepreneurship in the tourism sector.

4Elements
4Elements is an interactive platform for making spaces more playful and creating unifying experiences anchored in real places. The platform also aims to enhance the customer experience to boost attractiveness, increase and diversify revenue streams, and optimize free space.

iCollective
iCollective is a collaborative web application that enables managers to ensure the cohesion and well-being of their team remotely, by visualizing their status in real time and offering a way to connect colleagues. This service helps meet HR retention needs in the tourism sector.

Lifeline
Lifeline offers rental of portable chargers for smartphones and tablets, which can be borrowed and returned to one of the many similar stations along a route (along the lines of Bixi). Their service meets the need of business customers and tourists to recharge their electronic devices.

Ramble
Ramble is a discoverability platform for unique experiences that connects local residents and tourists, who want experiences created by local individuals and businesses. This technology responds to the need for benevolent tourism by offering authentic experiences with locals that meet niche demands. (e.g.: personalized walks, painting or cooking workshops, aperitifs, etc.).

Retournzy
Retournzy offers a circular network of reusable containers for event venues and selected establishments. Nearby depots allow containers to be returned, washed and reused, reducing the need for single-use containers for establishments and events offering “meals on the go” to visiting tourists.

Hilo solutions
Solutions Hilo offers a solution of intelligent mirrors containing tourist information about the destination, and services near and within the venue. Hilo Solutions are installed in hotels, airports and convention halls. An innovation that reduces the need for reception staff and increases revenues through profitable partnerships.

To find out more about the companies and their solutions, visit their websites and follow us on our social networks.

Quotes

“Stimulating innovation is one of the keys to ensuring the competitiveness of our destination. I’m delighted that this new program will encourage innovation in tourism, enabling our destination to further distinguish itself. These grants will make a tangible contribution to bringing the innovative projects of young tourism businesses to fruition and helping them to grow. Our tourism entrepreneurs have many creative ideas with great potential, and our government, in collaboration with the MT Lab, will continue to support them.” – Caroline Proulx, Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for the Lanaudière and Bas-Saint-Laurent regions

“This new financial assistance program is a first, and we’re proud to contribute, in our own way, to the revival of tourism, but above all, to promote the work of Quebec startups operating in this sector. We are fortunate to be able to help these innovators break into the market and develop concrete solutions that have the potential to accelerate the transformation of the tourism industry. We would like to express our sincere thanks to the Quebec Minister of Tourism, Caroline Proulx, for her exceptional contribution to the implementation of this promising assistance program.” – Mr. Pierre Bellerose, President of MT Lab.

“This fund is a major step forward in supporting tourism innovation, and at the same time positions Quebec as one of the world leaders in this field. Over the years, the MT Lab has created an ecosystem of committed entrepreneurs able to contribute to the emergence of innovative solutions for the tourism industry. With the support of MTO, we are convinced that these grants will give them the impetus they need to grow and participate in the tourism revival.” – Martin Lessard, MT Lab General Manager

Originally published on Tourisme Express on January 19, 2022