MT Lab is an open innovation platform dedicated to tourism created by the Université du Québec à Montréal and Tourisme Montréal in 2016. Located in the heart of the Quartier des spectacles in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, a meeting place, a startup accelerator and an incubator for innovative projects, the MT Lab creates networks and supports companies with innovative solutions for the major players in the industry.
Mission: To stimulate Québec's economic development through open innovation in tourism
Vision: We aim to make Quebec an internationally recognized hub for tourism innovations
Do you think you have an innovative solution that could adequately address one or more of these 8 areas of innovation in the tourism, culture and entertainment industry? Participate in the Incubation Program and get visibility with our partners and our ecosystem for potential business opportunities.
| Capture, structure, analyze and segment data on a place or destination to make more targeted and revenue-generating strategic decisions. |
| Visitor qualification, profiling, data modelling and visitor categorisation. |
| Access to real-time data for decision support or experiment. |
| Traceability of the occupancy rate and assistance in the management of flows. |
| Improve your business intelligence system (local and/or international market). |
| Qualification of the visitor throughout his or her journey. |
| Strengthen data cybersecurity. |
| Capture real-time feedback of visitor satisfaction. |
|
Personalization of the reception by visitor profile |
||
|
Signage and access to information Accessibility and equity (disability, language, culture, religion, etc.) |
Flow management and mobility in the territory with a more local perspective, maximising local experiences (discovery of a neighbourhood, a city, a region) and active mobility modes. |
Equip reception sites in more remote and natural regions to diagnose occupancy rates and capacities in real time and predictive analysis of package opportunities and the risks of overcapacity of traffic for each season (transfer from cities to nature and regions). Solution accessible in off-grid mode (e.g. remote territories, air transport, underground network). Rethink the visitor's journey by taking into account the new health and physical distancing measures. |
| Define new standards of customer experience: sanitary, contactless, on board aircraft, health/biometric passport. |
| Experiences that allow visitors to participate, experience and contribute to the development of the offer and the collective well-being of the local community and its heritage. |
| Reinvention of the point of sale and online shopping platforms, with increased accessibility to local products (e.g. agri-food, crafts, etc.) and promoting economic benefits for the destination. |
| Integration of new digital and interactive tools to master 100% online or hybrid experiences throughout the visitor journey (before, during, after the experience) and allowing new sources of revenue, both for the leisure, cultural, entertainment and business tourism sectors. |
| Turnkey solutions (e.g. package or platform) for online booking and purchase before, during and after the visit, and products or services complementary to an experience and its distribution and distribution. |
| Tools that allow the visitor to empower the experience, and make it accessible to individual experiences (e.g., digital guide or concierge) and evaluate them. |
| Creation of new multisensory, interactive and/or immersive experiences and concepts, which make it possible to streamline and gamify the management of visitor flows and to strengthen attractiveness. |
| Personalization of more targeted offers by interest or theme (e.g., tourist routes and circuits) and development of packages to benefit as many players as possible in a territory (e.g., platform), a place or a network on a pan-Canadian scale (e.g., hotels, restaurants, convention venues, etc.). |
| Rethink and equip the places and destinations requiring a revitalization of the offer to enhance or evolve the existing offer (e.g., hotel rooms, meeting and convention venues, sports center, etc.) while developing new sources of revenue (e.g., new use of a place) and preparing for the gradual return of local and international leisure and business visitors. |
| Vitalize and maintain access to cultural products, services and events to contribute to well-being. |
| Solutions that enrich Quebec's offer and experience in the winter period, or adaptive according to the seasons. |
| Modular or reusable layouts, design or furniture for multifunctional spaces, and redevelopment of spaces for which the reason for use has changed or evolved following the pandemic. |
| Automation and robotization solutions to increase or improve the productivity of one or more departments, or other emerging technologies that allow the identification of problematic processes and can replace non-value-added tasks or complex situations to optimize for humans. |
| Tools to support decision-making and increase own-source revenues. |
| Collaborative tools that optimize internal communication and the centralization of information, particularly in a context of increased teleworking. |
| Development of more agile and flexible processes, integrating the pooling of skills. |
| Tools to better target the issues of training and empowerment of teams (permanent and temporary) and managers, to increase employee engagement, the quality of customer service and reduce turnover. |
| Development of communication tools to restore the confidence of talent and encourage them to reinvest in the tourism, culture and entertainment sector, and to attract and recruit new talent, particularly from the next generation. |
Increased trust and accountability to employees (with technology or non-technology tools) that are more agile and flexible for records management, change management, and access to information. Alternative solutions to the temporary shortage of manpower to increase productivity and efficiency: employer branding, retention, pooling, optimization, automation, robotization. |
| Training and skills development planning tools to help employers and managers better manage the unexpected and their teams in times of crisis (doing more with fewer resources). |
| Refresher training for the use of new data and technologies integrated in the company (database management tools, internal communication tools or by video-conferences, etc.) |
| Training to support reception facilities located in remote areas, in order to better plan their capacity and reception experience. |
| Solutions for loyalty (new methods and offers), corporate engagement, discovery of destinations outside Quebec and the development of local offers to stimulate demand. |
| Original ways to promote more remote areas. |
| Defining or redefining the values of a destination and matching the promotion with them, to generate demand among targeted visitors who share similar values, for a more harmonious destination. |
| Integrate a good balance between tools, means of promotion and direct marketing aimed at local customers, while maintaining the interest of foreign markets and media. |
| Capture expectations, irritants and "best practices" to better represent diversity, ensure universal accessibility and meet the needs of specific clienteles: local, LGBTQ+, multilingualism, multiculturalism, people with reduced physical abilities, etc. and development of offers (online and on-site) related to specific themes or market niches (e.g. e-sports, cycling, hunting and fishing, golf, wildlife observation, religious heritage, etc.). |
| Rebuild trust for the destination by communicating the health and safety measures put in place, in collaboration with destinations (cities, associations, government, etc.). |
| Ways to give a voice to residents of local destinations to reinforce and communicate to visitors the image of a harmonious destination. |
| Intensification and improvement of ecological and sustainable practices, to mitigate the environmental impact at destination and preserve tangible and intangible heritage (e.g. gastronomy, fauna and flora icons). |
| Role of visitors in generating an impact on the community and the host place, from a perspective of sustainable tourism and social and environmental responsibility. |
| Integration of clean technologies and awareness and good sustainable and waste-free practices, with the increase in interest in nature and outdoor destinations. |
| Increased access to the purchase of local products and services, entertainment offers for the visitor for an active participation in the preservation of the territory's riches and generate a positive impact on the community. Enhancement of the cultural character, identity and values of the Québec destination. |
| Involvement of residents of local destinations at the heart of the activities to use their leverage as ambassadors and thus establish a harmonious relationship between visitors and citizens. |
| Reuse of existing technologies (e.g., QR codes, geolocation tools, etc.) or facilities, and reduction of the impact caused by the increase in digital use (e.g., good data and email management to reduce server overuse). |
| Sustainable development plan, social involvement, eco-design, reduction or compensation of greenhouse gas emissions. |
Tourism in Montreal and Quebec is a real economic driver. However, the industry's lag in terms of innovation has been demonstrated in several studies, including by the Transat Chair in Tourism at ESG UQAM.
In the spring of 2015, a delegation from UQAM's School of Management (ESG UQAM), the City of Montréal and Tourisme Montréal travelled to Paris to meet with the Welcome City Lab team, a program that incubates innovation in tourism.
The idea was then born to collaborate on the creation of a similar initiative in Quebec.
The MT Lab was set up in 2016 by the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and its School of Management (ESG UQAM), and thanks to the support of Tourisme Montréal, the project was able to see the light of day. The financial participation of the City of Montréal and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Land Occupancy made it possible to develop the premises in the heart of the Quartier des spectacles. It opened its doors in 2017 with its first cohort of 8 startups.
Today, it accelerates the growth of more than 75 innovative companies with high potential each year through a variety of programs. MT Lab is a good example of a public-private partnership, with the support of its major industry partners and all three levels of government.
