Discovery Program

Accelerate your business opportunities!

The MT Lab Discovery Program is a short one-month support, personalized to your level of development.

Quickly validate your suitability for the tourism, culture and entertainment sector, and let us open you up to multiple business opportunities.

Next departure: In the fall

Who is it for?

Business developers (founders, CEOs, managers) of startups with a first proof of concept or an innovative solution ready for commercialization, looking for a rapid validation of suitability in the tourism, culture and entertainment market.

The duration of the course?

The Discovery Program lasts one month: 3 weeks of workshops with 2 workshops of 2 hours per week, and an individual diagnostic meeting with our Entrepreneur in residence. Allow about 1 additional hour for the preparation of deliverables after each workshop.

100% virtual

The entire program takes place online via the Zoom platform. All workshops will be held in French.

The objectives of the programme

1

Access the latest insider industry information from experts and influencers

2

Make your solution visible to the 12 major partners of the MT Lab, who could potentially open you up to future business opportunities

The benefits of the Discovery Program

Identify the concrete business opportunities that your solution can address in tourism, culture and entertainment, and quickly adapt your value proposition and business model to adequately meet the needs of the industry.

Insider information on the tourism, culture and entertainment market by industry experts.
Exploration of co-development opportunities with MT Lab's major partners and other industry players.
Adaptation of your message and your value proposition through the use of a one-pager, in order to specifically address industry partners.
Alignment of your business model to strengthen the adequacy of your solution to the industry's innovation needs, particularly in the context of post-COVID recovery.
Directing your search for funding towards the most relevant programs to de-risk the implementation of your solution during co-development projects in tourism, culture and entertainment.

At the end of the program, you will have delivered a one-pager and developed a relevant approach adapted to the business culture of the major players in tourism, culture and entertainment, which will allow you to generate more targeted and promising opportunities for your company.

December 12, 2022

Registration opens

January 22, 2023

End of registrations

March 2023

Launch of the cohort

Innovation challenges in the tourism, culture and entertainment industry

Do you think you have an innovative solution that could adequately address one or more of these 8 innovation challenges in the tourism, culture and entertainment industry? Participate in the Discovery Program and get visibility with our partners for potential business opportunities.

1

DATA

2

RECEPTION

3

MOBILITY

4

EXPERIMENT

5

IMPACT

6

HUMAN RESOURCES

7

PROCESS

8

PROMOTION

DATA

Measurement of the visitor's behavior and emotion to validate their level of feeling and engagement, and solutions to increase their level of trust, satisfaction and the likelihood of recommending the offer.
Capture, structure, analysis and segmentation of data on a place or destination to make more targeted and revenue-generating strategic decisions (e.g. recovery of local and international demand, management of passenger flows).
Help in understanding hospitality needs, and algorithms to offer more flexibility in making decisions and bookings for the visitor once at their destination and so that they can easily make changes to their services or upsell them during the trip.
Visitor qualification, profiling, data modelling and categorization of visitors to better personalize the reception and experiences offered to them as well as to estimate the elasticity of the historical portfolio for flash or dynamic promotions.
Traceability and qualification of the visitor throughout their journey, thanks to an omnichannel strategy (physical and digital) allowing direct and personalized engagement as well as a better method of attributing actors and their messages to the various points of contact.
Solutions for aggregating and centralizing information, so that the various players in tourism, culture and entertainment in the territory (region, province or country) can better share information, coordinate and harmonize visitor service in a consistent manner, in compliance with the highest standards of information security and privacy protection.
Automation tools to maintain engagement, accelerate and facilitate business and competitive intelligence, detect trends and opportunities in the market (e.g. keyword reading), gain better business intelligence, maximize social time (cultural holidays and holidays) and detect new market signals that were not traditionally used pre-covid to predict demand.
Acceleration of data processing time to enhance real-time interaction capabilities (e.g. the use of 5G with bandwidth optimization and latency reduction), especially for the integration of targeted technologies such as IoT, virtual or augmented reality or voice recognition.

RECEPTION

Adapt the customer experience at destination (e.g. airport or approach to the flight) to the new post-COVID standards with a contactless experience and/or biometric interface.
Reduce visitors' feelings of stress and apprehension through the integration of calming or playful facilities or experiences, especially during waiting times.
Technological or non-technological adaptations that ensure the safety and health of visitors (e.g. contactless experience), and make it easy to communicate information related to the measures put in place, the standards to be respected and the possibilities of assistance.
Adaptation and facilitation of reception logistics according to weather conditions, and more particularly during the winter season specific to Quebec, and tourist seasons (high and low) and devices to interact with the customer in the event of cancellation, schedule change and/or weather alert.
services or products that empower the visitor at the destination to limit interactions, through personalized experience and itinerary recommendation tools and methods to identify their short- and long-term travel interests.
Facilitate the adapted reception (online and on-site) for increasingly segmented clienteles: in emerging niches (e.g. e-sports, marathon runners, cycling, hunting and fishing, golf, wildlife observation, religious heritage, etc.) and for customers with reduced physical capacity.
Solutions to meet the return to certain primary and sanitary needs, related to hygiene (e.g. hand washing, bathroom maintenance, etc.) while optimizing operational processes.
Increasing reception capacity (e.g., entry points and controlling access rights) and managing visitor flows, while respecting health measures, particularly in remote or natural locations, which are seeing an increase in traffic post-pandemic.
Reconcile the processes of welcoming a mixed clientele: local and international.

MOBILITY

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.
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.
Use reception sites in more remote regions and in nature, in order to diagnose occupancy rates and capacities in real time and predictive analysis of the opportunities for forfeiture and the risks of overcapacity of traffic for each season (transfer from cities to nature and regions).

EXPERIMENT

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.
einvention 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.).
To think about and equip places and destinations requiring a revitalization of the offer to improve or evolve the existing offer (e.g. hotel rooms, meeting and convention venues, sports centre, 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.

PROCESS

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.
Otools to support decision-making and increase own-source revenues.
Collaborative tools that optimize internal communication and 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.
Alternative solutions to the temporary shortage of manpower to increase productivity and efficiency: employer branding, retention, pooling, optimization, automation, robotization.
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.
Increasing trust and accountability to employees (with technological or non-technological tools) more agile and flexible for records management, change management and access to information.
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.

PROMOTION

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.
To 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.
To identify 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 to develop offers (online and on-site) related to specific themes or market niches (e.g. e-sport, cycling, etc.). hunting and fishing, golf, wildlife viewing, 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.

IMPACT

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.

*Recorded before the COVID-19 crisis.

Our major partners

Each year, our 12 major partners, industry leaders, identify priority innovation themes, which allow you to orient your business solutions in response to these concrete needs.

Apply to the Discovery Program

Complete and submit the Program application form (by clicking on the link below).
10 to 15 startups that best meet the industry's innovation needs will be chosen from the applicants.
Selected participants will receive the exact program schedule by email.

Next Program departure: In the fall