A start-up incubator for the St. Lawrence River

The Société de promotion économique de Rimouski (SOPER), UQAR, Technopole maritime du Québec and several other partners are launching the first startup incubator in Eastern Quebec called Flots. Dedicated to the rapid rise of startups in the blue economy sector, it is linked to a unique cluster of research and innovation centres as well as companies that have been established for more than 20 years, most notably in the Rimouski area.

One of the initiatives proposes to support six emerging companies with strong growth potential that are driven to preserve the oceans. These companies will benefit from specialized mentoring, high-level consulting services and financial investment – overall support worth at least $75,000.

Two companies have already been selected:

• Chasse-Marée aims to promote the diversity of Quebec’s seafood products and responsible fishing by unifying the positive values of the fishing industry and consumers.
• M2 Ocean is using artificial intelligence to revolutionize marine cartography and navigation through the deployment of intelligent navigation buoys.

Flots aims to build on the innovation ecosystem that already exists for Quebec’s blue economy  to ensure a continuity of coherent support for emerging projects. Flots is also a concrete way to implement key elements of the province’s Avantage Saint-Laurent strategy focusing on the development of an efficient navigation system that respects ecosystems, notably through an intelligent maritime corridor.

Image from Flots website