UQAM launches incubator for tourism, culture and other retail service industries

The Univ of Quebec at Montreal’s School of Management has launched MT Lab, North America’s first incubator dedicated to the tourism, transport, festival, culture, hotel, restaurant and entertainment sectors. Established in conjunction with the City of Montreal and Tourisme Montréal, MT Lab is supported by a $200,000 grant from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Land Occupancy. The initial cohort of eight to ten start-ups will develop technologies in fields such as digital technology, artificial intelligence, virtual/augmented reality, news services, linked objects and usage innovation. The incubator is part of a larger strategy to boost the innovative capacity of Montreal and attract young entrepreneurs to the city. The incubator came about in part through Montreal’s partnership with Paris’s tourism incubator, Welcome City Lab, and aims to diversify and enhance the quality of the city’s tourism offerings.