Quebec's push for more multimedia companies pays off

Quebec's aggressive courtship of digital industries has gained it an international reputation for multimedia works andmade Montreal ahotbedfor innovative thinkers.

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The commerce and creativity conference, C2 Montreal, brought 5,000 innovators together from around the world last week to share ideas and expand their knowledgebase.

Montreal's creative pedigree makes it a perfect host city for global innovators to share their dream-like visions of future products.

"Of course we have Cirque du Soleil, renowned the world over, and gaming developers, but what we don't realize is that this DNA is exceptional," Richard St-Pierre, president of C2 Montreal told CBC reporter Ainslie MacLellan.

Jean-Constant Guigue, an entrepreneur from France attending the conference, said Montreal is the land of opportunity and cheaper than starting a business in the U.S.

He's right on the money. Operating costs in Quebec are about 17 per cent lower than in Europe and nearly 28 per cent lower than in the U.S., according to a guide comparinginternational business hubs.

"The people recognize if you do something well and you just grow really quickly,"Guiguesaid.

Lecturer Fionn Dobbin from the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga said he wanted to attend the conference because itreflects his teaching style.

"It works on creative confidence, collaboration and on the playful mind," he said.

Quebec invests

Quebec has been dishing outincentives to the province's multimedia industries for years.

It has helped make Montreal the world's fifth-largest video game centre, according to Invest Quebec.

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Some measures the province has taken include offering multimedia companies a tax credit which covers up to 37.5 per cent of labour costs.

Local companies, global recognition

Mile End's Ubisoft boasts the blockbuster video game franchiseAssassin's Creed as one of its creations. Itis currently being turned into a film starring Michael Fassbender set for a Dec. 2016 release.

Game of Thrones fans can thank local visual effects company RodeoFX for bringing the show's city of Meereen to life, along with a virtual army.

And Montreal's Moment Factory brought a much buzzed about interactive andmultimedia experience to Madonna's Super BowlXLVI halftime show.