Strengthening alliances in Canada

This past week, we were invited to travel to Montreal and Quebec to participate in a tourism innovation mission organized by the MT Lab ecosystem, along with other international ecosystems from Las Vegas and France. During the trip, we were part of the Catalan delegation together with Airlingo, a Cluster member company selected by Canada, as well as the Catalan Tourist Board (Agència Catalana de Turisme) and ACCIÓ.

During the mission, we had the opportunity to get a first-hand look at one of the most active tourism innovation ecosystems in North America. Over several days, we visited key startup support organizations, discovered innovative local projects, and participated in open innovation sessions with local and international players from the tourism and technology sectors.

In Montreal, we dove into the ecosystem promoted by MT Lab, a leading hub dedicated to driving tourism innovation through collaboration between startups, companies, and institutions. During the visit, we also learned about initiatives such as Ax.c, which specializes in supporting and managing the growth of Canadian startups with international potential.

The city of Quebec was the setting for Les Grands Remous, a flagship event for tourism innovation in Canada that brings together professionals, startups, institutions, and industry experts to reflect on the future of tourism. In this edition, Catalonia participated as a guest destination, sharing similar challenges with Quebec such as the balance between tourist appeal and quality of life, growth and sustainability, or local identity and international influence.

In this context, the Tech Tourism Cluster led a discussion group where we shared the evolution of the Cluster and the projects we are promoting, while debating the main challenges of the global traveltech sector with attendees. At the same time, Airlingo featured a demonstration booth, presenting its AI-based solution designed to transform training within the hospitality sector.

Our participation in this mission represents the starting point of a collaboration that we aim to maintain in the long term, with the goal of connecting the innovation ecosystems of Catalonia and Quebec, exploring synergies, and generating new international collaboration opportunities for our members. 🚀