28 May 2013

PRESS RELEASE – Today, Sherbrooke is welcoming major investors and clients from across Québec to Sherbrooke Innopole’s second Cleantech Rendez-vous (Rendez-vous des technologies propres). Mihai Rasidescu, currently president of Tecplus Capital and formerly executive vice president of Product Development and Manufacturing Strategy at BRP and president and chair of the board of the Centre de technologies avancées (CTA for advanced technology centre) BRP/UdeS, is the honorary chair of this unique event, which will also be attended by Sherbrooke mayor Bernard Sévigny and local green leaders, who are meeting with the major investors and clients in order to stimulate the creation of partnerships and promote these businesses across the province.

“Some of the businesses that will be at the event are young SMEs and even pre-market projects,” explained Chloé Legris, director of Business Development, Cleantech, at Sherbrooke Innopole, “while others are established businesses that have decided to convert all or some of their products into more sustainable and environmentally-friendly solutions. Sherbrooke Innopole creates events such as this one so that companies are not only able to promote their innovative technologies, products, and services, but can also boost their business opportunities as a result.”

The businesses selected for this year’s event are Dettson, Sigma Foam, Terraquavie, Ressac, Sherbrooke OEM, Novacab, Ledtech, and leprohon. In addition, the Cégep de Sherbrooke will present innovative technologies that benefit developing countries. Each participating organization has an opportunity to introduce itself in a short presentation and then take part in a networking period.

There are many tangible benefits from participating in this event. E2Metrix, a business that officially launched its commercial operations this morning (see press release), also attended last year’s summit, along with Ecotierra, which recently opened its office (see press release). “I discovered Ecotierra at last year’s Cleantech Summit,” explained Jean Lussier, director of the Buildings and Grounds Department at the Cégep de Sherbrooke. “We then became the world’s first certified carbon-neutral institution and hope to continue our commitment. This is how we became the top buyer of fair carbon credits from this young business.” Brio, whose first intelligent, ecological car wash opened to great fanfare last Friday, is also one of the businesses that participated in the 2012 summit.

“I am very proud to see this event take place for the second consecutive year, because it brings together people who have a forward-looking vision, just like the vision of our city’s economic development that the Sherbrooke Innopole team has had for the last four years,” stated Pierre Bélanger, director general of Sherbrooke Innopole. “After all, it’s really about economics. Sustainable development and protecting the environment are vital to the future of our planet, but when we talk about clean technologies, we are also talking about projects and businesses that create jobs and wealth. There are currently around 100 businesses and over 2,700 individuals working right in this sector in Sherbrooke,” he added.

The 2^nd Cleantech Rendez-vous was made possible with the assistance of many partners, such as the Centre of Excellence in Energy Efficiency (C3E), Cycle Capital Management, Desjardins Innovatech, CorpoSana Capital, the Cégep de Sherbrooke, and the CEIM.