17 December 2021

PRESS RELEASE – Sherbrooke Innopole is pleased to announce a partnership agreement with Québec’s aluminum research and development centre, the Centre québécois de recherche et de développement de l’aluminium (CQRDA), to benefit aluminum transformation companies in the Sherbrooke area.

In concrete terms, thanks to Sherbrooke Innopole’s financial contribution, these companies will have access to CQRDA’s specialized services, particularly in the areas of technological consultancy and the search for funding for their R&D activities.

Support will be provided in collaboration with Sherbrooke Innopole. Jean-Marie LeVasseur, Advisor, Business Services in the Advanced Manufacturing key sector, is also a development officer for the CQRDA in the Estrie region.

Gilles Déry, CEO of the Centre québécois de recherche et de développement de l’aluminium, Sylvain Durocher, Executive Director of Sherbrooke Innopole, Jean-Marie LeVasseur, Advisor, Business Services in the Advanced Manufacturing key sector at Sherbrooke Innopole

For over 25 years, the CQRDA has been striving to accelerate innovations in the aluminum ecosystem, notably by promoting alliances among educational institutions, research centres, and companies through calls for projects, financial assistance, and technical support.

CQRDA’s services are available to any company that is, for example:

• Using aluminum in the manufacture of its products;
• Planning to explore the potential of incorporating aluminum in the manufacture of its products;
• Seeking to optimize its aluminum transformation process;
• Using or planning to use aluminum in the packaging of its product

“Sherbrooke Innopole has a history of collaborating with the CQRDA. This new partnership consolidates this cooperation and enables our industrial companies to benefit from highly developed expertise, to generate opportunities for collaboration and innovation conducive to their growth, and hence to strengthen our local economy. Our agreement is also perfectly aligned with the province’s 2021-2024 aluminum development strategy (Stratégie québécoise de développement de l’aluminium or SQDA) recently announced by the Québec government, which is based on innovation, a 4.0 shift, and Québec’s green aluminum. In this regard, CQRDA’s advisory services will assist Sherbrooke companies in positioning themselves to make the most of this situation,” emphasized Sylvain Durocher, Executive Director of Sherbrooke Innopole.

According to CQRDA CEO, Gilles Déry, “Sherbrooke’s aluminum sector has always been vigorous and innovative. The CQRDA is thus very happy to enhance this natural collaboration with Sherbrooke Innopole. I am convinced that it will play a positive role in stimulating promising projects for our industry and in developing Quebec’s key sector of aluminum.”

About CQRDA
The mission of the CQRDA is to assist and support companies and research centres that generate innovations through and for the use of aluminum in collaborative R&D projects contributing to Quebec’s development (cqrda.ca).

About Sherbrooke Innopole
Sherbrooke Innopole is the paramunicipal economic development organization for the industrial and high-value-added services sector. Its mission is to accelerate the development of companies from the five key sectors – Advanced Manufacturing, Cleantech, Information Technologies, Life Sciences and Micro-Nanotechnologies – and ensure that Sherbrooke has an attractive and innovative business environment. It is mainly financed by the City of Sherbrooke through the Bureau de coordination du développement économique. 

Sources: Sherbrooke Innopole and CQRDA