Montréal
Life sciences summary
A thriving life sciences environment
The Greater Montréal Area (GMA) is ranked the 6th largest life sciences and health tech hub in North America. According to Montréal International, the Québec life sciences and health tech sector boasts 56,000+ industry jobs, 650 companies, 50,000+ university students and 16,000+ university graduates in life sciences and STEM-related programs (80% in GMA).
The scientific excellence of Montréal institutions is recognized around the world with major investments having been made in the sector over recent years to help consolidate Montréal’s position as a world-leader in life sciences. Such investments include the development of world-class scientific excellence centres and infrastructures (Technoparc Montréal, Cité de la Biotech, adMare BioInnovations) as well as cutting-edge life sciences and health infrastructures (Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM), McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and CHU Sainte-Justine, mother and child university hospital centre).
With access to financing, an entrepreneurial mindset and a recent boom in the sector, life sciences are one of Québec’s most active and innovative industries, further propelled by a global increase in demand resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic in the last few quarters. Montréal’s life sciences and health tech sector has developed an increasingly strong concentration of niche industries, such as artificial intelligence and biopharmaceuticals, as the GMA brings together a critical mass of specialized companies and research institutes, as well as government and funding organizations, who all work in a collaborative environment to foster the development of treatments and technologies.
An industry benefiting from significant support from the Québec government The Québec government is making the sector’s growth a priority, supported by initiatives like the 2017-2027 Québec Life Sciences Strategy. With an initial framework of $205 million over five years, the Québec Life Sciences Strategy focuses on four key objectives: to increase investment in research and innovation in all life sciences, to foster the creation of innovative companies and ensure their growth, to attract new private investment, and to further integrate innovation into health and social services network.
To achieve these objectives, the strategy requires the international positioning of Québec in two niche sectors: precision medicine and big data in the health sector. The end goal is to attract $4 billion in private investment to Québec by 2022, while making the province one of the top five North American life sciences hubs by 2027 as the COVID-19 pandemic set the stage for sustained activity in the sector over the next few years, adjusting as needs grow and demand increases.
Montréal quick stats
56,000+
Québec’s life sciences and health tech sector employs more than 56,000 workers and researchers
80%
The GMA accounts for 80% of Québec’s ecosystem in the life sciences and health tech sector
$329M
VC investments in Québec’s life sciences sector during 2020
3 zones
Downtown Montréal, the West Island and Laval boast the GMA’s highest concentration of companies in the life sciences and health technology sector
$4B
The Québec government’s target for private investment in the life sciences sector by 2022 as part of its 2017-2027 Québec Life Sciences Strategy
Venture capital and investment
The GMA has been the target of strong venture capital funding from various players over the past several years. According to the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA), there has been more than US$2.7 billion in venture capital investments in Montréal between 2018 and 2020. In addition, six of the 10 most active venture capital firms in Canada in 2020 are based in Montréal.
Benefiting from a highly qualified workforce, world-class universities, research centres, commercialization companies, incubators and cutting-edge firms, the life sciences sector is known for its exceptional development potential, propelled by a growing demand fuelled by the pandemic as well as the aging population and unmet medical needs at local, national, and global scales.
According to the latest market overview report of the Québec venture capital and private equity market published by Réseau Capital and CVCA, more than $1 billion of venture capital was invested in Québec in 2020, of which life sciences represented 33% ($329 million in 30 deals). Montréal InVivo also reports that Québec has attracted more than 40% of venture capital investments in the life sciences and health tech sector in Canada in the past two years.
Some notable recent financing deals include:
- AlayaCare raised US$185 million in June 2021 as well as US$37 million in January 2020
- Ventus Therapeutics raised US$100 million in April 2021 and US$60 million in May 2020
- Milestone Pharmaceuticals raised US$82.5 million in October 2018
- Dialogue raised US$30 million in July 2020 (Dialogue went public on March 31, 2021, raising $100 million and resulting in a market value over $1 billion)
Key players in the sector
In addition to Montréal-based firms in the life sciences and health tech sector, many foreign companies have chosen the GMA to expand their operations, wishing to become part of a research network that stands at the cutting edge of advances in the industry, fuelled by innovation and collaboration. The city provides life sciences firms with complementary strengths in niche sectors including artificial intelligence, biopharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical devices, and health tech, fostering business and research collaboration.
Montréal also boasts several governmental and research institutes that interact with biotechnology and drug development companies while ensuring a growing collaboration between academic institutions and companies in life sciences.
Montréal’s attractiveness resides in six distinctive elements: a high concentration and a strong synergy between world-class industry leaders; a strategic and complementary position with the largest life sciences centres on the Canadian east coast; a large and highly qualified workforce; low operating costs (among the lowest in the 20 largest cities in Canada and the United States) and strong government incentives, including a 29% tax credit for scientific research and experimental development; as well as a high number of world-class universities producing new generations of doctors, researchers, high-level engineers and technical support staff.
Leading companies with a presence in the GMA include 3M, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Charles River, GlaxoSmithKline, Medtronic, Merck Canada, Novartis, Pfizer, Philips, Roche, Sanofi, Siemens Healthineers, Zimmer, Biomérieux, Grifols, Jubilant, Servier, Nexelis and Teva Corporation, to name a few.
Montréal is the place to be for foreign companies invested in innovation and collaboration:
Credit: Montréal International
Impact on commercial real estate market
While firms in the life sciences and health tech sector are spread out across the entire GMA, there are three specific sub-sectors that boast a high concentration of companies. Downtown Montréal is home to the regional offices of several large biotech and pharmaceutical companies. In total, more than 60 companies have a presence in the centre of the city.
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada, based in Dorval, signed a 10-year lease to be relocated to Place Gare Viger. Currently under construction, the building will be seven storeys and 145,000 square feet and ready in 2022. Novartis will this way be closer to the CHUM and Montréal’s booming artificial intelligence ecosystem including Mila, the Québec Artificial Intelligence Institute.
Cité de la Biotech’s second phase in Laval, Québec
Credit: Ville de Laval
The West Island of Montréal is home to the highest concentration of life sciences and health tech firms in the GMA, mainly thanks to the presence of Technoparc Montréal, a centre of excellence in aerospace, technological research, IT, life sciences, clean technologies and nanotechnologies that is home to world-class life sciences and biotech corporations. Technoparc aims to foster the emergence of multi-sectoral innovation clusters that are favourable to the development of many sectors, including life sciences and health tech.
While the West Island market has shown historically high availability rates, consistently hovering above 20%, availability in Technoparc has been steadily decreasing over the past four years, dropping from 23.5% at the first quarter of 2017 to 15.7% at the end of the first quarter of 2021, fuelled by the increasing demand for quality laboratory and R&D space and the synergy of the sector. New development activity has also picked up recently with the expansion of the adMare BioInnovations Centre (formerly known as NÉOMED) and the construction of a brand-new 640,000-square-foot facility at 2700 Marie-Curie Avenue to meet the increasing demand for top-tier lab space.
North of the Island of Montréal, Laval is also home to several life sciences and health tech firms, most of which are located in Cité de la Biotech, a biotechnology and life sciences hub that is home to world-renowned firms in the health sciences sector. According to the City of Laval, 110 companies and 5,500 jobs are supported within Cité de la Biotech. Created by a partnership between the City of Laval and the INRS (Institut national de la recherche scientifique), the centre aims to ensure the attraction, development, and growth of health science research and to provide a successful work environment for research, training, and commercial development. As the pandemic has increased an already high demand for development space in the local biotechnology sector, Laval and the INRS announced the launch of the second phase of Cité de la Biotech in April 2021, which will provide up to 1.2 million square feet of additional life and health sciences development over the next several years, while creating more than $1 billion in investment activity and some 7,500 jobs.
Technoparc Montréal
Credit: Technoparc Montréal
