To be eligible for designation as an innovation zone, an applicant must submit all the required documents to the Minister of Economy and Innovation. Whether the applicant is an organization, a group of organizations and businesses, or a company, it must demonstrate the commitment of public and private sector stakeholders to the project, as well as determine the governance structure, implementation, monitoring and reporting mechanisms for the creation and management of the innovation zone.

Eligible projects must then meet six eliminatory success criteria (evaluation grid 1), then satisfy three selection criteria (evaluation grid 2), demonstrating how their project meets each of them.

The success criteria (evaluation grid 1) are as follows:

Industrial

• The project is based on more than one economic sector, including a growing and innovative one, in which the region can acquire sustainable comparative advantages, on a national or international scale, catering to a variety of customer groups.

• The project brings together a critical mass of innovative companies of all sizes, from SMEs to multinationals.

Entrepreneurial

• The project will host startups and pre-commercialization companies.

• The project includes entrepreneurial spaces for co-creation and manufacturing.

• The project provides for both the availability and use of venture and development capital, as well as support for the commercialization of innovation.

Knowledge

• The project includes research or educational institutions as stakeholders.

• The project proposes measures to develop and attract skilled labor.

Connected

• The project includes modal infrastructure to facilitate the mobility of people and goods.

• The project ensures access to high-speed Internet services in the targeted territory.

• The project relies on the presence of infrastructures such as technology and industrial parks, industrial port zones and logistics hubs.

Collaborative

• The project includes tools and mechanisms to facilitate collaboration and the sharing of strategic information between stakeholders.

• The project provides a structure and socio-cultural activities that encourage networking and collaboration between stakeholders.

• The project includes mechanisms and tools to facilitate collaboration within and outside the zone.

Sustainable

• The project relies on an urban, economic, and social development plan with a view to sustainable development, shared by all stakeholders.

• The project aims to develop social innovations and create diversified living environments conducive to quality of life and personal well-being.

The success criteria (evaluation grid 2) are as follows:

Project quality

• The project presents a vision for the development of an innovation zone that is clear, coherent, and complementary to existing realities and initiatives in the area.

• The project includes a development plan that is sufficiently detailed and precise to indicate the major stages in its realization.

• The project depicts the target territory on a map with sufficient details to reflect the area’s development vision and to distinguish major projects and the boundaries of the territory in question.

• The project relies on private investment at various stages of completion. It also identifies the main public investments required, over a timeframe of more or less five years.

• The project mentions the main stakeholders, their responsibilities, contributions, and commitments, as well as their interests and expectations.

Project relevance (ability to address key issues and objectives)

• The project specifies the means and operational mechanisms that will increase the transition from idea to market, attract private and foreign investments, and promote clean, sustainable growth.

• The project has strong potential to improve socio-economic and environmental performance, as well as the quality of life of Quebecers, and can demonstrate its specific benefits in a precise and realistic manner, notably in the following areas:

• • the productivity of companies in the regional or national ecosystem;

• • the creation of innovative companies in leading-edge sectors or offering high value-added products and services;

• • export potential for products and services;

• • attracting private investment from Quebec and abroad;

• • attracting talent from Quebec and abroad.

Governance and project continuity

• The project relies on representative and optimal governance to ensure the zone’s continuity over time.

• • It calls for the creation of an organizational structure dedicated to the development and management of the project. This organizational structure must include on its board of directors, for example, municipal authorities, representatives of production and valorization organizations or establishments, or representatives of social organizations. A government representative must be invited as an observer.

• • It correctly defines the proposed approach and mechanisms for creating and managing the zone, as well as for monitoring and accountability to ministerial authorities.