Lab-École, which Létourneau describes as “a modern way of teaching kids.” Ongoing construction at the Université du Québec à Rimouski include a Faculty of Medicine and a Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.“So that’s two new fields that are opening in our small university,” he says. INNOVATION AND THE BLUE ECONOMY Rimouski’s economic strategy is deeply focused on the blue economy. “It’s all the economic sectors related to the use of the ocean, both with the live resources, where we’re talking about blue bio economy, but also the blue energy and marine renewable energies, all the marine transportation, coastal tourism,” explains Marina Soubirou, Executive Director of Technopole Maritime du Quebec (TMQ). “It’s a really growing sector in Canada, and they envision five times the growth, to reach $220 billion throughout Canada in 2035. Rimouski has a very special place in this because it has been a visionary community.” The city has established itself as a global leader in this field, thanks in part to the Technopole Maritime du Québec. Founded in 2000, TMQ was the first organization in the province dedicated to fostering sustainable development and innovation in the blue economy sector. “At that time, stakeholders in Rimouski had the vision to see that this was a growing sector. And their vision was right, and now we have based in Rimouski, the cluster for the province of Quebec, in the blue economy,” Soubirou relays. Several state-of-the-art research institutions are located in the community, including the Marine Science Institute at the Université du Québec à Rimouski, the Marine Biotechnologies Research Center, the Maurice Lamontagne Institute, one of the largest research centers for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and CIDCO, a research center focused on Innovation Maritime dedicated to maritime transportation. These facilities have attracted a growing number of companies specializing in blue 199 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 05, ISSUE 09 RIMOUSKI, QC
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