Reflections on a visit to familiar places that have become foreign

From late April to mid-June, I worked from my home country, France. In addition to allowing me to be close to my French family and friends, this opportunity to do my work main remotely allowed me to draw inspiration from what is happening elsewhere and confirmed that I still love Montreal just as much.

Between Lille, Brittany, and Ghent, my stay in foreign lands was initially a challenge in terms of organizing my work. To avoid juggling the time difference between Eastern Daylight Time and European time, I decided to stick to Montreal time.

This adaptation to teleworking at atypical European hours did not disrupt my colleagues, although it did disrupt my family and friends, who saw me working late into the evening. I also had to reorganize my social activities in France so that they took place in the morning rather than in the evening, at least from Monday to Thursday.

Fortunately, while I was in Lille for two weeks, I was very happy to be able to rely on a coworking facility accessible 24 hours a day at Euratechnologies. It was a real bonus and also allowed me to enjoy a few festive evenings after work.

Speaking of Euratechnologies, or Euratech for those in the know, I took advantage of my time in France to explore how other local startup ecosystems work.

In Lille, the phenomenal success of retail giants, mostly driven by the Mulliez family and their innovative vision (for example, Decathlon and Leroy Merlin, to name but a few), has enabled the growth of a significant startup ecosystem.

This visit, along with the conversations I had with people working at Euratech, reminded me of the need for collaboration between different players to ensure the optimal functioning of an ecosystem, but also of the need to be open to complementary ecosystems, as is the case between Paris and Lille.

One of the major differences I noticed concerns private funding, which is behind the creation of these spaces that are so important foracceleration . Without the Mulliez family, the Lille ecosystem would not have taken off to such an extent.

Another significant benefit of being abroad is that it provides an excuse to facilitate meetings. By introducing myself as a newcomer to France, in addition to my new role as unit manager, introductions were easier. And even then, after so many years in Montreal, my attempts at chance encounters ran into two major issues in terms of cultural differences between France and Quebec.

The first difference concerns how people meet. In France, it still mainly happens in person. Most of the people I spoke to automatically suggested meeting up in person rather than virtually. Yes, the country is smaller than Canada, but, being based in Brittany, I had to turn down several meetings that had been planned in Paris.

The second major difference concerns the difficulty of approaching someone, especially in management positions, in France without an initial introduction. In this regard, I greatly missed Montreal, where the leaders of major organizations, even Montreal-based multinationals, are easier to approach.

I also took the opportunity to participate in an international event, the World Incubation Summit organized by UBI Global. This event, which would have required a flight from Montreal to Belgium to attend, only required a simple high-speed train ticket to get there.

In addition to the very interesting program, what struck me about this experience of attending an event was the importance of taking care of foreign participants to help them feel comfortable, thereby transforming this experience into a truly enriching cultural and professional one.

Finally, the biggest reminder that this trip gave me is that human interactions are what matter most in the work we do. Whether it's treating our colleagues with respect, opening ourselves up to new connections, or organizing events that facilitate interactions, it's still people who are at the heart of our work.

Also, this trip abroad allowed me to reconnect with friends and family members I hadn't seen in too long. And that feels good.

– Tiamy, Unit Manager —acceleration Support