The first PERSÉIS monitoring cells are being deployed

The Mouvement des accélérateurs d’innovation du Québec (MAIN) and the Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ) are proud to announce the launch of the PERSÉIS monitoring cells initiative.

These monitoring units rely on collaboration between members of the research community and support professionals on a common priority issue. 

It is also an opportunity to integrate and combine research methodologies with those of incubators and accelerators to produce rich, field-focused status reports. These units are intended to be forums for exchange, where participants can get to know each other, inspire each other, and, where appropriate, collectively identify gaps in knowledge that need to be filled through research projects.

To kick off this first cycle of collaboration, three monitoring units will focus on key topics for further exploration:

1. impact assessment
2. the mental health of entrepreneurs
3. intellectual property in innovative companies

The impact measurement monitoring unit will focus in particular on the measurement strategies used around the world to highlight the social, environmental, or economic impact of startups, both as a marketing lever in their market and with potential investors. It will also look at indicators that can be used to promote the integration of this impact in the support provided to startups by funders. The aim of this approach is to identify common frameworks and tools that would be beneficial and adaptable to the Quebec context.

Here are the members who will discuss this topic:

• Arman Aksoy, Lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal, and Research Associate, HEC Montréal
• Julien Bergeron, Director of the Sustainable Tourism Innovation Hub, MT Lab
• Sylvain Carle, Director, CIVIC
• Maria do Carmo Correia de Lima, Postdoctoral Fellow, CRIUGM—Montreal Geriatric University Institute Research Center
• Julie Crevier, Knowledge Transfer Advisor , College Center for Expertise in Social Innovation (CERESO)
• Laure Painchaud, Business Intelligence Consultant, Esplanade Québec

The monitoring unit dedicated to entrepreneurs' mental health will address an increasingly crucial issue in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, namely the challenges (e.g., stress, burnout, culture of failure) faced by entrepreneurs. Key findings in the literature and documented best practices for support will be identified in order to bring about a paradigm shift and break existing taboos.

Here are the members who will discuss this topic:

• Mariève Beauchemin, Director of Incubation andacceleration, Indie Asylum
• Louis-Pierre Charest, Program Director, Centech
• Simon Coulombe, Associate Professor and Holder of the Relief Research Chair in Mental Health, Self-Management, and Work, Laval University
• Florence Guiliani, assistant professor and head of the entrepreneurship concentration in the B.A.A. program at the University of Sherbrooke
• Marie-Claude Lemire, Executive Director, Innovation & Millennium Center, University of Montreal
• Étienne St-Jean, Full Professor and Director, Institute for Research on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières

The intellectual property monitoring unit will explore existing literature on the diversity of intellectual property protection and use models. It will also examine the challenges faced by start-ups in identifying and protecting their innovations and the impact of their decisions on their marketing and growth strategies.

Here are the members who will discuss this topic:

• Marc Banik, Associate Professor, Management, ESG-UQAM
• Martin Couillard, CLIP Manager, MUHC
• Raphaël Flores, Partnership Development Advisor, IRSST
• Maria G. Macedo, Partnerships and Innovation Support Department, UQAM
• Marc St-Jean, Business Development Advisor, Healthy Brains Healthy Lives Program | McGill University

In addition to the active core members of the monitoring cells, several experts will contribute to the progress of the work during the cell cycle by suggesting avenues for exploration or additional resources to consider.

• Sarah Abarro, Incubation Program Coordinator, Maison de l’innovation sociale (House of Social Innovation)
• Audrey Béganton, Project and Partnership Manager, 2 Degrees
• Catalina Bonilla, Commissioner of Economic Development – Entrepreneurship, City of Montreal
• Coryell Boffy, Senior Director, Society and Culture, Axelys
• Luis Cisneros, Full Professor in the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Co-founder of the Entrepreneurship Hub, HEC Montréal
• Michaël Dubois, Entrepreneurship Coordinator, University of Quebec at Rimouski
• Simon Grenier, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Montreal
• Ghani Kolli, CEO, Credo Impact
• Thierry Lefèvre, coordinator at the Center for Research on Sustainable Materials at Laval University (CERMA)
• Laurence Lejeune, PhD candidate in Science, Technology, and Society, UQAM – CIRST
• More to come!

PERSÉIS is a research-company space dedicated to innovative and scientific entrepreneurship, deployed by MAIN and the FRQ to stimulate research on innovative and scientific entrepreneurship in Quebec.

"PERSEIS was created to support flexible and diversified funding initiatives in order to promote the emergence of research projects and thus stimulate research that is central to the concerns of the innovative and scientific entrepreneurship ecosystem. The monitoring units reinforce this vision by facilitating meetings and dialogue through the mobilization of existing scientific knowledge and science-based decision-making," says Rémi Quirion, Chief Scientist of Quebec.

"With the PERSÉIS monitoring units, we now have a collective and flexible tool for staying abreast of global trends in entrepreneurial support. The wealth of expertise mobilized in each unit will enable us to question our practices and stimulate the emergence of new projects—both in terms of support and research," believes Louis-Félix Binette, Executive Director of MAIN. We are starting with three key themes, but there are so many others where support providers and researchers would benefit from exploring the field together!"