Québec at a glance

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Workforce and sector strengths

Highly educated workforce: 17 universities produce 65,000 graduates annually
85% of workers have post-secondary degrees, 22% a university degree
Highly bilingual and multilingual workforce: 40% speak French and English; 13% also speak a third language

Québec ranks among the 10 most important health sciences industrial pools in North America. This is evidenced by the fact that the 10 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world have operations in Québec: Canadian head office, fundamental R&D or manufacturing facilities.
Nearly half of the Canadian biopharmaceutical industry and most of the basic and clinical research activities are concentrated in Québec.
Over 62% of overall Canadian aerospace industry production takes place in Québec.
Montréal is considered one of the major world centres for aeronautics, on the same level as Seattle, Wichita and Toulouse.
Montréal also has one of the highest concentrations of high-tech jobs in North America along with San Francisco, Seattle and Boston.
Clean energy producer supplying electricity to other parts of Canada and the U.S.
R&D spending—2.7% of GDP—is the highest in Canada and higher than the average of the OECD, the G7 and the European Union. Furthermore, Québec’s objective is to invest 3% of GDP in R&D by 2010.
Over 200 specialized university R&D centres; McGill is the Canadian university awarded the most patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Private and public capital to fund investment projects.
Efficient road and rail networks and airport infrastructure.
110 international financial centres.
Montréal Stock Exchange a Canadian hub for financial risk management and a significant partner in specialized markets in North America.
Home of the Canadian Space Agency.