Montréal and Bromont, Thursday, April 30, 2026 — Today, Polytechnique Montréal and the Centre de collaboration MiQro Innovation (C2MI) announce the signing of a research and development partnership agreement aimed at strengthening Québec’s and Canada’s innovation ecosystem in advanced technologies. This structuring collaboration is part of the activities of the Lassonde Deeptech Institute and aims to accelerate the transition from scientific discoveries to concrete industrial applications. 

Founded in 2025 following a major $50‑million donation from the Pierre Lassonde Family Foundation to Polytechnique Montréal, the Lassonde Deeptech Institute has a mandate to catalyze high‑impact deeptech innovations by fostering closer connections between fundamental research and real‑world applications. It also aims to train and mobilize talent capable of addressing the major technological challenges of tomorrow. 

Under the agreement signed today, the Lassonde Deeptech Institute, Polytechnique Montréal and C2MI will combine their expertise around targeted projects to initiate the development and prototyping of cutting‑edge innovations in strategic areas such as semiconductors, photonics, quantum technologies, imaging technologies, optical communications, and sustainable manufacturing. The partnership will better align university research capabilities with C2MI’s unique manufacturing and scale‑up infrastructures, supporting the emergence of high‑impact technological solutions for critical sectors including health, defence, advanced manufacturing, and emerging strategic technologies. 

The agreement builds on Québec’s innovation zones, including the Technum hub, to strengthen a strategic innovation corridor in microelectronics, photonics, and advanced technologies that supports Québec’s economic development. It also supports Canadian priorities related to technological sovereignty, the security of critical supply chains, and the strengthening of national innovation capacity—issues of particular interest to the federal government, notably within the Industry and National Defence sectors, and particularly in the development of dual‑use technologies. 

“C2MI plays a strategic role within the Québec and the Canadian innovation ecosystem. This agreement allows us to build concrete synergies between leading university research and unique scale‑up capabilities in order to accelerate the deployment of deeptech technologies with significant societal, technological and strategic impact. Through the Lassonde Deeptech Institute, we aim to structure a true innovation continuum capable of addressing major industrial and societal challenges,” said Oussama Moutanabbir, Professor at Polytechnique Montréal and Scientific Director of the Lassonde Institute for Disruptive Innovation. 

“C2MI seeks to mobilize the full range of expertise within Québec’s ecosystem in order to act upstream in technological development and to begin preparing today the solutions that tomorrow’s companies will need. By strengthening its collaborations, particularly with Polytechnique Montréal, C2MI is reinforcing the bridges between research and industry, with the objective of creating sustainable value for the economy and society,” stated Marie‑Josée Turgeon, President and Chief Executive Officer of C2MI.

ABOUT POLYTECHNIQUE MONTRÉAL 

Founded in 1873, Polytechnique Montréal is one of Canada’s leading engineering education and research institutions and Québec’s benchmark for research activities in engineering. Internationally recognized, the university brings together more than 13,000 students and nearly 300 faculty members. Building on more than 141 research units, Polytechnique Montréal actively collaborates with over 225 partners around the world.
Polytechnique Montréal offers more than 120 academic programmes across 12 engineering disciplines and stands out for its ability to turn ideas into action and tangible benefits for society, driven by the conviction that scientific and technological innovation must contribute to collective well‑being. 

ABOUT C2MI 

The Centre de collaboration MiQro Innovation (C2MI) is a leading research and development organization dedicated to accelerating the commercialization of components essential to digital technologies—an enabling, cross‑cutting driver across all sectors of the economy and a critical contributor to value creation.
Supported by world‑class infrastructure in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) manufacturing, advanced semiconductor assembly, quantum technologies, and printed electronics, C2MI plays a central role across industrial sectors that rely on components essential to the deployment and use of digital technologies. C2MI also stands out as a unique collaboration model, where strong synergies between industrial and academic partners are necessary—indeed essential—to the development of next‑generation products. Visit: www.c2mi.ca 

ABOUT THE LASSONDE DEEPTECH INSTITUTE 

Founded in 2025 following a landmark $50‑million donation from the Pierre Lassonde Family Foundation to Polytechnique Montréal, the Lassonde Deeptech Institute promotes interdisciplinarity and a strong tolerance for risk in order to enable a new generation of researchers to develop a culture of radical, high‑impact and sustainable innovation. The Institute also aims to train and mobilize talent capable of tackling the major technological challenges of tomorrow. 
Visit: https://www.polymtl.ca/institut-lassonde/en/