The Quebec ecosystem An industry born from international recognition in aerospace

A legacy of knowledge

A pioneer in the conquest of air and space, Quebec made its mark on the Canadian aerospace industry in the 1920s as the birthplace of bush and commercial aviation.

Today, Quebec’s aerospace production sector benefits from world-class manufacturing facilities equipped with cutting-edge technologies. This not only favors high-quality production, but also sets an agile framework that makes it easier to tailor to the specific requirements of drones, which often require rapid customization and adaptation.

Expertise rooted in aerospace

Quebec's aerospace industry is recognized worldwide for its exceptional capabilities in design, production and innovation.

This industry, with a tradition of excellence and technical know-how, is a strategic economic pillar for Quebec and an exceptional driving force for the dronautics industry. It is characterized by a significant presence of large international companies, as well as a multitude of innovative SMEs, and it contributes to creating a dynamic and competitive ecosystem.

A culture of innovation

Innovation, supported by a solid network of research centers and university collaborations, is a key driver of Quebec's aerospace industry.

Aerospace offers the drone sector access to high-level technical expertise, a skilled workforce, advanced production infrastructure, and a history of experience. These assets are essential to the development of sophisticated drones, making possible the seamless integration of innovative technologies and efficient production processes that meet the highest standards.

Over 75% of Canada’s aerospace research and development is set in the Greater Montreal region.

More than 80% of Quebec’s aerospace production is exported outside Canada.

Within Quebec’s aerospace ecosystemKey data from 2023

5 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)
100+ Quebec dronautic companies
230 stakeholders
1^st place in Quebec manufacturing exports
41 700 jobs
$20.9B in annual sales
(a 16% increase from 2022)

Multispectral mapping — Cartographie multispectrale permettant de récolter des données précises en agriculture.

Quebec AI, an essential development vector for dronautics

Quebec, and more specifically Montreal, is among the most dynamic artificial intelligence ecosystems in the world. All stakeholders work closely together to make AI a lever for economic and social development.

Fueled by the presence of renowned research centers, leading universities and fruitful collaborations, Quebec's AI hub contributes greatly to helping dronautics take off in Quebec. Institutions like MILA (Quebec Institute of Artificial Intelligence), IVADO (Institute for Data Valorization), and the Montreal Computer Research Center (CRIM) play a crucial role in promoting AI research. These centers not only contribute to the theoretical development of AI, but also to its practical application in various sectors, including dronautics.

Significant potential in operational transformation

Demand from primary industries such as hydroelectricity and mining plays a key role in the development and adoption of drone technologies in Quebec. By meeting the specific needs of these industrial giants, the drone sector is not only advancing technologically, but also ensuring that its applications are practical, efficient and directly beneficial for key sectors of the economy here and abroad.

Dronautics companies

The ecosystem brings together players who work as: Manufacturers; operators; training, research and development institute; companies specialized in sensors and data processing.

Considering a broader definition of the Quebec dronautics, there are prime contractors (OEMs), Tier 1 integrators and smaller suppliers (SMEs and startups).

They include development and manufacturing companies, system suppliers, payload development and manufacturing companies (sensors to be integrated), operating companies, as well as companies processing the information collected.

Consult the business directory Business directory

Leading partners

Renowned testing infrastructures

Drone Center of Excellence (CED)

The CED supports companies in the dronautics industry and offers flight zones near the Alma Airport for line-of-sight (VLOS) or beyond line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations for remotely piloted aerial vehicles of all sizes.
Visit the CED website
Qualia

Launched by the CED in 2021, Qualia is the very first Canadian research, development, training and qualification test site for drones. With this project, the CED added several infrastructures in order to reproduce different application scenarios (buildings, electricity pylons, pipelines, railway tracks). It is possible to demonstrate the performance of drones in many applications, including public safety, civil security, agriculture, as well as the mining, forestry, hydrocarbons and energy industries.
Visit Qualia website
CNRC

Located in Montreal, at the Center for Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies, this indoor aerial robotics experimentation laboratory is specially designed to facilitate the development of applications that require drones to come into contact with elevated structures.
Visit the NRC website