Quebecor and its asterX innovative entrepreneurship unit today announced a partnership with HEC Montréal to help Québec start-ups refine their digital strategies. Quebecor is making a $1 million donation to enable HEC Montréal’s Research Chair in User Experience (UX Chair) to support a hundred entrepreneurs over a 10-year period under the Quebecor asterX Digital Entrepreneurship Program.
 

Testing and improving user experience
The new program will be administered by the UX Chair, which is powered by HEC Montréal’s Tech3Lab. Every year, it will provide around ten local start-ups with support, at no charge, with testing and enhancing the user experience offered by the digital products and/or services they develop and market.
 

Thanks to Quebecor’s gift, we will be able to share with local entrepreneurs recent scientific advances in the field developed by the UX Chair in collaboration with organizations such as Videotron, explained Pierre-Majorique Léger, holder of the UX Chair at HEC Montréal and full professor in the Information Technology Department. We will make good use of our state-of-the-art research infrastructure, including new equipment installed at HEC Montréal’s new downtown building, which opens in the fall of 2022.

We are very grateful to Quebecor for its support, which enables HEC Montréal to pursue its mission of supporting a wide mix of entrepreneurs and creating wealth in Québec, said Michel Patry, President and CEO of the HEC Montréal Foundation.

Entrepreneurship is part of HEC Montréal’s DNA, said Federico Pasin, Director of HEC Montréal. Our School has a solid ecosystem that brings together young talent, experts and numerous partners. It offers an array of services related to inclusive entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence and digital technology.
 

True to our entrepreneurial roots, we want to give entrepreneurs a springboard and the means to drive innovation in the industries that will move our society forward, such as digital. This partnership between Quebecor and HEC Montréal strengthens our ties with the UX Chair, of which Videotron is already a member. It is a natural alliance for us, one that will help local businesses succeed and extend their reach beyond Quebec

This collaboration with HEC Montreal’s UX Chair is perfectly aligned with asterX’s mission of providing start-ups with financing and also tangible tools to guarantee their success,  added Pelra Azondekon, Managing Director of asterX. User experience is a key aspect of product-market fit for a start-up. So giving young businesses access to the expertise of a world-class laboratory through this new program will definitely be a valuable asset for them.

Call for applications
The Quebecor asterX Digital Entrepreneurship Program will welcome its first cohort in the fall of 2022. Companies interested in applying can visit programme-entrepreneuriat-numerique.hec.ca for more details.