Tap into The Knowledge Collective for your next Montréal event
Planning an event? We’ve got the local experts for you.
More than ever, Business Events Montréal is dedicated to attracting international events to Montréal. The Knowledge Collective, a collaboration with the Palais des congrès de Montréal, aka Montréal’s convention centre, is a selection of hand-picked experts from the local community who are at the top of their field in our key economic sectors. Their purpose? To collaborate on, participate in, or help promote your event and create a lasting legacy.
Montréal is fertile ground for international meetings
Montréal has ranked first in international association meetings in North America for nine years in a row now according to the ICCA, and for the eighth consecutive year has also topped the UIA annual list of cities in the Americas for hosting international association meetings.
The Palais des congrès de Montréal and Business Events Montréal are proud of the success of 2025 in terms of business tourism: the 477 events held in the metropolis drew more than 1 million visitors and generated an estimated $438 million in economic spinoffs for Montréal and the province of Québec.
It’s clear that Montréal is:
- a city renowned for its dynamic and thriving centres of expertise
- a creative and safe metropolis that’s a great place to live
- a multicultural, welcoming and bilingual haven
Montréal is a metropolis packed with knowledge
With world-renowned higher education institutions all active in research and innovation, Montréal is a global city of knowledge, with special expertise in sectors including life sciences, artificial intelligence and engineering. The pool of local experts is both wide and deep.
The city has more than 1,500 institutions active in R&D and 200 research centres in a large array of disciplines. The city ranks first in Canada for university research funding and is indeed the largest university research hub in Canada, with 14 institutions of higher education, including four major universities and 10 affiliated schools:
- McGill University
- Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
- Concordia University
- Université de Montréal (UdeM)
The Knowledge Collective is your source of local expertise
The Knowledge Collective comprises inspired influencers, each with a finger planted firmly on their sector’s pulse. It offers a single point of contact that streamlines the connection between you, us and our local community. With access to a wide range of free tools and resources, it’s an initiative designed to attract an international event to Montréal.
Our team of experts in event planning and organization simplifies the bidding process for researchers and professionals who wish to organise international events in Montréal.
We offer support at every stage of the project:
- Conducting a feasibility study
- Preparing the bid
- Obtaining financial aid
- Providing daily logistical support
- Planning
The Knowledge Collective aims to strengthen and highlight our key sectors while generating economic, societal and intellectual benefits for everyone. In other words, a lasting legacy.
Celebrating that legacy every year
For a second edition, Business Events Montréal has been a major partner of the Palais des congrès Ambassadors Gala, which highlights the accomplishments of specialists in their fields whose commitment to the international promotion of Montréal has had concrete and laudable impact.
At the 2026 Ambassadors Gala, which took place on April 1st, we were happy to highlight 25 ambassors including these local luminaries:
- Daria C. Boffito, Full Professor in Chemical Engineering at Polytechnique Montréal
- Amin Hammad, Full Professor at the Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering
- Sivakumaran Nadarajah, Professor at McGill University, head of the Computational Aerodynamics Group
- Dr. Marie-Eve Robinson, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at McGill University
- Pavel Trofimovich, Professor of Applied Linguistics at Concordia University
Congratulations to them and to all ambassadors.