Engineering
Montréal is home to some of Québec’s top engineering companies and plays a pivotal role in one of the province’s prime economic sectors. Montréal ranked 12th in North America for adding tech talent (Scoring Tech Talent, 2023).
New and seasoned talent learns and trains here
Montréal boasts an impressive pool of up-and-coming and recognized academic talent, along with several engineering schools such as the École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), École Polytechnique de Montréal, Concordia University, McGill University, and the Université de Montréal. These world-class institutions offer a variety of engineering programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. There are more than 17,000 university students enrolled in engineering-related programs in the city.
A diversified workforce of engineers and experts
Over 34% of the province's engineers—approximately 22% of whom are women—work in Montréal. Both seasoned experts and recent graduates make up the city's engineering workforce. There are more than 32,900 engineering professionals in Montréal employed in aerospace-related jobs. The largest number of engineers who run their own firms are in the Montréal and Montérégie regions, which together account for nearly four out of every 10 engineering firms.
A thriving centre for research and patents
The 150-year-old Polytechnique de Montréal, an internationally recognized engineering school and North America’s first francophone university, is home to nearly one-quarter of university engineering research in Québec. The university conducts some of Canada’s most intensive research activities through its approximately 60 research units and world-renowned faculty members. The Polytechnique is an innovative leader in fields such as medical engineering, sustainable development, information security and aerospace engineering.
Montréal is also home to the following highly specialized research centers and institutes in the fields of artificial intelligence, software engineering and computer science:
- Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms (MILA)
- Computer Research Institute of Montreal (CRIM)
- Institute for Data Valorization (IVADO)
- ENCS Software Engineering Research Center (SERC) - Concordia University
- Canada Excellence Research Chair in Data Science for Real-Time Decision-Making (CERC) - Polytechnique
- Reasoning and Learning Lab (RLLAB) - McGill University
- Laboratory for Imagery Vision and Artificial Intelligence (LIVIA) – ÉTS
Engineering associations and subsidiaries in Montréal
Two Canadian engineering associations, the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum and the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, are headquartered in the city. In addition, two of the province’s leading industry organizations, the Association des firmes de génie-conseil du Québec and the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec, are based in Montréal. The city boasts an impressive amount of brainpower and has launched world-renowned global firms like AtkinsRéalis, WSP, Cima Global and BBA. Several leading foreign subsidiaries also have offices in Montréal, including Stantec, ALTEN, Cima+, Tetra Tech and Pomerleau. The city is also home to the aerospace cluster known as Aéro Montréal.
Major events
- 2022 Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, The International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE)
Attendance: 2,300
- 2022 Montreal Manufacturing Technology Show, Society of Manufacturing Engineers Canada
Attendance: 2,500
- 2023 Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics & Frequency Control Society (IUS)
Attendance: 1,900
- Symposium on Mathematical Programming 2024 - 25th International Symposium on Mathematical Programming - ISMP
Attendance: 1,500
- 75th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry - ISE 2024
Attendance: 1,600
- 18th International Conference on Space Operations - SpaceOps2025
Attendance: 1,200
- 2025 ASEE Annual Convention
Attendance: 2,000
