The City of Sherbrooke has long been recognized as a key scientific research and innovation pole. When Census Metropolitan Areas are compared to each other based on their rates of innovation, the Sherbrooke area beats all others with a 77.2 % rate. Its research centres and its advantageous geographical position have been important contributors to achieve such rate. In addition to its academic research centre, Sherbrooke is the home of many companies that perform R&D. Moreover, several industrial sectors are concentrated in Sherbrooke, including:

• Life Sciences;
• Clean Technology and Sustainable Development;
• Micro and Nanotechnology;
• Information and Communication Technologies (ITC);
• Advanced Manufacturing Technology.

By performing R&D, those companies become eligible for the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Program. This federal tax incentive program encourages Canadian businesses of all sizes, and in all sectors to conduct R&D in Canada that will lead to new, improved, or technologically advanced products or processes.

Many of the Sherbrooke’s industrial sectors have a reception rate of SR&ED tax credits higher than 50 %*:

• Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing (82.8 %);
• Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing (65 %);
• Aerospace Product and Parts Manufacturing (59.7 %);
• Machinery Manufacturing (79.3 %).

Specialized in the high-tech industry and innovative environments, d’Astous Groupe Conseil helps several Sherbrooke-based companies to get R&D tax credits. Its team of experts covers all key sectors from this region.

*These statistics come from a publication entitled Les mesures d’aide fiscale à la R-D et l’innovation des entreprises au Québec from Institut de la statistique du Québec.