Industry committee  I would like to conclude by simply thanking the committee once more for carrying out this relevant study. Let me go back to what I think is a very important point, that is, the creation of intellectual property for Canadian companies. In the medium or long term, I think that wil

Industry committee  Yes, we have invested a lot of money in applied research and a little less in basic research, which means that 3D animation, the arts and design have been sort of left on the back burner. However, they are major components of video games. The same goes for research in dramatic ar

Industry committee  It is essential that the new digital strategy supports the creation of Canadian intellectual property, but the rest of the industry must not be ignored. Foreign companies that come to Canada are important, but I think the future also depends on the support for small businesses th

Industry committee  I think that the federal government could play a role through research funding. A good part of the growth comes from the research and development done in Canadian universities. In other cultures or other areas, this is bred in the bone. For example, Autodesk has partnerships with

Industry committee  You mean skills in managing projects?

Industry committee  Let me give you a quick history of the Centre NAD. Five years ago, the Centre NAD offered only one-year, private training in 3D animation. People learned how to model a character, how to animate it, how to do the rigging, and so on. Since then, we have gone the university route w

Industry committee  I could mention the Quebec universities, such as the École de technologie supérieure and the University of Sherbrooke, which has been offering a co-op program for 10 years or so. The program requires students to do three paid internships in business. The École de technologie supé

Industry committee  Actually, in the last few years, Ubisoft has started a useful initiative. They started an interuniversity competition in which a number of universities in Quebec, and elsewhere in Canada, can take part. Each university submits a prototype of a game, or an original concept. One co

Industry committee  Yes. Having those interns right under their eyes and being able to watch them work for three or four months, in a summer school situation, allows the employer to take a better look at various aspects. They can look, not only at the interns’ technical skills and artistic sides, bu

Industry committee  Unfortunately, I have no answer to that question. The video game industry is still a little young. It is a new area that does not instinctively seek out research and development or interns at universities, as the telecommunications sector does. Motorola, for example, has a corpor

Industry committee  As I mentioned, the students coming out of those institutions are not skilled employees, in the sense that they do not have all the skills they need. A company like Ubisoft, for example, with 3,000 employees, can recruit some interns and take care of them. But companies that are

Industry committee  I must admit that it is difficult for me to tell which incentives companies would like in order to be able to take in more interns. Personally, I just know that it is quite difficult to find positions in companies, even for unpaid internships. I am not sure that it is just a ques

Industry committee  I mentioned two kinds of training. First, there is university education in the classic sense. These are mostly young students who want to learn a new occupation, and we should encourage that. Almost half the courses are taught by professors and the other half by instructors. At o

Industry committee  Yes. As has already been mentioned, video games are very multidisciplinary. There are four main aspects: the concept, the programming, the design, which includes the look of the game and the design of the levels, and the visuals. Let's not forget the sound and the music either.

Industry committee  Good afternoon. I would first like to thank the committee for allowing me to be part of this study on the entertainment software industry in Canada. I believe that the study is necessary for the long-term viability of our industry. I have been a professor in the École des arts n