Thank you very much.
I would also like to thank you for giving us the privilege of offering our point of view on emerging and digital media, opportunities and challenges.
First of all, the Alliance numérique is the business network for companies developing interactive digital content in Quebec. We have four sections, four alliances, as we call them. They are video games, Internet application services, mobility and e-learning. So we represent a lot of people in all sectors of activity in the digital world. We are perhaps best known for video games because of the fact that Montreal is Canada's video game capital. Of the 14,000 jobs in the area in Canada, Montreal alone has 7,000. This makes us the undisputed centre of the video game industry in Canada. We have also hosted the Montreal International Game Summit for six years. Recently, the Summit has averaged 1,500 people, 40% of whom come from around the world to our two days of meetings.
We are of course involved in commercialization, so we invite companies to join us in various trade missions to places like the United States, Europe and Japan. We literally go to the ends of the earth to help our companies grow.
I will move directly to our recommendations on the three areas that appear to us to be most critical: training, financing and commercialization. You understand that, in the world of digital convergence, borders no longer exist; the market is highly competitive and very global. We always need highly qualified human resources; in recent years, we have seen that they too are highly mobile.
So we feel that three critical elements must be considered in Canada's digital policy: we must ensure the excellence of our workforce; we must secure financing so that original content can be created and so that the excellence of companies already established in Canada can be supported; we must also try to push our leaders to go even further.
Specifically on the workforce, we must, of course, support provincial authorities and invest in programs that are already in place. We must above all make sure that training programs match industry needs. I confess that we are a little behind in this area, which, to a degree, is normal. Let me give you an example: ten years ago, we did not use Flash, it did not even exist. Today, we have Flash in digital content, so education programs have to be able to accommodate it. Often, in education, a lot of time is needed for a program to see the light of day. So we must try to become more involved in the technological issues so that we can respond more quickly.
As well, institutions of higher learning must clearly be provided with cutting edge infrastructures, again so that people in the industry can be better trained.
I would like to talk to you about one obstacle. When we want to bring foreign experts into our Canadian companies, the process must be speeded up. This has been a little difficult in recent years; in some cases, it can lead to projects being abandoned because getting people here takes too long.
We also invite you to consider establishing specific funding for the creation of original content. This fund would be mostly used to support the development of concepts and original productions. This is very important for Canadian companies. We are also suggesting that an investment fund be established for projects of that kind.
We have already indicated that we must continue to support the excellence of our companies. We must also encourage them to diversify and to expand abroad. In recent years, some aspects of commercialization have been removed and problems have resulted. It prevents us from appearing on the international stage more frequently. As we have told you, in our area of activity, the whole world is our market, so we really do have to look internationally. It is important for us to bring all participants together, either nationally, provincially or by establishing “clusters”, centres that already exist in Canada. Everyone's contribution is needed if we really want the industry to make best use of a new digital environment.
Thank you.