Thank you kindly, Mr. Chair.
My name is Denis Leclerc, and I am the president and CEO of Écotech Québec, a cleantech cluster in Quebec. Unfortunately, ours is the only such company in Canada. I say "unfortunately" because it would be great to have other Écotechs in provinces across the country.
Our goal is to help the environment and businesses by accelerating the development of clean technologies, facilitating technology financing and, above all, commercializing these innovations.
In Quebec, Écotech Québec brings together more than 500 innovative and exporting companies and SMEs. According to the Institut de la statistique du Québec, they accounted for $10.7 billion in total revenues and 30,000 jobs in 2011. Some 70% of these businesses are already exporting products outside Canada. As far as the ecosystem is concerned, Quebec is home to 200 research centres and clusters that are directly involved in environmental or energy-related innovation.
Clean technologies do two things. First, they allow companies to be more competitive while reducing costs, and second, they reduce waste production, particularly in processing plants. Of course, they also benefit the environment, enabling companies to reduce their eco-footprint.
We are here today to discuss international trade. And one of the problems cleantech companies face is that commercializing an innovation is significantly more expensive than developing it. How can we help Canadian companies export their know-how and technology?
Currently, the government offers an R and D tax credit. We suggest expanding that tax credit to include commercialization, which would go a long way towards speeding up the process of marketing clean technologies abroad.
Guy Drouin, our taxation committee president, will tell you more about this proposal.