IASP members launch the Sherbrooke – Rennes – Arizona Entrepreneurial Triangle

A new international collaboration has been established between 3 IASP members, aiming to foster growth for innovative companies: the Sherbrooke – Rennes – Arizona Entrepreneurial Triangle.

Created in 2020, The Sherbrooke – Rennes – Arizona Entrepreneurial Triangle is a collaboration between IASP members Le Poool (Rennes, France), Sherbrooke Innopole (Québec, Canada) and Tech Parks Arizona (Tucson, USA), as well as economic development organisations from Brittany (Destination Rennes) and Arizona (City of Surprise Economic Development Department).

The Entrepreneurial Triangle aims to foster the sharing of knowledge, practices, and resources in international innovation development and marketing to facilitate the processes and networking of companies in their chosen territory.

The initiative recently held a virtual launch event in partnership with the Government of Québec, under the theme Disruptive Technologies Commercialization, that was attended by almost 200 entrepreneurs, researchers, student entrepreneurs, experts, economic developers, and investors from Canada, France, Slovenia, and the United States.

This first networking activity offered by the Entrepreneurial Triangle aims to lay the foundation for a subsequent phase of development, which includes exploratory missions with companies in foreign territories. The organization of these missions will be accordingly set in motion once the international COVID-19 situation permits it. 

Josée Fortin, Director General of Sherbrooke Innopole, commented:

“Sherbrooke Innopole is proud to have been the catalyst for relations between the three regions of the Sherbrooke – Rennes – Arizona Entrepreneurial Triangle. Thus, the launch event reflects both the fruit of interwoven collaborations over the last three years with Rennes, and more recently Arizona, and the start of a highly promising tripartite partnership. Successfully marketing an innovation is achieved by applying a cutting-edge approach to enter future markets and by international networking making the technology profitable on the world stage: These are the two objectives being pursued by the partners of the Entrepreneurial Triangle, for the benefit of technology companies and our business ecosystems respectively.”

Carol Stewart, Associate Vice President, Tech Parks Arizona, added: “Today, every startup needs to be ‘born global’ and participating in this entrepreneurial triangle is laying the foundation for international market expansion with a support network baked-in. These scaling companies have access to the resources and programming needed for new market entry in the US. Direct access to our International Soft Landings designated incubator, the University of Arizona Center for Innovation, and Arizona’s larger businesses network make it an ideal collaborator for international companies.”