DEC 2014
H
business elite canada 139
Founded in June 1990, the AQT has become
the leading voice for Quebec's technology
community."I was first hired to develop the con-
cept of the association. That is, to build events,
network, and essentially how to plant the roots
of the organization," Nicole says. "Nowadays
companies are getting more and more sophisti-
cated in how they define their strategies and in
how they see themselves in the coming years."
Quebec boasts the second largest contingent
of companies in Canada after Ontario, and this
is no small achievement. "In terms of an inter-
national presence, we are the stronger one,"
Nicole says. "It is true that eight out of 10 of
our companies have sales in the international
scene. We are definitely the strongest in terms
of global commercialization."
AQT HISTORY ROOTED IN
SOFTWARE PROMOTION
Known in its early years as the Centre de pro-
motion du logiciel Quebecois, or the CPLQ, the
association's mission was to help Quebec soft-
ware companies promote their products across
local and global markets. Shortly afterwards,
in 1991 to 1992, CPLQ reached 125 members
and by 2002 it changed its name to the Inter-
