This collaboration between the Palais des congrès de Montréal and MT Lab is part of a continuum of shared initiatives to support innovation and offer a showcase for Montréal entrepreneurs that are shaping the future of tourism and business events. For instance, in May 2023, both organizations launched the tourism Innovation Showcase, an immersive journey highlighting new experiential technologies offered by four young MT Lab-incubated businesses.
With the Innovative Business in Residence program, the Palais des congrès and MT Lab are strengthening their commitment to promoting Montréal's entrepreneurial savior-faire and offering emerging entrepreneurs a springboard for testing and validating their solutions in a dynamic and strategic setting.
ESPACE RECHARGE, the first innovative business in residence
Founded in 2024, ESPACE RECHARGE specializes in wellness experiences for a corporate clientele. Its flexible and customizable service includes some 50 turnkey individual and group activities. Developed in close collaboration with several local partners, they encourage cognitive and physical recovery, while taking into account the constraints and pace of professional life. Meditation, floral arrangement, clay modelling, yoga, Pilates, watercolour, photography, embroidery and strength training are all experiences designed to promote rejuvenation, vitality and creativity.
At the very heart of this offer is the Chambre immersiveTM, a unique device in which participants can teleport to another place—in sounds and images—to experience an individual activity of their choice. A transformed closed room becomes a cocoon offering a multitude of 30-minute activities, combining virtual, immersive and in-person experiences. To maximize the impact of this change of scenery and reduce the stress of mental overload, participants are encouraged to relinquish their cell phones before entering the Chambre immersiveTM.
Thanks to this demonstration space, ESPACE RECHARGE benefits from the Palais' effervescence to adapt its solutions to the needs of the surrounding businesses and the members of the local business community who transit through the centre every day. Immersed in the heart of a dynamic and international environment, it enjoys a unique showcase to test its services and strengthen its impact with a broad network of professionals.
Quotes
"For the Palais des congrès, hosting an innovative business in residence represents a concrete opportunity to highlight ground-breaking initiatives emerging from the Montréal ecosystem and to strengthen our role as a catalyst in transforming business tourism. We're delighted to host ESPACE RECHARGE and offer this business a unique framework for developing and adapting its offer to the needs of the business community." – Emmanuelle Legault, President and CEO of the Palais des congrès de Montréal
"MT Lab is driving innovation by connecting industry leaders with solutions that have an impact on their market, such as ESPACE RECHARGE. With our Innovative Business in Residence program, the Palais is positioning itself and, once again, placing Montréal as a competitive and visionary destination that is fashioning the future of tourism and business events." – Martin Lessard, General Manager of MT Lab
"Workplaces and tourism sites both have an interest in integrating a wide variety of wellness experiences in their offer in order to improve their allure as well as the health of the individuals frequenting them. Buoyed by our highly successful pilot project with Énergir, where more than 250 participants expressed a 98% satisfaction rate, we now wish to deploy our concept with new organizations that will be able to benefit from, among other things, the regenerative power of our Chambre immersiveTM. The residency program at the Palais des congrès represents an extraordinary strategic opportunity for us." – Hélène Beauséjour, Co-founder and Executive-Director of ESPACE RECHARGE
About the Palais des congrès de Montréal
A creative solutions centre and a showcase for the city's spirit and expertise, the Palais des congrès de Montréal has been promoting and hosting large-scale events since 1983. Generating significant economic, social and intellectual benefits, it encourages innovation and acts as a force for progress for both Montréal and Québec. The Palais is firmly committed to sustainability and takes numerous innovative, concrete steps to make it a central component of its business development. With one of the highest customer satisfaction rates in the world, the Palais actively contributes to the international reputation of Montréal, the top host city for international events in America for eight years in a row. congresmtl.com
About MT Lab
The first market incubator dedicated to the world of tourism, culture and entertainment in North America, MT Lab was created by UQAM and Tourisme Montréal in 2017. In 2022, MT Lab founded, with Destination Québec cité, the Pôle d'innovation en tourisme durable. We foster startups with high growth potential and innovative solutions to accelerate corporate innovations. We are a meeting place, and an innovation broker between innovative companies and industry players, MT Lab contributes to the economic development of Quebec in a sustainable way through open innovation.
About ESPACE RECHARGE
ESPACE RECHARGE is a specialized service that offers some 50 turnkey wellness experiences in corporate and hotel settings. Our Chambre immersiveTM features 20 or so individual rejuvenation options: artistic experiences in partnership with DeSerres and the Centre d'apprentissage parallèle de Montréal (CAP), yoga and Pilates sessions with Studio Mile End, physical exercises designed by Kinélite, guided meditation sessions with Laurence Mercier, plant arrangement workshops with Les Fleurs du marché and gastronomic tastings of local foods created by chefs Guillaume Cantin and Bobby Grégoire of La Transformerie. To plan a visit: [email protected] | espacerecharge.com
SOURCE Palais des congrès de Montréal
Information: Sébastien Zickgraf, Advisor and Copywriter, Communications and Public Affairs, Palais des congrès de Montréal, 514 871-5849, [email protected]
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