The St. Lawrence Economic Development Council (SODES) will be in Montréal on May 8-9, 2017 to attend Assises de la mer France-Québec, a maritime congress organized by the France-Quebec Institute for scientific cooperation to support the maritime sector (IFQM). Mandated to bring together and facilitate a network comprising France’s and Québec’s key players in marine-sector research, innovation and higher education, the IFQM has identified six priority research themes: ecosystem and population health, fishing and aquaculture, risks and the marine economy, maritime surveillance and security, sustainable, intelligent marine transport and marine energies and technologies.
Assises de la mer’s main purpose is to define IFQM training, research and innovation-related action priorities. The goal of the congress is to bring together marine sector stakeholders from both sides of the Atlantic to identify issues of common interest and the added value of cooperation between Québec and France in this sector.