Liguria and Quebec are closer thanks to the memorandum signed by the Ligurian Marine Technologies District and the Quebec Federation of Business Owners.
La Spezia – Montreal, November 14, 2025 – Support the development of joint projects and encourage stronger ties between companies, innovation centers, and institutional stakeholders. This is the primary goal of the memorandum of understanding signed by the Ligurian Marine Technologies District and the Quebec Federation of Business Leaders, aimed at promoting innovation and trade between the two regions, focusing on several strategic sectors, including automation and security, energy and sustainable development, logistics and transportation, life sciences, and marine technologies.
By signing the document, DLTM President Lorenzo Forcieri and Fedceq President and CEO Pierre Drapeau laid the groundwork for organizing bilateral trade missions starting in the first half of 2026: meetings between Canadian and Italian companies and collaboration and technology transfer projects, which are already under discussion.
“Internationalization is a constant commitment for the DLTM: with this signing, we are opening the door to a new market for our members and Liguria, with significant commercial prospects. This agreement establishes a strategic bridge between the Ligurian and Quebec production systems, strengthens the historic positive relations between Italy and Canada, and opens new opportunities for businesses between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. It is a concrete sign of how international cooperation, promoted primarily at the local level, can translate into shared growth, innovation, greater competitiveness, and economic development.” comments the president of the Dltm Lorenzo Forcieri.
"Italy is a long-standing friend of Canada, and Quebec is home to one of the largest Italian communities in the country, with over 300,000 people of Italian descent. We estimate that thousands of businesses—potentially between 5,000 and 15,000—are owned by Quebecers of Italian descent, in various sectors of our economy. This vibrant entrepreneurial presence is part of our history and our economic fabric. With this agreement, we wanted to establish a formal mechanism to deepen trade ties and create new opportunities between Quebec and Italy in key priority sectors.“, declares the president of Fedceq Pierre Drapeau.
The Dltm, the managing body of the Dltm Hub, will promote an expansion of the agreement and development prospects to the other four innovation and research hubs in the Liguria Region.
Joint research and innovation projects will then be developed. Furthermore, the two entities will facilitate business relations between the companies by organizing B2B meetings to define areas of collaboration, points of intersection, and the promotion of concrete projects. Before the Canadian delegation arrives in Italy, entrepreneurs from the two countries will exchange information to identify what the companies can offer and receive.
Note on the Fédération des chefs d'entreprises du Québec (Fedceq):
La Fédération des chefs d’entreprises du Québec (Fedceq) è una rete imprenditoriale indipendente che rappresenta e supporta gli imprenditori del Québec nelle iniziative di crescita nazionale e internazionale. Agisce da catalizzatore per la collaborazione tra leader aziendali, partner istituzionali e mercati esteri, organizzando eventi, missioni commerciali e opportunità di networking per rafforzare l’imprenditorialità della provincia ed espanderne la portata economica.
