Maison Notman: The Creative Bubble!

Behind the appearance of a heritage house in the downtown core, Maison Notman hides micro-enterprises buzzing with creativity. Inspired by the campuses of major American cities, Maison Notman is a centre for technological and web innovation: an incubator where a community forms, evolves and changes the world in its own way.

Noah Redler, campus director at Maison Notman, wants the building to support an emerging entrepreneurial spirit. The house has its own energy, a blend of past and future. The goal is to attract people from all backgrounds into an environment conducive to creation. From the moment it opened, the campus was full. Offices can be rented for periods of three to six months in order to encourage the circulation of talent.

Maison Notman focuses its attention on the development of new technologies, the internet, software

and mobile applications. Benoît Labbé, director of communications and marketing at TechnoMontréal, recalls that Montréal’s technology cluster represents 93,000 people, or eight percentof the workforce. Maison Notman is a meeting point for digital art, the information-technology industry and the start-up ecosystem. Mr. Labbé, who has been involved in the process to designate Montréal as a smart city, notes that positioning Montréal as a digital leader will naturally increase its attractiveness. In his view, the artistic vitality and cultural heritage of the metropolis, including Printemps numérique,give Montréal its own identity, which, combined with technological infrastructure, influences economic development.

For Samir Touhami, director of business development and investment for Greater Montréal at Montréal International,Montréal’s cultural richness and cosmopolitan character foster a distinctive creativity. He is pleased with the opening of the Notman campus. Montréal offers a playground; because of its size, it can become an initial market for these start-ups. Thechallenge is to ensure they have access to the services they need to scale.

Mathieu Laroussi of Guarana,the company behind a poutine-locator application, has been workingat Maison Notman for a few weeks. For his team, it was important to be close to clients, and they experience many exchanges of knowledge. The workspace encourages the sharing of skills because freelancers, accountants and graphic designers under the same roof can offer services to developing companies. In other words, everyone finds something useful there.

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Under the roof of Maison Notman: a

• building from 1844, classified as a historic
• building in 1979; renovated in 2009 at a cost
• of nearly $6.5 million; 23 offices and a future shared workspace with
• 28 workstations; rents between $650 and $1,050 per
• month; what is said to be the highest internet bandwidth for a Québec public
• institution, at 200 Mb/sec; and hundreds of free activities and
• events, including mentoring. William Notman was an internationally renowned photographer and businessman and the former owner of

the house. Learn more about the Maison Notman project.

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