Nature - Canada: Quebec's research ambitions

The biopharmaceutical industry has long been a staple of Quebec's science community, but it hasn't fared as well as optics and photonics. Clusters of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including spin-offs and multinationals, have assembled around Montreal.

As of 2010, Quebec hosts 150 pharmaceutical, contract research and biotechnology companies, and about 18,600 people are employed in the field. Many companies set up in the province because of competitive tax incentives for companies and tax holidays for foreign researchers — a five-year tax break on 75% of their personal income while they participate in research and development activities at a corporation. But in the past decade the industry has sagged…

Last month, McGill repatriated Mark Lathrop, a biostatistician from the Center for the Study of Human Polymorphisms in Paris, to lead the centre. His appointment includes a Can$5-million budget that can be used to help recruit more scientists…

A move to Quebec can also present a cultural adjustment. “My first night, I told myself, 'I can't do this. It's a different culture and a different country,'” recalls neuroscientist David Colman, recruited in 2002 to head the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, known as the Neuro.

“But by the third day, after I'd met with the researchers, I realized there were a lot of things I could do here that I couldn't do in New York,” he says…

Since Colman's arrival, the Neuro has hired 16 faculty members, mostly at the assistant and associate professor level, recalling Canadians from abroad and attracting many international scientists…

“The US funding environment and the falling success rates have made it easier for us to recruit from the United States,” says Bruce Pike, the centre's director. Colman recommends taking a chance on Quebec. “You can have a curiosity-driven career here, make a good living and do it all.”