Starting in June, MT Lab’s one-year incubator program is a great opportunity for startups with a focus on innovation in tourism, culture and entertainment.

Launched last year, MT Lab is the first incubator in North America dedicated to tourism, culture, and entertainment. The year-long program is a joint effort of UQAM, Tourisme Montréal and the City of Montréal and represents cooperation between the academic, entrepreneurial, and municipal sectors. MT Lab’s mission is to host fledgling entrepreneurs from Quebec, Canada, and abroad in the tourism, transport, festivals, culture, hotel, restaurant, and entertainment sectors.

READ ALSO: UQAM, Tourisme Montréal and the City of Montréal launch MT Lab

For its second iteration, the incubator continues to offer participants the ability to connect with partners and their networks, as well as granting them access to low-cost co-working space, the possibility to engage in pilot projects, and demo days. Participants in this year’s cohort will also have the opportunity to take part in an exchange with Welcome City Lab, a program dedicated to tourism in Paris that inspired the establishment of MT Lab last year.

MT Lab prides itself in acting as a meeting place for the tech community in Montreal. “There’s always something going on around here, we often have events so it’s a good opportunity for startups to come and share what they’re doing,” Florence Barbeau, Manager and Head of Communications at MT Lab told MTLinTECH.

Candidates must be fluent in French with at least two co-founders who are available to participate year-round in specific activities taking place in Montreal. Although the program centres around tourism, startups from all sectors are encouraged to apply.

“When we think about tourism, we think about culture and entertaining, and often overlook basic issues like waste management or how to organize the parking lot, but these are things to think about. Everybody is welcome to propose a solution.”

Stay22—a startup offering travel solutions and platforms in the events, entertainment and transportation industries—is currently a participant in MT Lab’s incubator program. Stay22’s interactive map displays all Airbnb’s, hotels and other alternative lodging accommodations near a venue or destination. Aggregating the best online prices, the program offers access to over 6 million listings worldwide across 200 countries.

“The kind of partners they bring in really opens doors that would be much more difficult for us on our own. Simply giving us the ability to reach those decision makers, hanging out in a casual context and having a beer rather than giving a sales pitch,” Kevin Sauvageau, the Director of Business Development of Stay22, told MTLinTECH.

The deadline to submit an application is this Thursday the 29th of March and they are extending the invitation to 10-12 new companies that are locally based as well as Canada-wide and abroad that are in either the seed phase or the launch phase.

Interested candidates can apply here until the 29th.