"Most Economical" R&D Location

Simply put, Québec is "the most economical place in the world to do R&D," according to Doug McCollam, executive vice president for finance at NORDX/CDT, a leading telecom wire and cable manufacturer.
        Across Québec, tax credits help keep net after-tax R&D costs comparatively low. A 10-year corporate tax holiday on major investment projects is available for investment projects of at least $300 million involving a minimum payroll of $4 million. Special measures such as tax incentives are aimed to promote development, in particular, at firms specializing biotechnology, e-business, multimedia production, optics-optoelectronics, IT and telecommunications.
        Corporate tax rates here are among the lowest in North America and the effective tax rates on manufacturing and non-manufacturing corporations (31.2 per cent and 35.2 per cent) compare favorably with those in other Canadian provinces and key U.S. states. Québec has an advantage of 16.8 percent over the U.S. on the average operation cost of a company.
        According to KPMG, in 2002 that cost-advantage ratio reached 21.9 percent for service industries, while biomedical and electronic systems R&D provide a cost-advantage of 35.2 per cent. Average labor costs are 32 per cent lower than the American average, and all forms of energy are abundant, reliable and competitively priced. And fluctuations in oil and gas prices do not affect the price of Québec electricity; the province's rates are among the most stable in North America.