Desjardins Group has opened an innovation lab on the main floor of the south tower in Montreal's Complexe Desjardins.

The lab will be used to analyze, develop, and test applications or new technologies that will improve the experience for Desjardins members. The company says it is taking a collaborative approach, and is asking clients to participate either on-site or online in designing new products and services.

“At Desjardins, we've identified innovation as a key factor to our success in a rapidly changing world. The founding of the first caisse was in itself a major innovative endeavour; continuing in the same vein, we created applications like Hop 'n S@ve, Ajusto and Desjardins mobile services—all testaments to how quickly our society is evolving,” comments Desjardins' president and CEO Monique Leroux. “Desjardins has a duty to look to the future, to innovate and grow. And it's the Desjardins Lab that will lead us down the path of progress so we can do better for our members and clients, now and in the future."

At the lab's inauguration on Dec. 14, Leroux took the opportunity to announce that Desjardins had formed partnerships with both InnoCité MTL, Montreal's smart city accelerator, and Hacking Health, a nonprofit organization that connects healthcare professionals with designers, developers, innovators, and entrepreneurs to build solutions to front-line healthcare problems

Montreal's mayor Denis Coderre attended the event, and expressed his pleasure at the news. “The involvement of an important financial institution, so intimately linked with our collective entrepreneurial history, with InnoCité MTL, our smart city accelerator, reinforces the notion that we must all invest in the future of Montreal,” he said. “We are happy to be able to count on Desjardins as a partner in this important initiative. InnoCité MTL's entrepreneurs will benefit greatly from its contribution.”