The opticians and optometrists working under the Opto-Réseau brand recently contributed $100,000 to Campus Montréal’s major fundraising campaign. The donation will help finance large-scale projects at the Université de Montréal School of Optometry, including new examination rooms for the university’s eye clinic.

The gift is a way for many of Opto-Réseau’s opticians and optometrists to remember and give back to their alma mater and, at the same time, help strengthen their school’s fine reputation for optometry teaching and research. Established in 1910, the Université de Montréal School of Optometry is the oldest of its kind in North America to have university status. The School is also the only provider of French-language instruction for optometry in Canada and the only one in all the French-speaking countries to offer a professional doctoral degree in optometry (O.D.). Upon completion of the program, which is accredited by the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (ACOE), graduates are eligible to practice throughout North America.

For Campus Montréal, Opto-Réseau’s gesture serves as an inspiration and an example for the nearly 125,000 SMEs in Quebec who will hopefully see this as an opportunity to invest in the talent of the future.

A good number of Quebec-based SMEs were founded or are headed by graduates of HEC Montréal, Polytechnique Montréal and Université de Montréal, and a significant number have hired our graduates, knowing they can count on the quality of their education to grow and flourish. Now however, these very institutions need the support of Quebec’s SMEs. Why? Because our university campus competes with other major academic and research establishments around the world. We have to join forces to tackle the increasingly complex challenges posed by the accelerating rate of globalization.

Quebec’s SMEs can make a difference – just as Opto-Réseau has – by making meaningful contributions to help Campus Montréal fund high-potential projects and excellence-based awards essential to attracting and showcasing our top talent.

As Campus Montréal gets closer to its $500 million target with every donation it receives, all of Quebec’s SMEs will benefit, because in today’s evolving business environment, human capital is the most valuable resource in virtually every sector of activity.

Thank you, Opto-Réseau. And we look forward to welcoming SMEs who wish to invest in nurturing talent.