Hey there! These ETFs were launched by BMO to give Canadians exposure to MSCI's Innovation Indexes. This is why you'll see ETFs like the Tech & Industrial Innovation, Fintech Innovation, Genomic Innovation, Next Gen Internet Innovation etc. They also launched a clean energy ETF in ZCLN and a covered call tech ETF in ZWT.
So, BMO aims to take a more passive approach by following MSCI's Innovation Indexes, while ARK funds, which I'm sure you've heard of, take a more active approach and make daily trades.
The end result is that these BMO funds from being passively managed have a much lower management fee. Looks like they're coming in at 0.45% while the ARK funds are 0.75%.
I like these ETFs, but you are right in the fact that the volume for some of them could be an issue. It's likely volume picks up as they move forward. I mean in the end, it looks like a pretty poor launch date for BMO, as they all launched pretty much 2 weeks before the market started correcting in all of these industries. So, this is likely what is causing low volume. I'd expect it to pick up as they get more interest and have some performance behind them.
If you're looking for alternatives, the ARK funds(US) and the Emerge funds (CAD) will have the exact same type of ETFs. Both of those companies actively manage their funds however and come with higher management fees, but a better (but far from guaranteed) chance of outperformance.