Building stronger communities through innovation

Expert panel to explore Canada’s approach to supporting innovation

November 16, 2011 – Ottawa, ON – Communities across Canada are benefiting from strong links between the private sector and top research talent.

The Canada Foundation for Innovation is convening a panel with some of the country’s top thinkers on innovation, research and development to discuss how university and college researchers can work with industry to support and sustain Canadian communities. They will discuss strategies for fostering collaboration by looking at communities across Canada where innovation is successfully driving job growth and industrial leadership.

The panel will also discuss how collaboration among community players and institutions leads to economic development. In Hamilton, for example, St. Joseph’s Healthcare is teaming up with McMaster University, Mohawk College and local companies to transform the former steel town into a medical research hub. In Vancouver, pharmaceutical research infrastructure has been deployed with business in mind, ensuring that the city can attract not only the world’s best researchers, but also the biotechnology companies that follow them. Research facilities are at the heart of thriving industrial development clusters across Canada, from photonics in Quebec City, to nuclear research in Saskatoon, to aquaculture in St. John’s.

The panel will be chaired by Marie Carter, chief operating officer of Engineers Canada. Panelists include:

• Dr. Kevin Smith, president of the Canada Foundation for Innovation Board of Directors, president and CEO of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, Chief Executive Officer of St. Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener and Associate Professor at the McMaster University School of Medicine.
• Fred Morley, executive vice-president and chief economist of the Greater Halifax Partnership
• Mike Harcourt, the former premier of British Columbia and chair of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Committee for Cities and Communities
• Bruce Perry, Manager of Corporate Social Responsibility at Bombardier Aerospace in Montréal
   

Building Stronger Communities through Innovation is presented as part of the Canadian Science Policy Conference at the Ottawa Convention Centre from November 16-18, 2011. The session will be held from 8:30-10:30 a.m. on November 17.

For more information or interview requests:

Ryan Saxby Hill
Canada Foundation for Innovation
ryansaxbyhill@innovation.ca
613-943-5346 (office)
613-294-6247 (mobile)

Yves Melanson
Coordinator, Media Relations (Français)
613-996-3160 (office)
613-447-1723 (mobile)
yves.melanson@innovation.ca