Good morning.
Thank you for that kind welcome. I am pleased to be here today with a group of people dedicated to fostering technological innovation. It's wonderful to see that the IEEE has created a platform for dialogue on a topic of critical importance to our society and the economy.
For those of you who don't know me, I am the Minister of State for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, or FedDev Ontario. I am also a former Minister of State for Science and Technology.
In both of these roles, I have had the opportunity to meet and speak with hundreds of businesses, industry sector and community leaders across Canada and southern Ontario. They have shared with me the challenges they face each day regarding productivity, competition and innovation in the changing economic landscape. While most would call these challenges, I view these situations as opportunities for change and for the adaptation of new equipment, technology and processes that allow us to not only compete but succeed. No one ever wins by standing still.
Our Government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, understands that science and technology power commerce. To remain at the forefront of the global economy, we must invest in the people, labs, facilities and ideas that will produce tomorrow's breakthroughs. We must forge the partnerships necessary to bring those ideas to marketplaces well beyond our borders.
Folks, we recognize that companies need to change the way they do business, in order to stay in business. The development of highly qualified people, the creation of intellectual property and the commercial application of scientific discoveries bring social and economic benefits for all Canadians. This is why Economic Action Plan 2014 builds on our Government's investments in these areas to date, including an additional $46 million per year to the granting councils in support of advanced research and scientific discoveries.
To help Canadian post-secondary institutions excel globally in research areas that create long-term economic advantages for Canada, our Government is also providing $1.5 billion to create the Canada First Research Excellence Fund.
These types of investments will help to sustain Canada's leadership position in research and contribute to the creation of leading-edge jobs in Canada.
And of course Ontario's economy is critically linked to that of our entire nation.
I was pleased when Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked me to lead the creation of FedDev Ontario, southern Ontario's economic development agency, to help the region recover from the effects of the global recession. Since then, FedDev Ontario has been able to invest more than one billion dollars into the economy. We've created partnerships with more than 5,300 organizations, and that has helped attract an additional one and a half billion dollars of investment from almost exclusively non-governmental sources.
A key focus of the Agency's work is growing the region's innovation capacity. Through our investments to date, we are seeing some tangible results from our partnerships with not-for-profit organizations, post-secondary institutions and businesses. Profitable outcomes have also occurred with the partnerships between PSIs, not-for-profits and businesses.
As I'm sure many of you are aware, study after study has shown that our scientists, researchers and engineers are the best in the world at developing new ideas. But compared to other industrialized countries, Canada's businesses do not do as well at getting these innovative ideas into the marketplace.
To help address this gap, the Agency has supported entrepreneurs in turning technical ideas into a reality.
For example, the Agency is helping companies such as Oakville's Smart Energy Instruments bring new products to market. The company develops smart grid sensor technology, integrating advanced measurement and communications functions required to modernize electric power systems onto a chip.
This past December, Smart Energy Instruments officially launched a chipset that provides grid-wide real-time, synchronized measurements of complex electric power quantities, which is to be the heart of all next generation devices on the grid. For this project, FedDev Ontario provided almost $1 million towards total project costs of $3.5 million.
The company expects this first-of-its-kind chipset will change how electric utilities throughout the world will monitor, control and plan electric power grids, and in particular, improve reliability and efficiency, helping to solve challenges related to transitioning to renewable energy sources.
FedDev Ontario supports entrepreneurs from start-up right through to marketing globally. The Investing in Business Innovation initiative that I launched in December provides support for early-stage companies to leverage angel and venture capital funds to commercialize products, for angel investor organizations to increase their membership, and also for not-for-profit organizations to provide skills development and seed financing to new entrepreneurs. I look forward to seeing the innovative projects that arise as a result of this new funding.
Speaking of innovative projects, I'd like to highlight an example of how innovative machinery and equipment can transform the way companies do business, helping them to create more efficient and cost-effective processes
The Vineland Research and Innovation Centre is a Niagara-based research centre dedicated to horticultural science and innovation. With Agency support of $2 million towards total project costs of $4.5 million, the Centre is working with local companies and Niagara College to develop robotic technologies to package potted flowers, plant bulbs and seedlings, and harvest mushrooms. These have the potential to significantly reduce labour costs, an area identified as a major productivity issue in the industry. It is also allowing Vineland to increase its expertise in automation and engineering, a knowledge base that it will be able to offer other industry partners in the future. This is a great example of how technology is being adapted to an industry where it has not traditionally been used.
Our Government recognizes that companies find it difficult to invest in new machinery, equipment and processes. Therefore, one of the Agency's new funding initiatives, Investing in Business Growth and Productivity, can help businesses with those costs, as well as with activities related to market expansion and integration in global value chains. These are the types of activities that we'd like companies to invest in, so they can stay competitive.
And just as companies may not be able to invest in new tools and technologies, they also often have difficulty accessing research expertise. This is an area that our Government is addressing through various programs that are complementary to FedDev Ontario initiatives such as the Business Innovation Access Program announced a few weeks ago. This program, delivered through the National Research Council of Canada, will provide $20 million over two years to support innovative research and development that translates into products that benefit Canadians.
At FedDev Ontario, we've also invested in large projects that bring multiple partners together to bring about change and much-needed diversity to southern Ontario's economy. Imagine a new sector in the region, focusing on and providing global leadership in medical technologies and procedures. Imagine a new world where cancer and heart disease patients could be treated with better and less invasive therapies, while reducing hospitalization and recovery times. I'd like to share an exciting example with you.
Toronto's Sunnybrook Research Institute's Centre for Research in Image-Guided Therapeutics, in partnership with Western University and 18 small- and medium-sized enterprises and multinational corporations, is leading the development of new medical imaging technology. It is also stimulating the development of a medical imaging cluster in southern Ontario. The engineering and design work that goes into these complex systems is incredible. To date, three notable successes include:
- The development and clinical validation of the first magnetic resonance image-guided focused ultrasound treatment for prostate cancer;
- The development of a minimally invasive imaging system that can take 3D, forward-viewing ultrasound images from inside the cardiovascular system; and
- The development of hybrid imaging catheters that can take pictures of coronary arteries using high-resolution optical coherence tomography along with ultrasound that provides a larger field of view.
I'm proud that our Agency has supported this collaboration with an investment of $7 million towards total project costs of $14 million, which enables researchers and medical manufacturers to work together, making innovative medical devices and treatments a reality.
We look forward to being part of continued successes, such as this one, through the delivery of two other new initiatives. These initiatives are aimed at helping the public and private sectors to work together to help attract and sustain economic development.
One of these initiatives is the Investing in Commercialization Partnerships initiative. This initiative is aimed at creating business-led partnerships with research and publicly funded post-secondary institutions, encouraging a knowledge transfer that will help the region develop globally-competitive products and services.
In addition, the Investing in Regional Diversification initiative will help local economies diversify by encouraging the development of business clusters and incubation.
Together, the four funding initiatives that I've mentioned are called the Southern Ontario Prosperity Initiatives:
These initiatives are the result of extensive research and consultation with stakeholders across the region. I'm convinced that they will continue to create jobs and grow our economy.
I must also mention the launch of the new Advanced Manufacturing Fund in December, with an investment of $200 million for all of Ontario over the next five years. This Fund will promote the continued growth of Ontario's advanced manufacturing firms.
Through the Agency's activities over the next five years, I'm sure we will see some game-changing technologies developed that will help give southern Ontario a competitive edge.
I invite you to visit the FedDev Ontario website for more details on the funding initiatives that I mentioned.
As I conclude, I'd like to thank you for your continued contribution to driving technological innovation and it has been a pleasure speaking to you this morning. Enjoy the rest of the conference. Thank you.
