Ministry of Research and Innovation Compiled by Shawn Lawrence
ONTARIO
In Conversation with
Ontario’s Minister of Research and Innovation Reza Moridi As we have traditionally done in year’s past, we go one-on-one with Ontario’s Minister of Research and Innovation Reza Moridi to discuss the state of Ontario’s life science industry.
Q: What are the Ministry’s goals for this year’s BIO International Conference in San Francisco? BIO is a fantastic opportunity for Ontario to showcase and promote its strengths in biotechnology to the world, and for the province’s life sciences companies to reach new markets and customers. Ontario’s presence at this conference will reflect its standing as home to one of North America’s largest and most vibrant life sciences sectors, which fosters a unique spirit of collaboration I’m proud of. We are excited to continue to lever our reputation as a jurisdiction at the forefront of biotechnology development to generate new investment leads.
Q: You personally have remained very consistent in your messaging throughout your tenure as the Minister of Research and Innovation that collaboration between academia, the research community, industry and government is paramount to Ontario maintaining its standing as one of the leading life science jurisdictions in the world. On this front, what initiatives that the Ministry has had a hand in over the past year are you most proud of? Perhaps one of my proudest moments would be our role in working with Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Eric Hoskins, the Ontario Health Innovation
Council and our medical technology community to create the Office of the Chief Health Innovation Strategist and a $20 million fund to support this work. This tremendous opportunity helps us strengthen our health innovation ecosystem: collaboration between government, industry, health providers and patients will transform patient care and build the economy for tomorrow. We have also made many investments in Ontario, including: • Helping young innovators and aspiring entrepreneurs across the province create the next wave of highly skilled jobs and innovative products. The Ontario Government is investing more than $80 million for innovation-focused funding and $565 million over the next two years in the Youth Jobs Strategy, as announced in the 2015 Budget. • The Ontario Government, University of Toronto, and MaRS Discovery District (MaRS) launched a collaboration with Janssen Inc. for the successful Johnson & Johnson Innovation JLABS incubator model in Toronto. The new facility, called JLABS @ Toronto, is the first JLABS to open outside the United States. JLABS @ Toronto will provide startups with many of the advantages of being part of an established innovation centre, such as access to talent and mentors, large existing firms and research universities, capital and convergence opportunities with other sectors. When
complete, the 40,000-square foot facility will include cutting-edge, modular and scalable lab space, equipment, with access to scientific, industry and capital funding experts. • The province is contributing $15 million over 10 years to the Lazaridis Institute for the Management of Technology Enterprises in the heart of the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo Region, dubbed ‘Canada’s technology triangle. The institute will help bolster Ontario’s emerging technology sector by teaching the skills required to grow successful start-ups ready to prosper in the global marketplace. • Ontario is investing in Stem Cell Research by providing $25 to the Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine to study chronic disease treatments. This funding will support new treatments and therapies for people living with chronic diseases, such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and diabetes.
Biotechnology Focus
June/July 2016
21
