Lazaridis Institute and CATA join forces

The recently announced Lazaridis Institute for the Management of Technology Enterprises is turning to the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA) to help refine its structure and executive management programming. CATA will undertake an on-line survey of its members and stakeholders to determine the best approaches for producing the next generation of technology executives, long cited as a challenging gap in scaling up domestic tech firms and keeping them in Canadian hands. The Lazaridis Institute was announced last April with $20 million from Mike Lazaridis, Blackberry co-founder and founding partner in Quantum Valley Investments. The Province of Ontario is injecting another $15 million over 10 years. The institute will be housed in the new Global Innovation Exchange building at Wilfrid Laurier Univ in Waterloo. The 19,500 sq-m, $103-million building (which includes $72.6 million from the province) is slated to open January/16. In addition to an executive management program, the Lazaridis Institute will conduct research into key issues facing Canadian tech companies and will develop undergraduate and MBA programs aimed at current and future technology leaders. A global advisory board will be chaired by Lazaridis and Michael Kelly, dean of the Laurier School of Business and Economics....