Ontario celebrates research excellence with Premier's annual innovation awards

The Ontario government has awarded $7.3 million to 10 companies and individuals as part of the 2008 Premier's Award for Innovation. Awards in three categories were presented April 30 at a gala event in Toronto's MaRS Centre.

The Premier's Catalyst Awards were presented to four Ontario firms contributing to a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation and included $200,000 in cash. The winners are: Start-up Company with the Best Innovation –—Waterloo-based Rapid Mind Inc for a computer programming platform allowing developers to take advantage of and better exploit the next generation of multi-core microprocessor chips and graphics processing units; Best Young Innovator — Cameron Piron, president and co-founder of Toronto's Sentinelle Medical Inc for the development of a breast magnetic resonance imaging auxiliary intervention that enables more patients to be scanned in a single day; Innovator of the Year — Steve Hengsperger, Tersano (Canada) Inc, St Catharines, for developing the Lotus home sanitizing system. It supercharges ordinary tap water to create a sanitizer to kill bacteria, viruses and pathogens on food and surfaces; Company with the Best Innovation — Evertz Microsystems Ltd. Burlington, for next generation in multi-image display processor technology allowing broadcast engineers to monitor signal quality, audio integrity and loss of video or closed captioning with a simple and intuitive control interface.

The Premier's Discovery Awards were made in four categories to researchers for their contribution to the economy, society and international recognition. The Life Sciences and Medicine award ($500,000), was made to Dr Lewis Kay, Univ of Toronto for his work in biomolecular nuclear magnetic resonance which is revolutionizing the field with the development of three- and four-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods; Natural Sciences and Engineering ($500,000) to Dr Raymond Laflamme, Univ of Waterloo/Institute for Quantum Computing, for developing methods to counteract the effects of errors in quantum computing, resulting in his development of the world's largest functioning quantum computer; Social Sciences and Humanities ($250,000) to Dr Shana Poplack, Univ of Ottawa, for the study of languages spoken in bilingual and minority-language communities across Canada; Innovation Leadership ($250,000) to Dr Stuart Foster of Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre for the commercialization of micro imaging systems that speed the development of new drugs and therapies by allowing scientists to study models for diseases such as glaucoma, cancer and cardiovascular disease

major medical awards

The Premier's Summit Award in Medical Research was made to two scientists who each receive $5 million over five years (50% from awards program matched by sponsoring institutions). It is administered by MaRS Discovery District. The winners are: Dr Stephen Scherer, Hospital for Sick Children for his leadership on the human genome and the discovery of several disease susceptibility genes including autism spectrum disorder, and Dr Frances Shepherd of Toronto's University Health Network/ Princess Margaret Hospital for the development of innovative therapies for lung cancer, most recently using microarray technology.

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