Ontario Network of Excellence seeks to tie research strengths to new investment

Ontario is rolling out a network of 14 Regional Innovation Centres (RICs) as part of a realignment of its innovation support programs in the hopes of advancing company development and attracting scarce investments dollars. The third RIC was formally announced last week in Ottawa, with the Ottawa Research and Innovation Centre (OCRI) receiving $2.25 million over three years to become the region's node for the new Ontario Network of Excellence (ONE).

The concept behind ONE is to build a critical mass of networks that serves as a supply chain for the province's various clusters of technological expertise and provides a range of services that companies and entrepreneurs can access. Based in part on similar innovation systems in Israel, Singapore and elsewhere, ONE will be expanded in the coming months with Sector Innovation Centres (SICs) — sector-based not-for-profit corporations that will deliver the network's highly sector specific programs and services.

The province has allocated $61 million annually over the next three years to establish and operate the ONE network. Services and resources for each RIC are scaled to demand related to the critical mass of researchers, entrepreneurs and companies in each region.

"Early adaptation of technology is key … We're trying to understand the real competencies that are driving the extraordinary competence and leadership of companies," says Glen Murray, minister of Research and Innovation (MRI). "Sometimes what you'll find — from the space program and banking to RIM (Research In Motion Ltd) and the auto sector — are core clusters that will allow us to dominate the value chain of production."

ONE services include business acceleration programs and services, industry-academic collaboration programs and services and sector-based expertise. They will be coordinated by MaRS and the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE), with MaRS handling commercialization and company formation services and OCE responsible for academic and industry collaboration.

For OCRI, the RIC funding replaces the financial assistance previously delivered through the Regional Innovation Network (RIN) program and the Ontario Research Commercialization Program (ORCP).

"The big change here is … having a very strong network. RIN was called a network but it didn't really operate that way. It was really a funding program. There was nothing to tie us all together so we didn't spend a lot of time working with the other areas or even know what they were doing," says OCRI president and CEO Claude Haw. "ONE is about bringing the best and the brightest from across the province. There's a centralized infrastructure with OCE and MaRS as delivery agents."

Replacing RINs with RICs also offered the opportunity to replace regional centres that weren't suited to the task or were under performing. Murray says the provincial plan emphasizes community delivery and capacity building in areas of expertise that can be accessed by people and firms province-wide.

"One of the reasons for establishing ONE is to have a more ably aligned network that better connects venture capital and puts community leadership in the driver's seat," says Murray. "We're also looking at trying to build a capital chain which suffered so badly when the tech bubble burst ... That's a priority for me right now. The premier has a finger on my back to get out and develop this."

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