Ontario Centres of Excellence to flex financial muscle under new leadership

Leadership of Ontario Centres of Excellence Inc (OCE), one of Ontario's key innovation engines, is being taken up by technology commercialization veteran Dr Tom Corr. Effective March 1st, Corr will move from his current position at the Univ of Waterloo and its affiliated Accelerator Centre and guide the organization which has recently expanded and taken on a wide range of new responsibilities aimed at stimulating the uptake of S&T in the province's diverse business community.

OCE is currently being led by interim CEO David Choat, who stepped into the breach following the September 25th departure of Mark Romoff after a five-year term.

With an annual budget of approximately $100 million, OCE has demonstrated impressive flexibility over its 23-year history, with its most recent evolution beginning in 2004 with the amalgamation of several semi-autonomous centres into a single corporate entity (R$, Sept 18/04). Since that time, it has taken on several new mandates, including a collaborative working relationship with MaRS Discovery District and a Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR).

For Corr, heading up such a dynamic organization represents the culmination of a career that began with more than 30 years in the software sector, including the founding, management and sale of two start-ups. A career in commercialization followed teaching stints at the Univ of Toronto, McMaster Univ and the Univ of Waterloo. At the latter, Corr was associate VP commercialization and CEO of its affiliated Accelerator for Commercialization Excellence (ACE). Prior to joining the Univ of Waterloo, he worked at the U of T as director of commercialization (information technology and communications).

"The OCE took off five years ago when the five centres were brought together. It's worked well and allowed MRI (Ministry of Research and Innovation) to focus on areas they see as important for the Ontario economy," says Corr. "It's quite a large organization now with a total budget of about $100 million … There are now six centres and more opportunities than there are resources."

In recent years, the provincial government has chosen OCE to embark on a number of new ventures, often in collaboration with other partners such as the MaRS Discovery District and the Univ of Waterloo's ACE. More recently, the Ontario government realigned its program offerings with four areas of focus under the moniker, Ontario Network of Excellence (ONE). The OCE was charged with heading up the province's efforts in academic-industry collaboration.

Perhaps even more significantly, OCE was chosen to head up a new federal CECR called the Centre for the Commercialization of Research, giving the organization added clout. MaRS was also chosen to run a new CECR (MaRS Innovation) to augment its role as a business accelerator, focused on the development of entrepreneurial talent required to run new technology ventures.

"We want to pick winner and losers at a very early stage. We're also working closely with MaRS to ensure that we work in a complementary fashion," says Corr.

In the near term, however, Corr will face the prospect of possible budget cuts due to the province's growing deficit which stands at $25 billion. But speculation of across-the board cuts have not hindered his enthusiasm for honing OCE into a potent agent for economic growth. "We have a good shot at sustaining our level of funding because we're all about creating jobs," he says.

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