Government Unites Major R&D Players To Fuel Ottawa's Photonics Industry

Ottawa is one of six technology clusters supported by the Government of Canada's recent investment of $118 million over three years. The other clusters are Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies in Vancouver, Nanotechnology in Edmonton, Plants for Health and Wellness in Saskatoon, Biomedical Technologies in Winnipeg, and Aluminum Transformation in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region. Technology clusters are broadly based community partnerships among industry, universities and colleges, and all levels of government, focused on building a competitive advantage for Canada through research and innovation. These S&T partnerships position communities to attract talent, investment and economic activity. Funding for NRC's Ottawa-based photonics initiative was renewed in light of tangible results that include an increase in the number of start-up companies (three of which recently raised more than $10 million in risk capital); the relocation of a U.S.-based firm that moved part of its operations to Ontario to take advantage of R&D tax credits and Ottawa's vibrant photonics cluster; deeply engaged community partners who collectively launched the Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre, resulting in reduced development costs and time to market for Canadian firms; and an increase in the number of formal research collaborations among industry, university-based researchers and NRC research teams on themes of national importance (energy, environment, health, etc.). http://news.gc.ca/web/view/en/index.jsp?articleid=375029

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