We recognize that successful innovation is a partnership. By working together and giving our innovators the tools they need to succeed, MRI is creating a culture of innovation in Ontario within which creative ideas will flourish. This means:

• Listening to the advice of experts immersed in research and innovation

• The Ontario Research and Innovation Council (ORIC) provides expert advice on how to get the most out of Ontario’s creative potential.
• The Risk Capital Working Group provides advice on what government and business can do to better support start-up companies.

• Playing matchmaker between innovators and investors

• The Ontario Research Fund supports direct and indirect operational costs associated with conducting research and matches up to 40 per cent of awards given through the Canada Foundation for Innovation.
• The MaRS Discovery District places start-ups, businesses, scientific support services and venture capital all under one roof.
• The Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) program strengthens research linkages between academia and industry.
• The Toronto Region Research Alliance (TRRA) aims at making the Greater Golden Horseshoe a leading research and investment hub by attracting new companies, expanding existing companies, building public and private research capacity and enhancing commercialization of research.

• Ontario is implementing a commercialization framework based on a system of "regional innovation networks." These multi-stakeholder, regional development organizations established with provincial funding to support partnerships among business, institutions and local governments and promote innovation.

• Helping researchers and innovators get the support they need

• The Premier's Catalyst Awards recognize innovations in breakthrough technologies and help Ontario's most innovative entrepreneurs move their creative ideas to national and international marketplaces.
• The Premier's Discovery Awards recognize research achievement in life sciences and medicine, natural sciences and engineering, social sciences and humanities and innovation leadership.
• Annual fellowships will be awarded to 40 post-doctoral students who play an important role on academic research teams as contributing scientists and as mentors to graduate students.

• The government invests $25 million towards the Premier’s Summit Awards to recognize and support excellence in medical research in Ontario. 
• The Early Researcher Award Program recognizes outstanding researchers at the early stage of their academic careers.

• Supporting innovators from an early age, through schools, cultural institutions and businesses

• The Youth Science and Technology Outreach Program connects youth with research and technology mentors who can help them explore diverse fields such as robotics, life sciences, environmental science, engineering and theoretical physics.
• The Teacher’s Science and Technology Outreach Program provides Ontario’s science teachers with opportunities to advance their scientific knowledge and understanding of research underway in Ontario, and help them share this knowledge with their students.

• Bringing our world-class research from the lab to the marketplace and making sure Ontario stays competitive

• The Ontario government is investing $160 million over the next four years in its Ideas to Market Strategy intended to accelerate commercialization and growth of innovative start-ups.
• The Ontario Venture Capital Fund is a $90 million project that will invest in Ontario-based firms in partnership with venture capital funds, pension funds and the federal government.
• The Ontario Research Commercialization Program is a three-year, $31.4 million project aimed at accelerating the movement of university and hospital research to the marketplace.

• Pursuing the big ideas to create bold solutions of the future

• $286 million for cancer research under the Ontario Cancer Research Network (OCRN) and the newly established Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) to advance groundbreaking research into both the causes and treatments for cancer.
• $50 million to the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo in support of research in foundational theoretical physics.
• $50 million to the University of Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing which is focused on harnessing the power of atoms to solve complex computer calculations.
• $5 million to the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Centre for Stroke Recovery. The virtual centre brings together research scientists, doctors and rehabilitation experts in the common goal of reducing disability in stroke patients.