For Immediate Release
September 22, 2006

McGUINTY GOVERNMENT BOOSTING LOCAL ECONOMY

McMaster Innovation Park To Bring 1,500 Jobs To Hamilton Region

Peter George, President McMaster University thanks the McGuinty government for its investment in the McMaster Innovation Park.

Peter George, President McMaster University

Left to right:
Peter George, President McMaster University;
Hamilton Mayor Larry Di Ianni;
Mamdouh Shoukri, Vice President of Research and International Affairs, McMaster University;
Ancaster Dundas Flamborough Aldershot MPP and
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Education, Ted McMeekin

HAMILTON -- The McGuinty government is investing $10 million in the McMaster Innovation Park to help transform 37 acres of vacant land into a research campus that will provide high-paying, highly skilled jobs, MPP Ted McMeekin announced today.

"The McMaster Innovation Park will be a place that builds bridges between the creation of knowledge and the delivery of ideas to the marketplace," said McMeekin, who made the announcement on behalf of Premier and Minister of Research and Innovation Dalton McGuinty. "McMaster is known as a centre for research excellence.  This site will make Hamilton a beacon for the kind of investment Ontario needs to compete and succeed in the global economy."

The park will house one million square feet of laboratory, office, teaching, training, and conference facilities, in support of research and development in a number of key industrial areas including materials and advanced manufacturing.

The City of Hamilton and McMaster expect the park will create 1,500 long-term local jobs worth more than $100 million to the local economy.

The park will be built on land that has long been fertile ground for discovery.  The original foundry and lamp manufacturing plant built on the site in 1912 was the site of many manufacturing "firsts" — including the manufacture of the gramophone in 1917, the radio in 1923 and the electric refrigerator in 1933.

The McGuinty government has also provided almost $3.9 million for a McMaster-led network to accelerate "technology transfer" — the movement of technology and scientific discoveries from public universities and research institutions to the private sector.  Through the Ontario Research Commercialization Program, public universities and research institutions can collaborate with numerous technology-based companies to identify promising technologies, develop them and move them more rapidly to market.

Investing in innovative research and development is the latest example of how the McGuinty government is working on the side of businesses and families to strengthen Ontario's economy.

Other initiatives include:

• Encouraging strong job creation, with 268,000 net new jobs since taking office
• Helping to generate almost $7 billion in automotive investments that retain and create thousands of high-value jobs
• Launching a $500-million Advanced Manufacturing Investment Strategy to help manufacturers develop cutting-edge technologies
• Investing $6.2 billion in our universities, colleges, student financial assistance and training programs.

"My government is committed to providing the support needed to get our promising ideas from the lab to the marketplace," said McGuinty.  "By sharing knowledge and bringing thinkers, innovators and entrepreneurs together, we're making sure Ontario will be a leader in the 21st century global economy."

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The original foundry and lamp manufacturing plant, built on the site in 1912, will be home to the first phase of the McMaster Innovation Park. The site has seen many manufacturing "firsts" - including the manufacture of the gramophone in 1917, the radio in 1923 and the electric refrigerator in 1933.