NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
March 31, 2008
ONTARIO FUNDS SKILLS TRAINING FOR NEXT GENERATION JOBS
McGuinty Government Funds New Digital Media Lab At OCAD
NEWS
Ontario is investing $9 million to help the Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) train the next generation of digital media designers and entrepreneurs.
OCAD will use the funds for its Digital Futures Initiative, a digital media and interactive design lab that will bring together students and private sector partners from a cross-section of industries.
The lab will graduate students who have business and computer science knowledge, as well as industrial design and artistic content creation skills.
Ontario’s investment is part of the 2008 Budget, which outlined skills training, infrastructure investments, plans to lower business costs and support for innovation.
QUOTES
“Ontario’s entertainment and creative cluster is a cornerstone of Ontario’s new innovative economy,” said Minister of Research and Innovation John Wilkinson. “Today’s investment is about building on our strengths and the ingenuity of our people -- developing synergies and supporting strategic partnerships to ensure that when the next Google or iPhone is developed, jobs will be created in Ontario.”
“We are taking bold steps to secure Ontario’s position as a world leader in the digital media sector,” said Minister of Culture Aileen Carroll. “Enhancing tax credits, expanding the Interactive Digital Media Fund and investing in OCAD’s Digital Futures Initiative will help our innovators, entrepreneurs and artists make the most of their talents and fuel Ontario’s economy.”
“OCAD and Ontario are well-positioned to capitalize on the blisteringly hot digital and interactive media market,” said OCAD president Sara Diamond. “The new lab will disseminate emerging knowledge rapidly, model new technologies, processes and products and fast-track product development and commercialization. It will be an asset to the Ontario economy and an attractor of investment and talent.”
QUICK FACTS
- Once the lab is in full operation, it will serve a total student population of more than 500 graduate students and 3500 undergraduates attending OCAD.
- Over 80,000 net new jobs in Ontario have been created in the entertainment and creative industries cluster since 1999, an increase of 30.3 per cent. Job growth in the overall Ontario economy has risen by 17 per cent.
- Ontario’s entertainment and creative cluster is the third largest in North America by employment after California and New York.
LEARN MORE
- The McGuinty government is supporting innovation and job growth in the digital media sector through:
- Next Generation of Jobs Fund
- $10 million to help the University of Waterloo create a new Stratford campus focused on global business and digital media.
- A proposed 10-year tax exemption for new corporations that commercialize intellectual property in Ontario developed by Canadian universities, colleges and research institutions.
- The 2008 Budget, which proposes to enhance the Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit and provide $7 million over four years for the Interactive Digital Media Fund.
- The Ontario Media Development Corporation, an agency of the Ministry of Culture, is the central catalyst for the province’s cultural media cluster including interactive digital media.
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