June 11, 2009

BUILDING AN INNOVATION ECONOMY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

Ontario’s Innovation Agenda is about building on the strength of our greatest global competitive advantage – our people. The goal of the agenda is to make Ontario one of the best places to do world-class research and move great ideas from the lab bench or the drawing board to the global marketplace, and into the hands of customers around the world.

The McGuinty government has made Ontario’s Innovation Agenda a key component of its five-point plan for growing Ontario’s economy. In 2005, Premier McGuinty created the Ministry of Research and Innovation to focus on innovation, support world-leading research and attract investment in areas of focus where Ontario already is, or has the capacity to become, a global leader. Along with a commitment to funding basic research, Ontario’s priorities are:

• Life Sciences: Conquering disease through the life sciences, biotechnology, advanced health technologies, pharmaceutical research and advanced manufacturing
• The Bio-economy: Tackling climate change through bio-based, environmental, alternative energy and clean technologies and advanced manufacturing
• Digital Media and ICT: Advancing a more creative, connected and global digital universe through new digital media, information and communications technologies.

LIFE SCIENCES

Whether it’s a breakthrough in stem cell or cancer research or cataloguing the world’s biodiversity, innovations in life sciences are putting Ontario at the forefront of new discoveries. People around the world are benefiting from Ontario’s legacy of medical discoveries: insulin, the pacemaker, the artificial kidney, advances in 3-D imaging techniques and the discovery of genes for cystic fibrosis, epilepsy, breast cancer and Alzheimer's. Ontario is the 3rd largest medical research cluster in North America.

BIO-ECONOMY

A changing climate, the growing need for clean energy and clean water, and the search for more sustainable replacements for a whole host of products and processes are not just challenges in Ontario. They are global challenges. Ontario has the research and engineering talent to solve these challenges and build new companies, new businesses and new jobs in the process. Since 2003, Ontario has invested over $600 million in research projects and companies working on green technologies and initiatives.

DIGITAL MEDIA AND INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES (ICT)

From the telephone to IMAX to the Blackberry, Ontario has a tremendous legacy of innovation in information and communications technologies and digital media. It’s an area that’s exploding around the world and where Ontario is well positioned to build global companies. The province's entertainment and creative cluster is the third largest in North America by employment after California and New York State. Over the past five years, nearly every film nominated for a special effects Oscar has used technology developed in Ontario. 

SUPPORTING INNOVATION IN 2009 BUDGET

Research and innovation are key pillars of the 2009 Budget, which includes major investments in training, research, commercialization and industry collaborations. Highlights include:

• A new tax reform package that would cut Ontario’s marginal effective tax rate on new investment in half, helping make Ontario one of the most competitive jurisdictions in the industrialized world for new investments
• $300 million in capital funds over six years for research infrastructure
• $100 million for the Global Leadership Round in Genomics and Life Sciences, bringing Ontario's commitment to science to a historic high of $1.3 billion
• $50 million over four years to promote technology demonstration projects through the Innovation Demonstration Fund
• $250 million to foster new high-tech industry investment through the Emerging Technologies Fund
• $10 million over three years to develop the best talent through hands-on applied research, technology transfer and commercialization opportunities
• $2 million a year in proposed tax relief to extend the 10 per cent refundable Ontario Innovation Tax Credit to more small and medium-sized corporations for Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) in Ontario.

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See also:

• News Release: Ontario Invests In Leading-Edge Medical Research
• Backgrounder: Projects Funded In Ottawa