Budget Update from the Ministry of Research and Innovation
To strengthen and promote Ontario as an innovative economy, the Ministry of Research and Innovation is investing nearly $1.7 billion over five years to 2009-10 through research, commercialization and outreach programs. This total includes the following new initiatives announced in the Ontario budget.
Accelerating Commercialization and the Growth of Risk Capital Investment
Innovation happens when researchers with good ideas work with entrepreneurs and businesses that turn these ideas into new products and services for the marketplace. Fostering a culture of innovation takes more than just research talent — it also takes investment talent. Innovative firms need capital from investors who are prepared to take on higher risks in pursuit of higher returns.
It is when an innovative firm is in its start-up stage that it most needs capital to survive and grow. Average survival rates for start-ups are quite low, often because they lack the business skills to attract and partner with investors.
Compared to the United States, however, returns on venture capital investment in Canada have been low. This has inhibited the growth of larger pools of capital that would meet the needs of fast-growing companies. As well, Ontario lags the United States when it comes to encouraging angel investors – individuals with personal capital to invest, who also provide hands-on business advice and help prepare young companies for follow-on investment by venture capital funds.
To accelerate commercialization and growth of innovative start-ups, the Ontario Government is investing new funding totalling $160 million over the next four years.Specifically, this investment includes:
- $46 million to help start-ups become more investor-ready by acquiring business management and entrepreneurial skills and to help them move a product or service idea further along the commercialization process, from the technical feasibility stage into the market feasibility stage;
- $90 million to invest in early-stage Ontario-based innovative firms in partnership with venture capital funds, pension funds and the federal government; and
- $24 million to encourage the development and commercialization of new bio-based, environmental and alternative energy technologies.
The government is investing $17 million to create three new awards programs aimed at recognizing and rewarding Ontario’s next generation of research and innovation talent. As well, the government is investing $25 million toward a Premier Summit Award.
Programs details include:
- Five annual “Innovator Awards” of $200,000 to researchers who have demonstrated excellence in innovation and entrepreneurship;
- Four annual “Senior Researcher Awards” totalling $1.5 million to recognize achievement in life sciences and medicine, natural sciences and engineering, social sciences and innovation leadership; and
- 40 annual $50,000, two-year fellowships matched by institutions awarded to post-doctoral students, who play an important role in academic research teams as contributing scientists and as mentors to graduate students.
As well, to recognize and support excellence in medical research in Ontario, the government proposes to establish the $25 million Premier Summit Award.
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and the Institute for Quantum Computing
Research is a fundamental source of new ideas – the raw material of innovation. Ontario’s researchers produce some of the best science in the world. To compete with researchers in other parts of the world, they need sustained public support. The Ontario Government is providing $100 million to two top research facilities to help produce the ideas and the people that will help place Ontario at the forefront of the next technology revolution.
Specifically, the investments include:
- $50 million for the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo. The institute was launched in October 2000 with a mandate to pursue research in foundational theoretical physics.
- $50 million for the University of Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing. The institute was established in 2002 to focus groundbreaking research into tackling large computations and complex mathematical problems at the atomic level.
The initiatives outlined above are part of the government's plan to strengthen the provincial economy by ensuring Ontario is competing and winning in the marketplace of ideas. Please click HERE for more information on how the Ontario Government is investing in innovation.
