[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/mcmeekinannouncment3 edited.jpg” caption=”McMaster President Peter George, Hamilton Mayor Larry DiIanni, Vice-President (Research) Mamdouh Shoukri and MPP Ted McMeekin, are all smiles about provincial investments in the MIP and C4. Photo by Glenn Lowson.”]Member of Provincial Parliament Ted McMeekin visited the McMaster Innovation Park last week to formally announce the McGuinty government's $10 million investment in the McMaster Innovation Park (MIP) and nearly $4 million more for technology transfer initiatives.

The government is investing $3.9 million in the C4 network through the Ontario Research Commercialization Program (ORCP), an initiative launched last year to accelerate the transfer of research and development to the private sector.

The C4–the first of its kind in Canada–is one of the country's largest consortia for technology transfer. It is based on a joint vision for coordination, cooperation, collaboration and commercialization, and is comprised of founding partners McMaster University, University of Guelph, University of Waterloo, University of Western Ontario and their affiliated hospitals and research institutes, as well as the University of Windsor, Wilfrid Laurier University, the Lawson Health Research Institute and the Robarts Research Institute.

Mamdouh Shoukri, vice-president of research and international affairs, says the investment in both the MIP and the C4 speaks volumes to the importance the province places on research and innovation.

“Innovation is the key to a strong economy and the McGuinty government continues to direct its resources strategically to ensure that the knowledge gained from research will translate into opportunity, competitiveness and prosperity for our region,” says Shoukri.

Some $2.7 million from the ORCP will be used to implement a three-pronged approach to increase the shared capabilities of the network:

1) specialized personnel will be hired to more effectively market and commercialize technologies,

2) investments will be made in small projects and proposals by researchers in order to expand and validate their inventions and

3) student entrepreneurship activities will be enhanced and supported.

The remaining $1.2 million will be used by TECNet–a technology network formed by McMaster University's Xerox Centre for Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Innovation (XEEi) and the University of Waterloo's Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship & Technology (CBET)– to promote activities that build awareness and link entrepreneurs and innovators to industry, government labs, and the investment community, as well as local, provincial, national and international business enterprise organizations.