Dollars and Cents
Ontario’s major investments

---

By Amber Lepage-Monette

It has been said that Ontario is Canada’s largest biomedical cluster — and with over 130 biotech companies and more than 100 universities, colleges and research institutions, it’s no wonder Ontario is worth investing in.
Both province-wide and regional efforts are enhancing Ontario’s research community, and expanding its R&D infrastructure.
Here are just some of the programs and centres in Ontario that lead in innovation, and where some of the major science investments have been made during the past year.

Alternative Renewable Fuels Research and Development Fund — Issued through the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, this fund supports efforts to promote and expand agriculture opportunities in Ontario’s alternative fuels industry. In February, the most recent Call for Letters of Intent was issued, seeking both low-cost projects (up to $50,000) and large, multi-year projects — offering a maximum of $200,000 for any single venture.

MaRS Discovery District — MaRS became an official not-for-profit organization in May 2000. Five years later, the MaRS Centre officially opened, thanks to funding provided by all three levels of government, including more than $50 million from the province of Ontario alone. Designed to facilitate commercialization, the MaRS Centre brings together researchers with companies and investors.

Mars Landing — Medical and Related Sciences Linkages to Agriculture Network Development and Innovation with Guelph aims to foster technology development by connecting rural scientific and business R&D with the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, specifically forging relationships in the agri-food and health sectors. As part of the Science and Innovation portion of the Canada-Ontario Agriculture Policy Framework, MaRS Landing received $800,000 in funding from the provincial government, in addition to $2.34 million from the federal government.

Medical Education — While Ontario is already home to several world-class medical schools, three new satellite campuses are in the works, expanding opportunities for medical students. Over the next four years, satellite campuses offering undergraduate medical training will be opened in Mississauga, affiliated with the University of Toronto (Toronto, ON); in the Waterloo and St. Catharines regions, affiliated with McMaster University (Hamilton, ON); and in Windsor, affiliated with the University of Western Ontario (London, ON). Additional spaces have also been added to Queen’s University’s (Kingston, ON) medical school, which is gaining six spots, and the University of Ottawa (Ottawa, ON), which is acquiring 20 new openings. The provincial government has increased its funding to $17.4 million starting in 2006/07 to support increased enrolment.
Additionally, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) will open this fall, featuring 56 first-year undergraduate spaces in medical training. A collaboration between Laurentian University (Sudbury, ON) and Lakehead University (Thunder Bay, ON), NOSM recognizes Northern Ontario’s unique features, and aims to train physicians and encourage them to work in this region.

Ontario Cancer Research Network (OCRN) — Supported by the provincial government, the OCRN is a not-for-profit corporation that funds cancer research, supports clinical trial infrastructure and processes, and is establishing a province-wide tumour bank. In November 2005, 11 projects received a total of more than $5 million from the OCRN.

Ontario Genomics Institute (OGI) — A non-profit corporation that focuses on increasing the level of funding for genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics research, the OGI facilitates collaboration by negotiating industry-academic-government partnerships, as well as leading commercialization initiatives and sponsoring training programs.

Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) — Launched in December 2005 and backed with $142 million in investment over four years from the Ontario government, the OICR seeks researcher collaboration to fight cancer with prevention, diagnostic and treatment strategies. Of those provincial funds, $65.2 million went to support existing research programs under the OCRN, and $21.3 million to nine academic and research institutions.

Ontario Research Commercialization Program — Initiated by the new Ministry of Research and Innovation, the Ontario Research and Commercialization Program is a three-year, $27-million project that seeks to accelerate the commercialization of university and hospital discoveries by focusing on three areas: knowledge and technology transfer to the private sector, proof of principle funding, and building industry-receptor capacity. Grants will be provided to eligible research institutions, such as colleges, universities and hospitals, and not-for-profit organizations will generally range from $100,000 to $750,000 per year, per program component, depending on the kind of research being conducted and the number of participants involved.

Ontario Research Fund — This provincial government fund is split into two sections: research excellence and research infrastructure. Research excellence is a four-year program with $217 million to support research, develop research talent and encourage collaboration between research institutions and industry. The fund covers such direct costs as salaries, benefits, facilities and equipment, as well as indirect costs, such as overhead — it does not, however, cover contract R&D, clinical trials and endowed research chairs. The research infrastructure program has $300 million earmarked to help modernize, develop and/or acquire research infrastructure at universities, colleges and hospitals.

Soy 20/20 — Government, industry and academic partners participate in this project, which aims to provide market research, analysis and recommendations to benefit the soy sector. In November 2005, as part of the Canada-Ontario Agriculture Policy Framework, the provincial and federal governments pledged $625,000 and $525,000, respectively, to support the Soy 20/20 initiative.

Toronto Region Research Alliance (TRRA) — Launched in October 2005, the TRRA is a non-profit organization dedicated to making the Greater Toronto Area (including the city of Guelph, and the Hamilton-Wentworth and Waterloo regions) a key research centre, with a research-intensive industry. The TRRA received a total of $8 million in funding from all levels of government, including $3.3 million over three years from the government of Ontario. The TRRA plans to build the region’s research capacity by bringing together various stakeholders, thereby accelerating research commercialization and attracting further investment.