Northern Ontario has been approved by the Minister of Enterprise Opportunity and Innovation to develop a strategic business plan to support a biotechnology cluster that will further diversify the northern economy.
Post-secondary institutions in the North are elated with the news. Barbara Taylor, president of Canadore College, is excited about what this may mean for her institution.
“We do have a three-year biotechnology diploma program, one of the few in the province and the only one in Northern Ontario right now,” Taylor says.
The Eve’s government provided $200,000 to the Northern Ontario Biotechnology Initiative Consortium to assist the region in establishing a business plan for biotechnology. An estimated $400,000 matching contribution is expected to come from the consortium.
In the next few months, Taylor along with other college and university presidents throughout the North will consider developing a biotechnology degree, which is something the North does not have at present.
Approximately 70 per cent of students enrolled in Canadore’s three-year program are from outside the northern region.
“Right now we are bringing people to Northern Ontario, but a majority are leaving when they graduate. We want to change that.”
With this recent news, Taylor believes it is possible to attract the necessary scientists and researchers and build the beginnings of a Northern Ontario biotechnology cluster.
“What is really exciting about this is that this kind of initiative leads to partnerships among the five (major) municipalities in the North and also leads to partnerships with education.”
Dennis Mock, the new president of Nipissing University also agrees. Having come from Ryerson University, in southern Ontario where biotechnology is thrusting the economy forward, “I understand the implications and the opportunities associated with the biotechnology sector,” Mock says.
However, Nipissing University does not currently have a science program that could marry into a biotechnology degree. But that may change. Mock says the university is looking at a Canada Research Council chair that would enable the university to investigate environmental issues. If accepted, that could place them on the map in terms of biotechnology, he says.
