It was not a big surprise to Barbara Eccles to find out that the application for a northwestern Ontario biotechnology cluster was turned down by the Ministry of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation.
Northern Centre for Biotechnology and Clinical Research, formerly Neureka, has been selected by the province to lead a pan-northern biotechnology initiative for Northern Ontario.
“It would have been nice to kick-start the development in the way we wanted to, but it does not mean (the biotechnology cluster for the northwest) is not going to work,” Eccles, technology transfer officer at Lakehead University says. “It may take a little bit longer.”
She believes one of the reasons their proposal was turned down was because they concentrated on the current and future environment of biotechnology in their area.
“We wanted to look at where we are today, but also where we want to be when we grow up.”
“(The provincial government) wanted to know where you are now and what your strengths are now, so I do not think we fit into the mandate of the program,” Eccles adds.
This is not to say that northwestern Ontario will not pursue a biotechnology community.
“What we would like to do is make sure that we have all the pieces in place that would encourage biotechnology businesses to grow and locate and be created in Thunder Bay.”
An official announcement on the Northern Ontario Biotechnology Institute, the pan-northern cluster, is expected to be made on Aug. 8.
