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Ontario’s New Ministry
By Shawn Lawrence
MEDI, ONTARIO’S NEW
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MINISTRY IS OPENING ONTARIO’S DOORS TO GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES
Last October, the Ontario government took a bold step by merging the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, and the Ministry of Research and Innovation into one.
The decision to integrate the two into the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation (MEDI) was made because the government saw the important link between research, innovation, the economy and job creation. The goal of this new ministry is to open doors to new investment for these industries, including those in the bioscience, the biopharma, medical technology and clean tech sectors. “This merger is definitely not a matter of ‘change for the sake of change’,” comments MEDI’s first Minister, Brad Duguid. He adds that MEDI signals a new era for innovation in Ontario, and with it, a new chapter for Ontario’s bio economy.
“I think it’s a sign that this government is serious about innovation and wants to see business development activities on the rise in this sector,” he says.
Duguid explains that the new ministry is responsible for programs which attract and retain business and economic development in the province. Specifically, it is charged with the task of finding new ways to open doors to both the business and investor communities.
“These are certainly not the only reasons for combining the ministries, but they are definitely a factor. Canada as a whole is a trading nation and a very important part of economic growth involves expanding trade. At the same time, enabling public/private partnerships is integral to the creation of interesting projects and new businesses. The idea is to ensure that innovation continues to be a driving force for Ontario’s economy and MEDI has more clout to build on the work accomplished by its previous entity, the Ministry of Research and Innovation.” “MRI was fantastic at facilitating collaborative efforts internationally, whether through its trade missions to Asia, or partnerships like the Stem Cell Consortium. It was also very successful in building partnerships between industry and academic leaders to promote and commercialize technologies. The goal of MEDI is to be better situated to reach out internationally as well as acting as a bridge between industry and academia.”
Thus far, the new ministry appears to be making good on its mandate, continuing onward with these initiatives, yet also expanding into other key areas such as business development. At the same time, MEDI hopes to address the root causes of Ontario’s productivity gap, increasing access to capital and bringing together entrepreneurs, academia and investors to help build globally focused, investor-ready companies.
One priority for this new ministry is addressing the funding gap that is facing the industry, and on that front, there has been plenty of activity.
Ontario Minister of Economic Development and Innovation Brad Duguid. Photos: Nation Wong Photography
MINISTRY OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION
ONTARIO
“There’s increasing investment interest in Ontario’s biopharma and cleantech industries. In fact, we saw several private sector venture capital funds established in Ontario in the last year. For example, in November, Glaxo Smith Kline established a $50 million national venture fund that will significantly advance the commercialization of scientific innovation, not just in Ontario, but across Canada. The venture capital arm of OMERS (Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System) launched a fund that will deploy $180 million over the next three to five years. SAIL Capital Partners and Stifel Nicolaus Canada committed to a $100-million cleantech fund. Finally, the MaRS Cleantech Fund, MaRS JOLT fund and the Communitech HYPERDRIVE Fund, all with heavy private sector backing, will collectively deploy more than $80 million into Ontario companies.”
Duguid believes that successes like this are due in large part to the merger.
“It all ties into the bigger picture, ensuring Ontario is in a position to compete globally. In my view and in the view of our Premier, we’re only going to achieve our goals if we are one of the most innovative societies and innovative economies in the world. You can’t have a modern and effective economic development plan without a very sound innovation strategy. At the same time, you can’t have an effective innovation strategy in today’s economy without ensuring that you can combine that with getting the jobs and business investments to grow your economy. So the two areas are very much intertwined.”
There is no denying that innovation has always been high on the Ontario government’s agenda and integral to its economy. The province has had a long-standing commitment to basic research, especially in the bioscience sector, and some of the best-in-class infrastructure with which to compete. And this commitment to research and innovation, to life sciences and biotechnology, all starts from the top.
“We have a government that from the top to bottom is absolutely passionate about research and innovation. Our Premier (Dalton McGuinty) has had his fingerprints on this Ministry from the very beginning, having been the first Minister of MRI. And his vision, participation and interest in this area remains strong.”
Minister Duguid says that there isn’t a week that goes by without the Premier walking by his desk, plunking down an article he’s read on research and innovation from somewhere in the world, and suggesting new ways that Ontario can improve on its innovation performance.
“He is fascinated by the opportunities that the innovation agenda presents to us and he fully recognizes that if we’re going to achieve our goal of passing on a growing, strong economy with new world job opportunities to our young people, that we’re going to have to be a leader in innovation and the province is going to have to play a very important role in getting us there.”
The goal may sound ambitious, but Duguid believes Ontario has a solid base of innovation to tap into for a thriving bio economy. It’s a fact not lost on the Minister. He appreciates the work our local scientists and brightest minds are producing. And he clearly advocates and promotes the fact that Ontario is home to some very exciting activity in the bioscience field.
“We’re among the top three in North America in terms of our bioscience cluster. Ontario is home to some of the best teaching and research hospitals in the world; we have world class post-secondary institutions, and we’re also home to many of the best researchers in the world. One of the things I’d recommend to anybody visiting Ontario is to take a trip to some of our innovation hubs like MaRS, visit their labs and see some of the exciting innovation taking place there in areas like genomics, cancer, and brain research. I’m convinced that we’re close Staying ahead by
Staying at the forefront
of innovation.
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to making huge breakthroughs that will provide global benefits in a number of different areas.”
Beyond Ontario’s standing in the world, it also benefits from a tradition of exceptional science.
“We also have a legacy for making great discoveries, James Till and Ernest McCulloch’s work on stem cells and the discovery of insulin to name a few. And we continue to make breakthroughs in oncology, neurology, cardiology, imaging, diagnostics, stem cells, and informatics. I think the key here now is bridging this great scientific tradition and bonding it with our economic objectives and strategies. Again, they’re really one and the same and we can use this synergy to drive Ontario forward.”
Duguid says this includes elevating the profile of the industry in the minds of investors, establishing new small business support programs here and offering incentives to companies that choose to relocate or establish a presence in Ontario. Essentially, it’s about expanding the focus to include business development.
MEDI continues to build on this momentum. For example, at BIO 2010, MRI launched a $161-million Life Sciences Commercialization Strategy. The province has also established two venture capital programs – the $250-million Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund and the $205-million Ontario Venture Capital Fund, to which the Government of Ontario contributed $90 million. All of these programs tie in to Ontario’s Innovation Agenda.
“We are making investing in Ontario more attractive for businesses, through government-to-business services that move at the speed of business. It’s about finding ways to stay ahead of the game. We need to be innovative, not just in the products we develop and produce, but in the way we conduct business. This means making government programs and services easier to access while reducing paperwork and outdated regulatory requirements.”
He says it’s not as tough a sell as some might think, and already there are signs the business community is taking notice.
“Recently IBM located its only global research centre here in Ontario. It’s a $210-million investment which creates 145 research jobs right off the top. It’s a partnership with seven Ontario universities that will tackle challenges that include the bio health area. IBM could have gone anywhere in the world to set this up; but they chose Ontario because Ontario is one of the best places in the world to do research and to grow a business.”
Going forward, the ministry will continue to support the partnership between Ontario and Québec in developing the Life Sciences Corridor initiative announced at BIO 2011.
“There’s a commitment from both provinces to find ways to grow this corridor and to grow globally together. That includes increasing the size and significance of our industry and this creates potential to attract resources worldwide. It’s not always easy because there are areas that we compete in in the life sciences sector, but the onus is still on us to find ways to go beyond those areas we compete in and find areas that together we can create synergy.”
With the recent Ontario Budget MEDI is also taking steps towards making the province more business friendly to the bioscience sector.
“We want to make it easier for our businesses to access Ontario business support programs. We’ve established the Jobs and Prosperity Council, which will report directly to the Premier and will generate new ideas and approaches to improving Ontario’s long-term productivity and competitiveness. And the innovation piece will be an important part of the work we do with that council. At the same time we’re maintaining our commitment to research and innovation, and have already invested about three and a half billion dollars since 2003 – about 50 per cent more than the previous government.”
The end goal is to see more of this type of activity, to make Ontario a focal point of international interest in the area of life sciences. And according to Duguid, this can be attained not just through research and development funding, but by providing business advisory services and marketing Ontario to potential international business investors using the Open for Business initiative as a key selling point.
This is part of the message MEDI is taking to BIO 2012 in Boston, using this premier annual international conference as a platform to attract the world’s attention. Duguid is very excited to be going to Boston and not just because he is an avid Boston Bruins fan. He sees BIO 2012 as the perfect setting to tell the world about everything Ontario’s bioscience industry has to offer.
“In this age of globalization, the world is becoming flat as they say; it’s become a very small world. And I think that we’re going to see a considerable amount of progress in solving some of the world’s challenges, but only if we’re able to break down the silos that exist between between different levels of government, between different sectors and between countries and jurisdictions. We’re going there to tell the world, come to Ontario, do your research here and bring your business here, we are here to partner.”
Ontario’s doors are open.
