Ontario supercluster chosen to receive up to $230 million in federal funding

Feb 16 2018, 2:34 am

In what Ontario’s Minister of Research, Innovation and Science Reza Moridi called a “truly exciting day,” the province announced that Ontario’s Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster – led by Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGM Canada) – has qualified for up to $230 million under the Government of Canada’s Innovation Superclusters Initiative.

The announcement was made by Moridi, along with Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development and Growth, Steven Del Duca.

In a joint statement, Moridi and Del Duca said Ontario “continues to be Canada’s manufacturing heartland, accounting for almost half of our country’s manufacturing GDP.”

The Ottawa-Toronto-Kitchener/Waterloo innovation corridor alone, they said, employs more than 200,000 tech workers and “is the home of some of world’s best academic and research centres. Together, we have developed the critical mass and technology platforms to be a global leader in advanced manufacturing.”

The ministers said Premier Kathleen Wynne has “been a champion for our province when it comes to building a culture of innovation, research excellence.”

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The Ontario government said that they, “will continue to help build the innovation ecosystem that will be the foundation of the advanced manufacturing hub and help our province’s manufacturers continue to be world leaders in the application of advanced technologies.”

To drive their point home, the pair also pointed to the government’s recent investments in autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, supercomputing, 5G networks and quantum technology.

“We know that advanced manufacturing is critical not only for the Ontario economy, but the Canadian economy as well. In fact, 140 organizations wrote letters of support for the strategy, totaling $800M in cash and in-kind contributions to support this initiative,” they said.

“This Supercluster recognizes Ontario’s traditional strength and further positions us to be a leader in the future of manufacturing.”

Eric ZimmerEric Zimmer

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