Government will fund diabetes project

UW is expected to play a large role in $30 million worth of research into treatments for juvenile diabetes that was announced at a news conference in the Lyle Hallman Institute yesterday.

The bulk of the money, $20 million, is coming from the federal government through its Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. As a result, this region “will strengthen its position as a hub for international diabetes research thanks to a new partnership that will see hundreds of high-paying, highly skilled new jobs created,” says a news release from Gary Goodyear, MP for Cambridge and federal science minister.

“Our government supports scientific research because it creates jobs, strengthens the economy and improves Canadians’ quality of life,” said Goodyear. “This investment will advance diabetes research and make sure that southern Ontario continues to be a leading destination for world-class research and commercialization opportunities.”

The project is a two-year partnership with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Canada, which will provide an additional $10 million. The funding, yesterday’s announcement said, “will support the launch of a Clinical Trial Network in southern Ontario, expand diabetes research, and help bring new technologies to the marketplace, so that Canadians and people around the world can benefit. For example, this partnership will help support the Foundation’s Artificial Pancreas Project and Regenerative Medicine Technology Program.

“This new partnership will diversify Ontario’s economy into research fields for which there are worldwide needs, and attract international researchers and institutions to the province.”

The JDRF said the project “will involve institutions such as University of Waterloo and McMaster University along with other southern Ontario institutions. Located in the heart of southern Ontario and among Canada’s leading universities, these universities are ideally positioned to partner with JDRF to accelerate southern Ontario’s path towards being a hub for viable research, development and commercialization.”

Ian McKillop, UW's executive director for health research, commented that "Waterloo looks forward to taking an active role in this," though he couldn't say much yet about what that role will be. According to university president David Johnston, ““The University of Waterloo welcomes the opportunity to bring its expertise in mathematics, computer science and engineering to bear on this exciting and important research venture. We look forward to working with McMaster University, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and our government partners on a project to accelerate Canadian-based diabetes research.”

A key role for UW is expected to involve data analysis as information floods in from hospitals and clinics where diabetes is treated. Johnston said both the school of computer science and the school of pharmacy will have a role to play in collecting and assessing data.

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United Way triumph, and other notes

It took a little while, but the on-campus United Way campaign has surpassed its goal. Russell MacKay, working to coordinate the campaign from an office in the Davis Centre, reports that at the end of last week, gifts, pledges and the proceeds from special events across campus had hit a total of $201,027, a bit above the ambitious $200,000 target. "With your help," said a memo to volunteers, "we have reached 545 donors with a corresponding participation rate of 12.2%." The money goes to dozens of local charitable and service agencies, including the Food Bank, the YWCA, the Learning Disabilities Association and the Red Cross. Benefiting from the campaign in a different way are two of the donors, winners in a draw held as the campaign was winding up. In the "return donor" category, Robert Mann of the physics and astronomy department collects a $100 gift certificate from the University Club; as a "new donor", Mark Spencer of the library wins a $50 gift certificate from retail services.

At an event this afternoon, UW and several local health-related agencies will announce “an innovative approach involving the appointment of a leading medical specialist that provides better geriatric care for seniors in Waterloo Region and Wellington County”. A media advisory says that UW, “together with philanthropist Ronald Schlegel, the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, will introduce the expert in aging and cardiovascular disease as the Schlegel Research Chair in Geriatric Medicine. An investment of more than $1 million will support the new chair and a team to do research aimed at improving delivery of health care to seniors in Waterloo Region and Wellington County.” The celebration is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at the Village of Winston Park retirement community on Block Line Road in Kitchener.

Don Cowan, retired from UW’s School of Computer Science (but still active there), is one of three people who were presented with the City of Waterloo’s highest honour last night. Presenting the Waterloo Award, mayor Brenda Halloran said the three recipients “have all made a lasting difference in Waterloo through their volunteerism and are most deserving of this recognition”. Cowan (left), who was one of UW’s CS pioneers, “also has provided vital expertise and resources to many organizational partnerships,” last night’s citation said, “resulting in the creation of Internet portals now used by thousands of people locally. Cowan’s other local contributions include being involved with Intelligent Waterloo and the Waterloo Mathematics Foundation.” And that’s not to mention the Computer Systems Group, which led to UW’s first spinoff companies more than a generation ago, and the Waterloo Information Network just a few years ago, an early project to marry local data with geographic information systems. Cowan was joined in receiving the Waterloo Award by local accountant and community volunteer David Graham and, in absentia, venture capitalist Tim Jackson, who has served on UW’s board of governors. “Engaged volunteers create a vibrant Waterloo,” says Mary Thorpe, who manages the city’s volunteer services. “Don Cowan, David Graham and Tim Jackson certainly live up to that motto.” They were chosen for this award by a selection committee including a member of city council, city employees, volunteers and past recipients.

The engineering faculty's e-newsletter reports that "Actua and its Ontario members have been chosen as the winner of the minister’s award by the Ontario Trillium Foundation. Actua is a national charitable organization dedicated to providing young Canadians with hands-on learning experiences in science, technology and engineering." Jennifer Flanagan, president and CEO of Actua, credits Waterloo’s Engineering Science Quest program with playing a significant role in Actua’s overall provincial achievements. “We are proud to share this award with you,” she said.

There are a few corrections to yesterday's Daily Bulletin: James She, winner of an Innovation Challenge Award from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, received his PhD earlier this year in electrical and computer engineering, not in computer science. The Waterloo-created art installation that will appear the Venice Biennale is titled "Hylozoic Soil", not "Hylozoic Ground". And Alert, where geography student Graham Pope carried the Olympic torch, is in Nunavut, not in the Northwest Territories.

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Overview of high-tech in Waterloo Region

I’ve been browsing through the glossy “Technology Supplement” that was distributed with the Waterloo Region Record on October 27 (and is also available on its own in print form and online). It brings the realization that living in the middle of high-tech heaven can make it easy to miss the forest for the trees.

The 72-page magazine, produced by the Record’s parent company of Grand River Media, includes profiles of dozens of local firms that rely on, or create, high technology in one way or another — but clearly that’s just scratching the surface. “More than 570 technology companies now call the region home,” writes Record reporter Chuck Howitt. “Collectively, those 575 companies employ roughly 30,000 people.”

Some of the companies are existing firms that came from elsewhere, but there are “more than 200” local startups, says another article in the Spotlight, this one by Iain Klugman, who heads the Communitech consortium. “What’s our secret?” he asks. “As a community, we are focused on accomplishment, on building capacity, on succeeding together. We’re weathering the economic downturn, maintaining and even hiring while other tech clusters feel the pinch.”

Says Ron DeRuyter, who edited the Spotlight: “While other sectors of the economy, notably manufacturing, and particularly the auto industry, have been devastated by the global slowdown, the local technology community has barely missed a beat.”

According to local venture capitalist Tim Jackson, the high-tech sector in Waterloo Region is especially resilient because it’s “extremely diverse”, with “four pillars: software, hardware, wireless and digital. To those pillars could be added biotechnology, especially in Guelph, and advanced manufacturing.”

Editor DeRuyter makes another point: “Quite a few of the startups profiled in these pages were launched by former employees of Research In Motion. RIM has generated incredible wealth, not to mention some 8,000 jobs in Waterloo, but it also is playing a key role in business creation. RIM owes a lot of its success to the University of Waterloo; now, like UW, it is spinning out new businesses.”

Many of the profiles in the Spotlight mention specific UW connections. For example:

• Biotactic Inc., a consulting firm involved with fisheries and natural habitat restoration, founded by Chris Bunt while he worked on his PhD in the area of fish telemetry.

• Bioinformatics Solutions, founded by computer science faculty members Bin Ma and Ming Li.

• Intelligent Mechatronic Systems, whose chief executive is Otman Basir of UW’s department of electrical and computer engineering.

• Waterloo Environmental Biotechnology, headed by Bruce Greenberg of the biology department.

The Spotlight also has a feature story about the Accelerator Centre in UW’s research and technology park; another about the Stratford Institute and its role in digital media development; a piece about crash test research being done by Duane Cronin of the mechanical and mechatronics engineering department; and a report on sustainable energy research headed by Jatin Nathwani of E&CE.

“One of the keys to Waterloo’s success,” one commentator writes, “is its long history of producing homegrown practical software, starting in the 1970s at UW with educational software launched by Wes Graham and Watcom. This evolved into general purpose software developed by companies like Open Text and MKS, which laid a solid foundation for the building of a technology cluster. And in every case it was done with local money.”

In addition to its feature stories, the Spotlight is heavy with advertising from high-tech companies and the services that support them, including educational institutions. UW has half-page ads promoting the Master of Health Informatics program that’s scheduled to begin next year; the Quantum-Nano Centre; and rubber recycling techniques developed by Costas Tzoganakis of chemical engineering, and the work done at UW to move his technology into the marketplace. There’s also an ad — on the front page — from the Research and Technology Park.

CAR

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