The IPL newsletter: Volume 1, Issue 3

Ontario Budget, May 2, 2000

The Ontario contained a substantial increase in Science and Technology investments. They include: a tripling of the Ontario Innovation Trust by providing an additional endowment of $500 million for research infrastructure; doubling the Ontario Research and Development Challenge Fund in 2000-02 to $100 million; doubling annual funding to $10 million for the Premier’s Research Excellence Awards; an annual investment of $30 million for a new Ontario Research and Performance Fund; and $5 million for science and technology awareness and innovation over five years. There were also some tax incentives measures in the budget such as reduction in Corporate Income Tax for certain industries and the Ontario Research Employee Stock Option Deduction and the Educational Technology Tax incentive. Full details can found at the budget website:

http://www.gov.on.ca/FIN/bud00/index.htm

Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network

MEST announced on the 23rd of May in Ottawa a $57 million investment to create ORION (Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network). ORION is a high speed, state-of-the art network to be used by researchers, educators and scientists to conduct advanced research and to develop and test new technologies.

Further information: http://www.est.gov.on.ca/english/ar/nr_intro.cfm?news_id=175&body=yes

Ontario Centre for Genomic Computing

MEST announced the Ontario Research and Development Challenge Fund investment to expand the Ontario Centre for Genomic Computing at The Hospital for Sick Children (HSC) and thereby the Fund’s commitment to genetic research has reached $75 million.

For more information contact:http://www.ontariochallengefund.com/english/news/04052000.shtml

U.S. Council on Competitiveness

On March 22,  forty seven members of the Council on Competitiveness, including CEOs of some of America’s largest corporations, presidents of major U.S. universities, and prominent labor leaders, signed a letter to Congressional leaders advocating long-term investments in America’s science and technology enterprise that will strengthen U.S. competitiveness and assure future economic prosperity. The letter was delivered to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle, Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert and House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt.

http://www.compete.org/bookstore/boost_index.html

Legislation Proposed to Bring Ontario into the World of E-Commerce

John Hastings, M.P.P. Etobicoke North, has initiated legislation to put Ontario on the cutting edge of the electronic age with the introduction of his Private Member’s Bill, The E-Commerce Act, 2000.  This proposed legislation creates a legal framework for e-commerce. This legislation will have a positive impact on the demand for Ontario products and services on-line and will work to encourage the growth of e-commerce in Ontario’s communities. If passed, this legislation will help ensure that Ontario is on the forefront of the electronic age. The legislation is based on a model developed by the Uniform Law Conference of Canada, which builds on the United Nations Model Law on Electronic Commerce.
For more information on this initiative, contact Eve Horvath, in M.P.P. John Hasting’s office, at 416-325-6001.

Towards a Digital Media Institute
The University of Toronto’s Knowledge Media Design Institute, Ryerson Polytechnic University, Sheridan College, and the Canadian Film Centre are continuing their 10-week lecture series: Towards a Digital Media Institute. Sessions are held on Thursdays from 3:00-5:00 pm. For more information, please go to:

http://www.rcc.ryerson.ca/dmi/

Brain Gain 2000: Meeting Ontario’s Innovation Challenge

Taking place on June 1, 2000 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. This one day symposium will bring together some of Ontario’s leading thinkers from the worlds of science, business, media and government to discuss the keys to competitiveness in the knowledge-based economy. The symposium is sponsored by the Ontario Challenge Fund. For more information see:

http://www.ontariochallengefund.com/english/braingain_flyer.pdf

Forum on E-Business: Moving Forward

The purpose of the Forum On E-Business, June 7, 2000 in Montreal is to discuss the work of the Canadian E-Business Opportunities Roundtable, present the experiences of companies in major sectors of the economy and identify solutions to help companies embrace
this new way of doing business. For further information visit:

http://e-com.ic.gc.ca/eteam/quebec/?he=y

This event will be held at the Omni Mont-Royal Hotel, 1050 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal. For registration information, contact Nolie
Imprévert by phone at (514) 871-4000 extension 4020 or by e-mail at nimprevert@ccmm.qc.ca

Venture Fair 2000

Brought to you by Toronto Venture Group, a member of SMART Toronto, and York Technology Association (YTA), you are invited to attend Venture Fair 2000 to be held on Wednesday, June 14, 2000 from 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. at the Sheraton Centre Hotel, 123 Queen Street West.
Venturefair.com is a one-day Internet and e-business venture capital event. Venturefair.com is the first Canadian financing event to exclusively feature Internet and e-business companies looking for capital.

For more information on this event, please visit their Web site at http://www.venturefair.com.

Partnerships 2000

A networking event organized by Materials and Manufacturing Ontario in Toronto on 15th of June, 2000, aimed at industry, universities and the financial community. For further information contact:

http://www.mmo.on.ca/partnerships_2000.htm

Creativity 2000

The National Research Council, the Canada Council for the Arts and the National Arts Centre are co-organizing a conference in Ottawa on 21st of June, 2000 called “Creativity 2000” where special attention will be placed on promoting a new alliance between the arts and sciences communities and to celebrate creativity and the arrival of the new millennium.

Contact: http://www.nrc.ca/confserv/creative/ for further information.

ED-MEDIA 2000: World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & EducationalTelecommunications

The annual conference of the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE) will take place in Montreal from June 26 to July 1, 2000. The conference is hosted by the Computer Research Institute of Montréal (CRIM) Concordia University, McGill University, LICEF Research Center (Tele_université), University of Montréal, and Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. For a sampling of session by topic, see

http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/sampling.htm

The early registration date is May 16. For the Advance Program or to Register, see

http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/advprog.htm.