ORION recently announced two newly-connected institutions that have joined its member roster of some 80 research and education facilities across Ontario.

Innovation Park at Queen's University in Kingston is the first research park to connect to ORION, and the new Innovation and Commercialization Centre of the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology Inc. (NORCAT) in Sudbury will now be able to expand collaboration opportunities with innovation partners both within Ontario and around the world.

Officially opened last June, Innovation Park at Queen's University is becoming a hub for scientific collaboration and business development efforts in the Kingston and Eastern Ontario region. Through co-location of academic and industry researchers, service providers and commercialization experts, the Park is helping researchers and entrepreneurs to create, develop and market their innovations.

An ORION connection represents the opportunity to attract partners looking to expand their research and development collaborations with Queen's and other institutions in the region. This is an excellent example of how the unique capabilities of the ORION network can be used to enhance and support more collaboration between industry and university/college researchers.

NORCAT has been a leader in occupational health and safety training, mine training, technology innovation and commercialization. It has also contributed to critical development with such partners as NASA and the Canadian Space Agency. It is the central location for innovation development, occupational health and safety resource centre and eLearning production.

NORCAT's new home features an incubator facility and has centralized NORCAT's technology development and industrial services, bringing a new service for small businesses and pre-commercial entrepreneurs.

For more information, read the official news releases at www.orion.on.ca/recent-releases.