Hours after Ontario Cabinet ministers were sworn in to their new portfolios, outgoing Research and Innovation Minister John Wilkinson passed the torch to Training, Colleges and Universities Minister John Milloy, by announcing an ambitious new direction for the government's research and commercialisation programs.

Minister Wilkinson, who takes on the Revenue portfolio in the Dalton McGuinty Cabinet, gave his final address as MRI minister at the Economic Club of Canada luncheon on Wednesday, where he announced that the new Ontario Network of Excellence (ONE) will dramatically streamline programs and services to accelerate collaboration and commercialization of research.

Minister Milloy, who now takes on the MRI portfolio in addition to his Training, Colleges and Universities responsibilities, will be leading the roll-out of ONE.

Based on four pillars, ONE will bring together the various programs and initiatives that currently support research, innovation and commercialization, by leveraging the capabilities of existing agencies and support organizations across Ontario.

The Ontario Centres of Excellence, for example, would lead ONE's academic and research collaboration programs. MaRS would oversee ONE's support for entrepreneurships and start-ups. ONE would work with Ontario's regional innovation networks (RINs) to deliver a new business acceleration program. MRI funding for specific projects and initiatives would round out the main framework of the new approach.

Although ONE will be centrally coordinated, said the minister, it will be delivered regionally, drawing on the strengths of the institutions and leadership already responsible for implementing innovation and commercialization of research throughout the province. "We will make geography irrelevant, and the programs seamless," he said.

ONE will "unlock the remarkable potential across our province," he said, aiming to make Ontario among the top four jurisdictions in the world in commercialization of research. "We are not there yet," he said, "but we will be."

An advisory body will advise the government on how best to implement the new direction.