October 2003
MaRS Landing extends biotech reach
MaRS Landing, one of ORION’s earliest project partners, is looking forward to extending the benefits of its expertise in agri-food and life sciences to other regions of Ontario, over ORION’s gigabit optical network.
MaRS Landing - Medical and Related Sciences Linkages to Agriculture Network Development and Innovation with Guelph, is a project partnered by the University of Guelph, the City of Guelph, Ontario Agri-Food Technologies (OAFT) and the MaRS Discovery District
A key MaRS Landing objective is to bring together best-in-class scientific and business activities to facilitate commercialization. Its goal is to accelerate the commercialization of scientific discovery, fuelling the creation of new wealth and opportunities for Canadians.
The project, located in Guelph, nearly 100 kilometres from Toronto, is looking to ORION to provide the connectivity it needs to give Toronto-based and other scientists and researchers direct access to life science and agri-food clusters in the Guelph region.
Its primary focus is to link biomedical research from the MaRS Discovery District (located in Toronto) to more rural programs and to build on the fact that with new discoveries in genomics, computational sciences and chemistry, there is more synergy than ever among traditional agriculture, medical sciences and manufacturing.
John Kelly, the Project’s Executive Director, comes to MaRS Landing with a wealth of experience in the private and public sectors. He has held various positions with multinational companies, including Land O’ Lakes Feeds, Ralston Purina, Rhone-Poulenc Canada Inc. and Aventis CropSciences Inc., as well as the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
“The MaRS Landing project is the first step in bringing together outstanding research capabilities from many different sources and ultimately benefiting the public,” said Kelly. “Linking established research programs to rural Ontario capabilities is key to the success of MaRS Landing and represents a great opportunity for its partners.”
MaRS Landing is looking to extend its connectivity to other regions of Ontario, having been in discussions with groups from Windsor, to Ottawa, to Sudbury. “We will be providing those linkages right across the province,” he said.
“The MaRS Landing project is a wonderful example of the MaRS vision, to actively network research communities throughout Ontario and beyond, and to share resources to ensure the creation of new wealth and opportunities for the people of Ontario and Canada. We’re pleased to be part of this innovative project with our partners in Guelph," said John Cook, president of the MaRS Discovery District.
One benefit of partnering with a not-for-profit network like ORION is that resources often invested in duplicating telecommunication infrastructure can instead be channeled directly into research programs and applications.
ORION can help MaRS and MaRS Landing work with remote, less-connected institutions that now have greater opportunities to develop niche and specialty areas of research in biotechnology and life sciences, with new partners in Canada and around the word.
“This new network will lead to better pooling of resources, facilities, services, knowledge and experience,” says Kelly, who notes that it will also create a critical mass of science and commerce across the province in order to advance the commercialization and discovery agenda throughout Ontario.
“ORION, like MaRS, wants to contribute to global competitiveness and try to raise awareness of Ontario as an advantageous jurisdiction when it comes to research,” says Phil Baker, President and CEO of ORION. “Our projects complement each other. ORION will support MaRS in meeting its objective of stimulating and supporting biotech-pharma clusters in Ontario.”
For more information, visit the MaRS Landing web site at http://www.marslanding.ca or the MaRS Discovery District web site at http://www.marsdd.com.
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