Research and business leaders gather in Toronto - look to innovation and "jobs of the future"
- Internet2 President and CEO Doug Van Houweling among keynotes
October 10, 2008 (TORONTO, Ontario) - Research and business leaders are
gathering in Toronto early next month to explore the impact and potential of
next-generation innovation and "jobs of the future" at the CANARIE and ORION
National Summit.
Global innovation guru Dr. John Kao is among a prestigious roster of
distinguished leaders coming together at "Powering Innovation - a National
Summit" at the Metro Toronto Convention Center November 3 and 4.
Kao, dubbed "a serial innovator" by The Economist, is a leading authority on
organizational transformation and digital media. Kao draws on his experience
teaching at Harvard Business School and his appointments at the MIT Media
Lab, Yale College, and the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.
Former University of Toronto President Robert Birgeneau, now Chancellor of
the University of California at Berkeley, returns to Toronto as opening
keynote to set the stage for the conference, and address the importance of
innovation and cross-border collaboration in research.
The conference is hosted by ORION and CANARIE, Ontario's and Canada's
advanced research network organizations which link scientists, researchers
and innovators across the province, country and around the world. Cybera,
Alberta's Cyberinfrastructure for Innovation organization, is contributing
significantly to the planning and staging of the national Summit.
The conference is expected to bring up to 250 delegates from universities,
colleges, research facilities, centres of excellence and other organizations
- including government and industry.
"Developing innovative solutions for tomorrow's problems is an objective
around which we all can rally," says CANARIE President and C.E.O. Guy
Bujold. "Our conference program is designed to inspire the development and
encourage the use of network tools by Canada's researchers, educators and
business leaders."
"We have invited some of the brightest minds in the country to come to the
Summit and challenge them to take full advantage of new and emerging
e-science technologies that are driving innovation, scientific discovery and
jobs of the future, here and around the world," says ORION President/CEO
Phil Baker.
Other keynotes include the President and CEO of Internet2 Doug Van
Houweling, the President of the Ontario College of Art & Design Sara
Diamond, host of CBC Radio's Spark Nora Young, Delvinia Interactive's Adam
Froman, and Ron Dembo, President/CEO of Zerofootprint.
Delegates will also engage with experts from e-science, virtual
organizations, network-enabled platforms, the greening of information
technology, visualization technologies, teaching and learning in a web 2.0
universe, and commercialization of innovation.
The Summit also showcases advancements at the cutting edge of research, from
high-definition holographic printing, to IP-based television platforms, to
research collaborations using world-leading optical networks like CANARIE's
and ORION's that quickly transmit massive amounts of data in seconds across
Canada and around the world, allowing our researchers to participate fully
in international collaborations.
The Summit will also give delegates a first look at national scientific
research projects that help position Canada among the world's leaders in
many fields, from global-scale high performance computing, to cancer
research, to climate change simulation.
The summit is made possible by the generous contribution of our sponsors,
including gold sponsor Juniper Networks; silver sponsor SHARCNET; bronze
sponsors Bell, the Advanced Broadband Enabled Learning Program; Cogent
Communications, Colleges Ontario and IBM; and partner sponsors Atria
Networks, Auto 21, Cybera, the Ontario Centres of Excellence, the Ontario
College of Art and Design, Polycom, Tech Media Reports and Ryerson
University.
Learn more at www.orioncanariesummit.ca.
About ORION
The Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION) is Ontario's
ultra high-speed research and education network which connects all of
Ontario's universities, most colleges, several medical and other public
research facilities and a growing number of school boards to one another and
to the global grid of research and education networks. Stretching 5,800
kilometres over 21 communities throughout Ontario, ORION connects over 1.3
million Ontario researchers, scientists, students, teachers and staff to
critical infrastructure for research, education and innovation.
Learn more at www.orion.on.ca.
About CANARIE Inc.
CANARIE Inc., based in Ottawa, is Canada's advanced network organization. It
facilitates the development and use of its network as well as the advanced
products, applications and services that run on it.
The CANARIE Network serves universities, colleges, schools, government labs,
research institutes, hospitals and other organizations in a wide variety of
fields in both the public and private sectors. By promoting and
participating in strategic collaborations among key sectors, and by
partnering with peer networks and organizations around the world, CANARIE
Inc. stimulates and supports research, innovation and growth, bringing
economic, social, and cultural benefits to Canadians. The national
organization was created in 1993 by the private sector and academia under
the leadership of the Government of Canada. CANARIE Inc.
is supported by membership fees, with major funding of its programs and
activities provided by the Government of Canada. www.canarie.ca.
Media Contacts:
Tamara Stoll
Communications Officer
ORION
(416) 507-9860 ext. 224
tamara.stoll@orion.on.ca
Kim Dingwall
Manager, Communications & Performance Measurement CANARIE Inc.
(613) 943-5377