IBM Pumps $175M Into R&D Initiative, Partners With Ontario Universities

BY: 

Dave Forde
April 10, 2012

IBM along with the Governments of Canada and Ontario, and a consortium of seven universities led by the University of Toronto and Western University announced they are collaborating to establish a new Ontario-based $210 million dollar research and development initiative that will create 145 new highly skilled jobs in Ontario and a new economic cornerstone for the country.
IBM will invest up to $175 million through December 2014 in the project, forming the “IBM Canada Research and Development Centre” to serve as a foundation for the research initiative. The Government of Ontario is investing $15 million towards the creation of this Centre; ensuring that the skills needed for developing future information and communications technology products and services are fostered in Ontario, new and existing Ontario companies are leaders in their fields, and innovation efficiencies and cost-savings are created across multiple sectors.
The Government of Canada will contribute $20 million to allow a consortium of seven southern Ontario post-secondary institutions and its lead industry partner, IBM, to install two high-performance IBM Blue Gene/Q supercomputers and develop a cloud computing and agile computing platform to underpin the initiative’s research collaboration. The university consortium will have access to a new Barrie-based IBM data centre once it is fully operational in the fall of 2012. Other Canadian researchers and small to medium-sized enterprises will also be invited to join the consortium.
This collaborative model will help university and industry researchers use high performance and cloud computing infrastructure to better manage and analyze massive data sets to solve critical world challenges. Areas of focus for the research collaboration will include:

  • Problems facing cities, including rapid urbanization and aging infrastructure.
  • Healthcare challenges associated with rising healthcare costs due to chronic diseases, including afflictions of the brain, and the lengthy development cycle for new medicines.
  • Water conservation and management within cities and across watersheds including wild areas, industrial and agricultural use.
  • Efficient energy conservation and management through the application of advanced weather modeling and smart grid technologies.
  • Software innovation in high performance computing platforms.

IBM is one of the largest spenders of R&D in Canada.

Join your peers!

Get news, tips and other industry news delivered into your inbox for FREE!

Related Stories:

Dave Forde


Dave “The Connector” Forde has been involved in the marketing, public relations and technology industry across Canada for over 20 years in various sales and marketing roles, he launched The Connected One network of business sites which connects buyers to the right sellers. Profectio and PR In Canada covers news about the marketing and public relations industry each day helping professionals advance their career and businesses. He also serves as an advisor to a number of businesses across the country. Find Dave on LinkedIn and Twitter.


>