Focus on innovation. (FedNor).

For Dr. George Macey, Director of the Northwestern Ontario Technology Centre, Industry Canada's Innovation Summit in Thunder Bay was just what he was waiting for.

The eighth of 34 Regional Summits being held in cities across Canada, the event attracted strong representation from the private, technical and academic sectors, as well as those promoting Aboriginal and regional interests.

"Innovation is the key to diversifying and expanding all industry, including the resource-based enterprises that prevail in our region," says Macey. "The challenge we face here is to foster what I call a 'Culture of Innovation.' The summit provided an excellent means to reinforce that goal and gave us some solid ideas about how to reach it."

Also serving as innovation facilitator with the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce, Macey was one of 165 people who participated in the June 6, 2002, event. Since then, he has started building an information resource Web site on regional innovation, along with the Northwestern Ontario Technology Association. The Thunder Bay event was co-moderated by Dr. Fred Gilbert, President of Lakehead University, and Patricia Lang, President of Confederation College.

Northern Ontario's second Innovation Summit, held September 27, 2002, in Greater Sudbury, also drew enthusiastic participation, with close to 150 business and organizational representatives from across the northeast attending the one-day session at the Trillium Centre.

"It is vital we get Canada's Innovation Strategy right and that's why the innovation summits have been so important. It's great that Northern Ontario's regional innovation summits had such good turnout," says Allan Rock, Minister of Industry. "By attending and, more importantly, actively participating in these summits, the residents of this region have provided valuable input and perspective to this national process."

While the Sudbury summit explored ways to increase the size and scope of the city's emerging mining technology cluster, the Thunder Bay summit discussed the potential for research and technological development in forestry and forest products. Both summits looked long and hard at potential technical/industrial clusters in health and biotechnology.

"One of the most significant topics was how mining technology will evolve into information technology," says Sudbury summit moderator Dr. Greg Baiden. "Technological advances can determine that an old deposit is in fact a productive one -- in effect, you will be able to make new ore bodies rather than having to find them."

With Northern medical school campuses to be established in Sudbury and Thunder Bay, both cities are interested in biotech and medical research spinoffs.

"Already there's a partnership of common interest between Lakehead University, the Northwest Cancer Centre, the new Thunder Bay Regional Hospital and Genesis Genomics, a genetic research firm developing markers for cancer," says Judy Sander, Manager of the Northwestern Ontario Technology Centre.

"The new medical school will only strengthen the possibility of a biotech cluster," adds Sander.

Attracting private capital for small innovation driven businesses was also on both agendas.

"Start-up and venture capital -- especially for technology-driven firms -- is in short supply in Northern Ontario," says Scott Dougall, Director of Software Development and Marketing at SkyStream Networks.Com. "It's tough to raise private funds locally and hard to gain credibility in outside venture capital markets."