Bell, Nortel open optical research centre in Montreal

Bell Canada and Nortel Networks Corp will open their first satellite laboratory in Montreal early next year as part of a new national network of innovation centres focusing on advanced voice and multimedia. The new Optical Innovation Centre in Montreal will work on initiatives that lower deployment costs, improve the speed to market of next generation products and services and simplify their introduction to customers. As part of an agreement announced in September, Bell plans to invest $200 million over three years in Nortel technology to transform the telco’s voice and data-circuit based network into a packet-based one that provides seamless integration of voice, video and data (R$, September 16/03). The deal includes plans to open a 2,500 square foot Innovation Centre in Ottawa, as well as satellite facilities in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. The Montreal lab is the first satellite facility to be announced....

Ontario S&T projects revealed in agricultural deal

The MaRS (Medical and Related Sciences) Discovery District is receiving $3.14 million under a new federal-provincial deal that will see the Toronto research network develop closer ties with Guelph’s agri-food research cluster. As well, Guelph’s Bioenterprise Corp will receive $2 million in cost-shared funding to assist emerging agri-food companies, while the Alternative Renewal Fuels Research and Development Fund will receive $2.1 million. The new funding is part of a December 11 deal between Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Ontario government to implement the Agriculture Policy Framework (APF) — a $600-million action plan to strength Canada’s agricultural sector. The APF includes a five-year $44.7 million science and innovation program designed to strengthen Canada’s research and commercialization of bio-products and bio-processes (R$, December 11/03). The S&T components of the December 11 deal will also see $4.69 million in total funding directed to a benchmark study and pilot projects, $1.6 million to the Life Science and Agri-Food Innovation Fund for pre-commercialization research, $850,000 to inform Canadians about the benefits and safeguards of bioproducts, $600,000 to the industry-led Ontario Agri-Food Technologies Inc for public education and commercialization and $200,000 to develop a long-term vision and strategy for agri-food R&D in Ontario (see next news brief). Separate from the science and innovation fund, the implementation deal also includes $4.55 million to support education and technology transfer in Ontario, and $12.78 million for the University of Guelph for environmental research....