41e3 Patrick Brown - Barrie - Prosperity Initiative Progress Ceremony – Opening of the IBM Canada Leadership Data Centre, associated with the Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform
Prosperity Initiative Progress Ceremony – Opening of the IBM Canada Leadership Data Centre, associated with the Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform
September 21, 2012


Hello. Bonjour. Thank you all for joining us here today.

This is truly a great day for IBM, researchers across southern Ontario, and all of us who call Barrie home.

Even though we’re here to celebrate the opening of this new and exciting building, what it comes down to for me is what it will mean to the people in this city, this region, and across the country.

All levels of government across Canada have been struggling to find a balance between fiscal responsibility and restoring economic opportunities.

Our Government has been making strategic investments that support our top priority - creating jobs, growth and long-term prosperity for all Canadians.

To meet this priority, our Government has been building on the strengths in our region to support the advancement of science and technology and help create the jobs of tomorrow, today.

In April of this year, our Government announced a contribution of $20 million for a collaborative research and innovation platform in southern Ontario.

And while the structure we stand in today is not part of the direct investment, it is part of a bigger picture: one that is bringing seven post-secondary institutions together with IBM, their lead industrial partner, in an initiative that will allow researchers to use supercomputers and cloud computing infrastructure to crunch massive quantities of data on some fascinating subjects. And this work represents multi-billion dollar global economic opportunities for Canadian firms.

The opening of this Centre marks an important milestone in this project, as it will act as a catalyst for innovative collaboration between researchers and businesses here in Barrie and across the region.

The advanced knowledge coming from the collaborative research and innovation platform funded by our Government will be a strategic asset to advance Canada’s home-grown innovation on the world stage.

Our Government is proud to be a part of this collaboration, which will create and support technologies that not only are critically important to our communities, but also show great commercial promise and create jobs.

This could include new smart grid technologies, managed water systems, customized gene therapies, and much, much more.

And with key partners like IBM and our universities, our Government is forging partnerships that will create a better future for all Canadians.

Thank you et merci.
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