Incubating excellence
BYLINE: MARLENE BERGSMA
Big ideas but no business savvy? Miraculous invention but no money? Brock University and the City of St. Catharines have a plan to turn those good ideas into a cash infusion for Niagara's economy.
With the right conditions, Niagara has the potential to position itself as a culturally and technologically advanced economy, Brock president Jack Lightstone believes.
The secret is "knowledge infusion."
"The type of economy we need to move forward is a high value-added, high- tech economy," Lightstone said.
Now that Niagara's manufacturing base is in decline, "we have to build a parallel economy that will be the economy of the future."
St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan thinks so, too.
"We have to take these ideas and bring them to commercial success, that is the long-term goal," McMullan said, "because that is where we are going to create the jobs of the future.
"The fact that we are home to Brock University and Niagara College - they are clearly huge assets," the mayor said.
"There is a natural affinity" between Niagara's desire for economic growth and what both the college and the university have to offer in terms of "research expertise, faculty, student body and infrastructure," McMullan said.
That's why McMullan and Lightstone are touting the virtues of their plan for an incubation centre - or centres - in Niagara.
In addition to Brock and the city, there are others keenly interested in the incubator idea. Niagara College, Sheridan College in Oakville and Silicon Knights, a downtown St. Catharines computer game developer, are all part of the initiative.
Silicon Knights' hunger for technically adept graduates is what helped attract a $50,000 grant from Ontario's Culture Ministry's entertainment partnership fund in February.
In addition to a $10,000 contribution from Silicon Knights and staff resources from the City of St. Catharines, the provincial money will be used to hire a consultant to study the feasibility of establishing an interactive new media incubator.
A report is expected this fall.
But Brock began laying the groundwork for such an initiative several years ago, said Rosemary Hale, the university's dean of humanities.
That's when it used part of the Canada Research money it had received from Ottawa to recruit and hire professors specifically interested in "the digital humanities," Hale said.
Professors John Bonnett and Kevin Kee are teaching and researching augmented reality and interactive arts, Hale said.
"I just had a sense that that was part of the future, the 21st century. We want to create a talent pool in new media," she said. "We could be Canada's Silicon Valley."
Brock is now enrolling its first students in its hot new degree - a bachelor of arts in interactive arts and science - and after three years, they'll graduate with the first degree of its kind in the country.
"But where are they going to go once they graduate?" Hale asked.
"We don't want them to leave Niagara region, we want them to stay here."
And Brock and the city aren't satisfied with the prospect of just the new media incubator.
They have plans for at least five more.
Together, they have identified several areas of research and expertise that could lend themselves to other incubators, McMullan said:
Nanotechnology or miniaturization
Biotechnology, such as the new initiatives at the Vineland Research Station
Renewable energy
Medical science
Advanced manufacturing
Performing arts centre
Lightstone has a graphic example of how his notion of a "knowledge infusion" can translate into a cash infusion for Niagara's economy.
"It's a simple example of something we already have - grapes," Lightstone said.
Frozen concentrated grape juice sells for $1.25 a litre, "or $3.50 a litre if it's premium.
Or you can take grapes of a different type and make wine, and sell it for $15, $20, $25, $40 or $50 for three-quarters of a litre.
One is low value-added, one is high.
What's the difference? It's the knowledge needed to make good wine.
"This is an example of knowledge infusion: the greater the amount of knowledge that has to be infused, the greater the value added to the product.
"Now take a step back. How do you induce the setting up of all sorts of value-added businesses?"
The solution is to nurture fledgling entrepreneurs with practical help such as cheap office space, secretarial service or office equipment, Lightstone said.
But it's also offering easy access to the expensive equipment and research expertise that resides on campus.
"There is research and creativity and innovation taking place at all levels in the university," Lightstone said.
"How does that knowledge get delivered to a potential entrepreneur that would produce a high value-added product?
"You create the particularly nurturing conditions to maximize the chance that a new company with a bright idea with a very high technology base will succeed, as opposed to fail."
And Brock is willing to take a leadership role because it has a social responsibility to its community, Lightstone said.
"If this becomes a hub for a cluster of companies of this type, you are talking a major positive impact," he said.
"These are going to be high-paying jobs."
McMullan agrees.
"This will be a catalyst for other investments," McMullan said.
Even the proposed new complex housing a performing arts centre and Brock University's school of fine and performing arts in the city's downtown core will act as an incubator to other ventures.
"It's wild, I know, but it doesn't hurt to dream," McMullan said. "But I see a window on St. Paul Street, through which you can see people practicing music, acting, preparing for the theatre, and artists at work.
"This is leading edge thinking, but I believe we have to create an environment that's welcoming and stimulating."