Under the Canada-Manitoba Western Economic Partnership Agreement, the Governments of Canada and Manitoba are investing a total of $7m toward 34 research and teaching labs as a core part of the new UWin CREATE (the University of Winnipeg Commercialization Research and Education Alliance for Science, Technology and the Environment).
This investment will enable the university to work closely with industry in commercializing environmental technologies through UWin CREATE’s demonstration and technology transfer capabilities. It will also ensure a skilled workforce for Manitoba’s environmental industry, leading to business and employment growth.
UWinnipeg will become a hub for a provincial network of Cisco TelePresence sites, as the overnment of Manitoba funds Cisco TelePresence systems at the University of Brandon and University College of the North. Efforts are underway to extend the TelePresence network to include a node in Ottawa.
UWin CREATE will be based in the University of Winnipeg’s Science Complex and Richardson College for the Environment, slated to open in spring 2011.
Cisco is also providing a $2m endowment to the University of Winnipeg for the Cisco Chair for Collaborative Technologies. The Province of Manitoba, under the Manitoba Research Innovation Fund, is also contributing $2m in support of the Cisco Endowed Research Chair, totalling $4m.
Cisco is also giving a two-endpoint Cisco TelePresence virtual meeting system to UWinnipeg. The Cisco TelePresence system, will be used for distance education and for collaboration with research sites in Manitoba and around the world.
One Cisco TelePresence endpoint will be based in the new Science Complex and Richardson College for the Environment. The second will be located inside UWinnipeg’s Faculty of Business and Economics in a new building opening in fall 2010.
Nitin Kawale, president of Cisco Canada, said: ”Research, education and policy development are essentially collaborative endeavours, crucial to the success of future generations, communities and countries. The Cisco Innovation Centre for Collaboration Technologies will help academic leaders and government policy makers extend expertise, share resources and reduce environmental impact.”
Lloyd Axworthy, president and vice-chancellor of Uwinnipeg, said: ” The creative public-private partnership announced today places UWinnipeg front and centre in Canada in developing sustainable, forward-thinking ways to nurture global connectedness.
”With the TelePresence technology on campus, we will be well positioned within a cluster of leading institutions – namely, the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Lake Winnipeg Research Consortium, Manitoba Hydro and the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health – to be known internationally as a community for scientific and environmental excellence.”
