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May 25th, 2010

McGuinty to create a new position of provincial chief scientist

Abstract:
In a nod to Israel's success in spurring money-making research, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty Tuesday said he would create a new position of provincial chief scientist.

McGuinty said the new role would unify Ontario research and priorize commercially viable areas of study.

"There's a tremendous alignment here (in Israel) that we don't have in Ontario," McGuinty said Tuesday, after touring the Weizmann Institute of Science. "We're pulling in different directions."

The premier's decision follows a meeting with Israel's Chief Scientist Eli Oppert, who addressed a delegation of Ontario business and educational leaders Monday.

Oppert told the delegation that Israel's outsized success in recent years — the country is a world-leader in commercializing its laboratory-borne ideas — is based on a new approach that has focused funds on two priority areas.

Nanotechnology and biotechnology research were judged to have the greatest commercial potential roughly seven years ago.

Source:
ottawacitizen.com

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