BY BILL BRADLEY
Sudbury?s 21st century image of being a northern tiger in innovative research and development got a huge boost Thursday.
The Ministry of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation announced Sudbury will be gaining high paying jobs, research career opportunities for young scientists and international prestige for the city.
The city is getting $9.3 million for above-ground expansion of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) and almost $5 million for biotechnology projects at Neureka Research Corporation. The announcement was made at the Willet Green Miller Centre.
Both projects will help place Sudbury at the start of an exciting new era, according to deputy mayor Doug Craig.
?It?s time to celebrate, to look beyond our natural resource base to high paying and stimulating jobs,? said Craig.
?Science is a major engine for economic growth.?
Councillor Dave Kilgour, who is also provincial PC candidate for Nickel Belt, said these new research projects will help retain young researchers and recent science graduates to stay and help build the city?s new economy.
Sudbury?s foray into new economic areas such as science-based high technology is attracting notice in high places.
?Board members of the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund are commenting on how much is going on in Sudbury,? said board member Murray Scott.
?The Government of Ontario?s financial support is an important step in the transformation of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory from a single experiment, which was to end in a few years, to a permanent underground international research facility,? said David Sinclair of Carleton University and director of facility development.
This will help the facility to cement its role as a major research centre, said Sinclair.
?Last year, the prestigious journal Science ranked discoveries made by SNO as number two in the world,? said Sinclair.
Carleton University, along with Guelph and Queen?s universities, are project partners with Laurentian University in neutrino research. Neutrinos are sub-atomic particles that provide clues to the origin of the universe. New technologies with commercial possibilities could be developed from neutrino research.
Doug Hallman, physics professor and SNO board member, said Laurentian researchers will now have expanded research opportunities in the 20,000 square feet of laboratory space, workshops, offices and meeting rooms.
Nichols, Yallowega and Belanger have been selected to design the new building, slated for completion in early 2005.
The second funding announcement concerning Neureka is being viewed as a major job creation stimulation.
According to Magdy Basta, president of the biotechnology and clinical research organization, the new funding will almost double staff from 35 scientists and technologists to about 60 staff, including 49 full-time persons.
?We started with two people in the mid-1990s. Today?s announcement will put Northern Ontario on the map in applied sciences,? said Bastra.
One environmental technology project will be researching the potential of bacteria which eat toxins in mining wastes left over from mining operations.
How did all this come about?
Judith Woodsworth, Laurentian University?s president, thinks it is another example of Sudbury fostering partnerships outside and across the community.
Those strong partnerships between Laurentian, Science North, Inco Ltd. and the City of Greater Sudbury and research organizations like the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory and Neureka, are now paying huge dividends, she said.
?The days of organizations, whether public or private, going it alone, are over,? said Woodsworth.
