Ontario bioscience clusters join in Ontario BioAlliance

Ottawa, ON March 6, 2003 Ontario’s key bioscience clusters and organizations promoting the growth of bioscience and attracting investment have come together to form the Ontario BioAlliance.

One of the first initiatives of the Ontario BioAlliance is a joint marketing program for BIO2003, which will be held in Washington, DC in June 2003. Ontario BioAlliance members will also be located together as part of the Canadian pavilion at the biotechnology industry’s largest international trade show, and will be publishing a magazine highlighting the strengths of Ontario’s bioscience clusters. A number of industry and cluster development activities are also under consideration.

The role of the Ontario BioAlliance is to raise the profile of Ontario as one of the leading clusters of bioscience research in North America and to collaboratively initiate policies, which will generate new wealth and employment opportunities in bioscience.

Ontario BioAlliance members include the cities of Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Mississauga, Toronto, and Canada’s Technology Triangle (Cambridge, Kitchener, Region of Waterloo, Waterloo), along with the MaRS Discovery District, Ontario Agri-Food Technologies, the Ottawa Life Science Council, and the Toronto Biotechnology Initiative.

“The formation of Ontario BioAlliance is a key step in ensuring that the leading bio-science clusters have a co-ordinated and collaborative approach to establish Ontario as one of the leading jurisdictions for biotechnology and bioscience globally,” says Ken Lawless, chair of Ontario BioAlliance. “We are currently developing a brand name under which we will market ourselves nationally and internationally."