Innovation park to focus on advanced materials and environmental technologies

Kingston, ON – A new technology park in Kingston will focus on advanced materials and new energy and environmental technologies, particularly in the areas of bioprocessing, bioenergy and bioproducts. Made possible by a $21 million grant from the Ontario government, the recently opened park will bring academic and industry engineers and scientists together under one roof.

The park was enabled through collaboration with Novelis, industrial anchor for the facility. In addition to leasing space to Queen’s University in its Global Technology Center and selling land to the uiversity for future growth of the park, Novelis is a founding partner.

Other organizations under the Innovation Park umbrella include Alcan, Analytical Services Unit, Cortec DNA Service Laboratories, Queen’s-RMC Fuel Cell Research Centre, Kingston Metals and Materials, Kingston Process Metallurgy, NRC-Industrial Research Assistance Program, Pathogen Detection Systems, and PARTEQ Innovations, the university’s technology transfer arm. The High Performance Computing Virtual Laboratory is co-located with Innovation Park.

In addition, several other companies or groups have joined the park. Acumentrics Canada, a developer of solid oxide fuel cell systems, is the first new industrial tenant. More recently, SWITCH, a network of businesses, research and educational institutions, public sector participants, and volunteers joined, as did CMC Microsystems, a national gateway to microsystems research and development in Canada.

“It is extremely gratifying to see how much interest is already being generated by this collaborative research and development venture, says Tom Williams, Queen’s University principal. “This points to a very exciting future for Innovation Park and to the potentially significant economic impact for Kingston and region.”

Tenants will have access to intellectual resources, quality R&D facilities (including wet and dry labs and pilot scale facilities), highly specialized equipment, business incubation suites and a variety of technological, entrepreneurial and commercialization services. Also part of the park is the more than 5,000 sq ft of fully equipped wet lab and office incubation facilities in the Kingston Technology Exchange Centre, a partnership between the Kingston Economic Development Corporation and Queen’s.

As part of its future development, Innovation Park at Queen’s University will be transformed into a Canadian landmark that incorporates a work-live-play concept as a specific development strategy. Queen’s says it has purchased 50 acres of land specifically zoned for industrial use, including research and experimental activities adjacent to the multi-tenant facility. The development of these green field lands will be guided by LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards.