Made In Ontario Innovation

Ontario innovation has created opportunities and growth across the province. Today, Ontario's economic and social prosperity has come to depend on this ability to innovate and compete in the global marketplace. That's why the McGuinty government has made innovation a key component of Open Ontario, its five-point plan for growing Ontario's economy.

There are many organizations across Ontario that are fostering innovation in technology and culture including:

Research In Motion
Founded in Waterloo in 1984, Research In Motion (RIM) has more than 14,000 employees and a presence in 175 countries. This success is largely based on the popularity of its signature product, the BlackBerry smartphone.

Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis, founded RIM when he was 23-year-old. James Balsillie joined RIM in 1992 as chairman and co-CEO.

In 1999, RIM released its first BlackBerry, revolutionizing the way people communicate. Visit www.rim.com.

Ontario Media Development Corporation
Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) is the central catalyst for the province's cultural media cluster including:

• book publishing

• film and television

• interactive digital media

• magazine publishing

• music

OMDC promotes and enhances investment, jobs and original content creation. Visit www.omdc.on.ca.

Pinewood Toronto Studios
Pinewood Toronto Studios is Canada's largest film and television production complex, with seven soundstages and more than 23,000 square metres of production space. The complex is home to the Mega Stage -- the largest soundstage in North America.
Visit www.pinewoodtorontostudios.com.

Screen Industries Research and Training Centre
Sheridan College's new Screen Industries Research and Training Centre (SIRT) at Pinewood Toronto Studios is a unique academic-industry collaboration.

SIRT was initially funded by OMDC and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The Centre received further funding in March 2010 from Ontario's Ministry of Research and Innovation as part of a joint research excellence grant shared with the University of Waterloo's Institute for Computer Research. The two institutions were awarded $4.9 million. With contributions from both educational institutions and private industry partners, their total funding is $14.7 million over five years.

SIRT will facilitate collaboration among faculty and student researchers from Sheridan, Waterloo, other Ontario universities and colleges, and industry partners, including Ontario's major unions and guilds. The University of Waterloo's computer expertise, combined with Sheridan College's production expertise and innovation, will support the development of technologies and practices that will provide a strong competitive advantage to Ontario's screen-based industries. Visit www.sirtcentre.com.

Demonstration - Stereoscopic 3-D scene
During the July 5, 2010 Royal Tour, a scene from a script being developed by QVF -- one of Ontario's film and television production companies -- will be shot in stereoscopic 3-D. A group of faculty, student and staff researchers will work together with industry veterans from Ontario's top unions and guilds to film the scene. Using both Ontario technologies and international state-of-the-art processes, the scene will be directed by award-winning director, Deepa Mehta.

This demonstration is a follow up to recent research at SIRT into stereoscopic 3-D production and post-production processes, one of the centre's focus areas.

Spatial View
Toronto-based Spatial View's unique technology allows users to view 3-D content in high quality on a variety of platforms without the need for 3-D glasses. These first ever real-time auto-stereoscopic 3-D screens were developed in Ontario by Spatial View.

Established in 2004, Spatial View is headquartered in Toronto with offices in San Francisco, Dresden and Brussels. Visit www.spatialview.com.

Toronto Film and Television Office
The Toronto Film and Television Office (TFTO) coordinates all location filming within Toronto and provides industry development support to the local screen-based community. TFTO supports Toronto's thriving film industry, with more than 70 film festivals -- the most of any city on the planet.

TFTO is celebrating 30 years of experience in delivering results for film and television partners.
Visit www.toronto.ca/tfto.