Province to invest $32M in biosciences research at Dalhousie
Nova Scotia’s government wants to provide more support to a growing industry in life sciences, and Dalhousie’s new Life Sciences Research Institute is reaping the benefits.
Print
(0) Comments
Dalhousie president Tom Traves at the announcement of provincial funding for the Dalhousie Life Sciences Research Institute (Photo: Steve Woodhead)
Premier Rodney MacDonald announced this morning a multimillion-dollar, 20-year investment in life sciences research at Dalhousie University.
The funding, which will see $1.6 million paid out per year for a total of $32 million, is being supplied through InNOVAcorp, a provincial Crown Corporation that provides investment and support to start-up life sciences enterprises.
The investment funds will go specifically to the BioScience Enterprise Centre, an “incubation facility” that helps entrepreneurs develop and market their ideas while still in their early stages. The centre plans to relocate from its current Lower Water Street home to the new Life Sciences Research Institute building on the Dal campus, which is currently in development.
Tom Traves, president of Dalhousie University, said the new investment in the BioScience Enterprise Centre at the university would provide a better opportunity for students and researchers to see their work in the field of life sciences find commercial success.
Enlarge Image
An artist's rendering of the Life Sciences Reasearch Institute building (Photo courtesy of Dalhousie University)
Slideshow
Related Websites
Those working at the university, said Traves, are “laying the foundation” for life sciences research.
“But we also have some of their ideas emerging to the point where they have some commercial potential,” said Traves. “It’s at that point when this new centre connects to their reality because this is a place where those ideas can be transformed into a new company which would then follow the logic of all new companies - improve the product, eventually go to market and create something of lasting value.”
“As they succeed and as they grow and they move out of our facility and move into the commercial environment ... that’s when the real job opportunities will really come and I think that’s a huge step forward for us.”
Premier MacDonald, whose provincial government has already injected $9 million into the Life Sciences development at Dalhousie, said the chance to further provide funding was one they couldn’t lose.
“This is a unique project because it is involved directly with InNOVAcorp and we had a need to see a replacement for that [BioSciences Enterprise Centre]. This presented an opportunity to do that. So without this opportunity it may have been held up for some time.”
The current location for the BioSciences Enterprise Centre is facing demolition by the Waterfront Development Corporation for its proposed Queen’s Landing Development.
To see more examples of expansion projects happening in the university community, look to the sidebar at the left for a photo slideshow.
Comments on this story are now closed