UW math faculty opening new office in MaRS District
Originally posted by WaterlooInvestor on SSP:
UW math faculty opening new office in MaRS District
BARBARA AGGERHOLM
WATERLOO (May 29, 2007)
University of Waterloo is shooting for MaRS.
Today, the university's math faculty is opening an office in what's known as MaRS Discovery District in downtown Toronto.
It's being called UW@MaRS.
Opening an office in a dynamic innovation district is a way for UW's math and computer science researchers to get closer to the action in advanced medical and health care research, said Tom Coleman, UW dean of mathematics.
The office will fuel interaction between UW scientists and the hospitals, companies and government bodies that are already represented there, he said.
"It's an amazing incubation-type centre full of companies in the health and medical field," Coleman said. "We thought we could play a role in solving some of the problems" they encounter.
"Behind every new cure and improved medical procedure lies models, clinical studies, software and databases."
Projects could include building mathematical modelling tools to help solve health-care waits and hospital bed allocation, he said.
UW, which has the only mathematics faculty in North America, has expertise in many other areas, including cryptography for the security of health information.
The MaRS centre is at the heart of the "Discovery District," which is two square kilometres in downtown Toronto devoted to innovation.
The centre opened in 2005 after business and community leaders formed a not-for-profit corporation to promote commercialization of research and technology.
The first phase was designed and built around the former Toronto General Hospital.
The facility is filled with more than 65 tenants including researchers, companies, business service providers, networking organizations and venture capital groups, the MaRS website says.
UW's office, which includes a conference room, private office and 10 workstations, is located in the heritage building and has room for 12 people. Those who use it will include undergraduate co-op students, research consultants and visiting faculty and researchers.
Eventually, it's expected the office will have about four to six full-time employees, Coleman said.
He said the aim is for the office to be able to pay for itself in two years, through contracts, research engagements and other means.
MaRS doesn't stand for anything, the website explains.
At one time, the words "medical and related sciences" were attributed to it, but the words have been dropped from the name.