"Specifically in the last five years, the growth of the advanced-technology industry has been nothing less than dramatic," he reports.

The region, which includes Ottawa and its suburbs as well as Hull across the border in Quebec, boasts the most-educated work force in Canada -- the most PhD's per capita, says Barge -- working in such high-tech sectors as software & IT, microelectronics, telecommunications, biotech and life sciences, aerospace and defense.

As the nation's capital, government employment and R&D have long led the region's economy. In fact, says Barge, the long presence of the Federal Government is key to why the region is an innovation corridor. "The Government is behind Nortel, Mitel, JDS, Newbridge, Corel and so on," Barge relates. "And if there's any reason as to why this happened in Ottawa, it's because of the substantive research and development. . .of the government in the area."

This will be the first year, however, that the burgeoning advanced-technology industry will surpass the Government as the prime employer and economic-driver, Barge notes. Over 73,000 people now work directly in high-tech industries, which Barge claims as a milestone, and reports from the OEDC say another 95,000 work so indirectly.

The region's history of local high-tech entrepreneurship, says Barge, can be attributed to the fact that it cultivates start-ups by connecting money with ideas. From January to August 2000 alone, over US$400 million in risk capital (angel investing and venture capital) has been invested in Ottawa, and that's up from US $183 million for all of 1999.

Nortel Networks, a local baby whose R&D capabilities are rooted in Bell Northern Research, is on the fast-track as a world advanced-technology leader. With 44 sites in the Ottawa region alone, Nortel just opened a new, 125,000-sq.-ft. (11,600-sq.-m.) laser-manufacturing plant in Kanata, an Ottawa suburb. It will invest another US $102 million at two fiber-optics production plants as part of its global campaign to boost output substantially. This includes a 250,000-sq.-ft. (23,20-sq.-m.) facility called Lab 10, which will house 1,000 skilled workers in the optical-networks division at the Carling Campus site, set to open fall 2001. Lab 9 is now under construction. Moreover, in April 2000, the company announced plans to invest another US $143 million in three new facilities in the region, adding an additional 1,250 people to its payroll. Nortel already employs 14,500 in the Ottawa region alone.