Québec Rides High on the Technology Wave Québec Rides High on the Technology Wave Continued Montreal: A Low-Cost Alternative For International Distribution Telecommunications: Riding the Wave An Optics Powerhouse Outaouais: From Public Administration to High Tech Growth in Aerospace Biotechnology: A Natural New Trails in Agbiotech Old Economy to New Economy Sweetening the Pot Request Information |
An Optics Powerhouse
Montreal is not the only Quebec center on the crest of the Internet wave. Quebec's advance in optics research can be traced to the Defense Research Establishment Valcartier (www.drev.dnd.ca), whose scientists developed the first CO2 laser, and the Center for Optics, Photonics and Laser (www.copl.ulaval.ca) of Laval University in Quebec City. The National Optics Institute (INO at www.ino.ca) opened in 1985 in the Metro Quebec High Technology Park (www.parctechno.qc.ca), where some 100 organizations work in six high-tech sectors. INO sits at the heart of the Metro Quebec Photonics City (www.speqm.qc.ca) and some 15 companies specialized in optics can be found in the area. The Canadian Institute for Photonic Innovations (www.cipi.ulaval.ca), a network of some 100 scientists working at 40 companies, 19 universities and a dozen government research centers, was opened at Laval University in May 1999.
Another hotbed of fiber optics research is the Outaouais region. Two major fiber optics R&D centers have spun off such companies as Innovative Fibers (www.infibers.com), which was recently acquired by French telecommunications giant Alcatel for $174.8 million. Innovative Fibers (IF) started operations less than six years ago in a 650-sq.-ft. (60.4-sq.-m.) shipping and receiving area of the Communications Research Center in Ottawa. IF is now one of the leading manufacturers of passive optical components using Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) technology, where high-power ultraviolet-light passing through a phase mask is used to write gratings (only centimeters long) on the optical fiber, thereby modifying its properties in order to increase transmission capacity, filter certain wavelengths or act as a feedback mechanism.
To President Benoit Lavigne, the strength of IF lies in its technical know-how and its production capacity. Demand is such for FBG products that Lavigne likens it to "everybody screaming for dinner at the same time." Since moving to Gatineau, IF has grown to 25,000 sq. ft. (2,323 sq. m.) and 230 employees and is completing a 50,000-sq.-ft. (4,645-sq.-m.) addition that will add 40 labs to its present 28. Another 75,000-sq.-ft. (6,968-sq.-m.) expansion is in the works, and IF is working on new technology that it will start manufacturing this fall.
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