The MaRS Discovery District in Toronto figures to further solidify the city's stature as a major nexus of biotechnology research and development.

Toronto Goes To MaRS

One of the world's great melting pots, Toronto's populace speaks more than 80 languages, making it attractive for call centers and other international businesses. The city is also North America's fourth largest financial center.
        Long a center of medical exploration - University of Toronto researchers discovered insulin here in 1921 - Toronto will soon be home to the Medical & Related Sciences (MaRS) Discovery District, a public-private partnership to accelerate biotechnology development. A $254-million project, MaRS will create 1.3 million sq. ft. (120,770 sq. m.) of laboratory and office space in downtown Toronto. It will be part of the city's Discovery District, which includes major research hospitals and the University of Toronto.
        MaRS' tenant mix will include venture capitalists, two incubators, start-up firms and medium-sized biotech firms, says Dale Martin, a strategic consultant for the project. Incorporating a portion of the old Toronto General Hospital, MaRS is currently under construction, with the first of two phases set to open in late 2004 or early 2005.
        "We're marketing MaRS as a convergence center and we are looking for R&D-intensive companies," Martin says. "Scientists will be able to walk from class to lab to their business office."

The IBM Software Solutions Lab employs 2,500 in Markham, a Toronto suburb.

        MaRS will be one of many links on the Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION), which spans 2,300 miles (3,700 km.) and will link the province's major educational institutions and research facilities. ORION is a 320-gigabit network, which virtually eliminated bandwidth restraints, allowing users to connect at multiple gigabit speeds. It enables biotech clusters throughout the province to collaborate directly and at extremely high speeds. Orion also allows international collaboration through connections to the world's leading research and education networks such as Abilene and Internet2 in the U.S., GEANT and DANTE in Europe and APAN in Asia.
        "Orion will be a critical infrastructure for education in the province," says Phil Baker, president & CEO of the Optical Regional Advanced Net work of Ontario, which owns and operates Orion.
        The education infrastructure of Ontario – with 17 universities and 27 colleges – was among the considerations helping IBM choose Markham, a suburb north of Toronto for its Software Solutions Lab, a 565,000-sq.-ft. (52,488-sq.-m.) facility with 2,500 employees.