Discovery Parks advances tech transfer at UVic
The new Discovery Parks facility which
opened today at UVic provides opportunities for partnerships between technology-based
companies and the university’s research community. UVic gains space
for spin-off companies and valuable employment opportunities for its graduates
and students. Tenant companies will have access to UVic’s wealth of
research expertise.
“This facility is an exciting new addition to our research community,” says Dr. Martin Taylor, UVic’s vice president research. “I envision many partnerships between UVic researchers and private companies emerging from having Discovery Parks on campus. The facility will significantly advance our technology transfer activities and complement the capacity provided by our Innovation and Development Corporation.”
It’s the reason one of the facility’s inaugural tenants, Geochemical Analytic Services (GASCO), decided to locate in the Discovery Parks building. The BC corporation that provides geochemical solutions to clients’questions about energy and environmental issues, chose the site specifically because of its on-campus location.
“I think it’s important to strengthen hi-tech in Victoria, to give talented people, including UVic graduates, more real career opportunities in attractive, challenging areas here at home in BC. There’s a great talent pool at the university and at local colleges that can be better utilized and retained by such rewarding options,” says Dr. Michael Whiticar, a GASCO director and faculty member with UVic’s school of earth and ocean sciences.
Sean Rathlef, a UVic alumnus (BSc in biochemistry, MSc in protein chemistry), is president and CEO of Syncitium Inc., a biotechnology company aiming to drastically reduce research and development timetables through more extensive use of Syncitium’s Virtual Enzymology software. He’ll set up an R&D office in the Discovery Parks facility in August.
“It currently takes an average of 10 years to bring a drug to market. By using computers to model metabolic biopathways you can bypass the traditional ‘wet’ lab chemistry process and cut research and development time by 1,000 per cent,” says Rathlef, who received advice on setting up his new company from UVic’s Innovation and Development Corporation.
Syncitium’s proposed Virtual Enzynology software has the potential to identify the influence particular enzymes have on certain diseases or disorders, giving researchers advance knowledge of a drug’s impact on a patient.
The Discovery Parks technology enterprise facility will also house UVic’s Water and Climate Impacts Research Centre—the result of a partnership agreement between UVic and Environment Canada’s National Water Research Institute. The centre’s researchers will assess the impact of climate change on Canadian water resources. UVic’s VENUS (Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea) and NEPTUNE (North-East Pacific Time-Series Undersea Networked Experiment) projects also plan to have offices in the facility.
The facility will also serve as a temporary home for UVic computer science research labs and graduate students. This move creates space in the Engineering Lab Wing for program expansion as part of the provincial government’s “double the opportunities” initiative to provide increased access to high tech programs. The computer science program will move to a new engineering building on campus in the fall of 2005.
“This facility is an exciting new addition to our research community,” says Dr. Martin Taylor, UVic’s vice president research. “I envision many partnerships between UVic researchers and private companies emerging from having Discovery Parks on campus. The facility will significantly advance our technology transfer activities and complement the capacity provided by our Innovation and Development Corporation.”
It’s the reason one of the facility’s inaugural tenants, Geochemical Analytic Services (GASCO), decided to locate in the Discovery Parks building. The BC corporation that provides geochemical solutions to clients’questions about energy and environmental issues, chose the site specifically because of its on-campus location.
“I think it’s important to strengthen hi-tech in Victoria, to give talented people, including UVic graduates, more real career opportunities in attractive, challenging areas here at home in BC. There’s a great talent pool at the university and at local colleges that can be better utilized and retained by such rewarding options,” says Dr. Michael Whiticar, a GASCO director and faculty member with UVic’s school of earth and ocean sciences.
Sean Rathlef, a UVic alumnus (BSc in biochemistry, MSc in protein chemistry), is president and CEO of Syncitium Inc., a biotechnology company aiming to drastically reduce research and development timetables through more extensive use of Syncitium’s Virtual Enzymology software. He’ll set up an R&D office in the Discovery Parks facility in August.
“It currently takes an average of 10 years to bring a drug to market. By using computers to model metabolic biopathways you can bypass the traditional ‘wet’ lab chemistry process and cut research and development time by 1,000 per cent,” says Rathlef, who received advice on setting up his new company from UVic’s Innovation and Development Corporation.
Syncitium’s proposed Virtual Enzynology software has the potential to identify the influence particular enzymes have on certain diseases or disorders, giving researchers advance knowledge of a drug’s impact on a patient.
The Discovery Parks technology enterprise facility will also house UVic’s Water and Climate Impacts Research Centre—the result of a partnership agreement between UVic and Environment Canada’s National Water Research Institute. The centre’s researchers will assess the impact of climate change on Canadian water resources. UVic’s VENUS (Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea) and NEPTUNE (North-East Pacific Time-Series Undersea Networked Experiment) projects also plan to have offices in the facility.
The facility will also serve as a temporary home for UVic computer science research labs and graduate students. This move creates space in the Engineering Lab Wing for program expansion as part of the provincial government’s “double the opportunities” initiative to provide increased access to high tech programs. The computer science program will move to a new engineering building on campus in the fall of 2005.
-- 30 --
