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NEW MEDIA INNOVATION CENTRE TO BE ESTABLISHED VANCOUVER — A unique world-class New Media Innovation Centre will be established at Harbour Centre in downtown Vancouver to research, develop, produce and commercialize advanced interactive new-media technologies, products and delivery systems. NewMIC is a not-for-profit organization comprising and controlled by companies and universities engaged in research and development of new-media technologies. Its mandate is to assemble a critical mass of scientific and technological expertise among scientists, industry and other stakeholders in Canada. The federal and provincial governments will contribute $4 million each under the Western Economic Partnership Agreement announced today by Environment Minister David Anderson on behalf of Ron J. Duhamel, secretary of state for Western Economic Diversification and Francophonie, and Graeme Bowbrick, minister responsible for the provincial Information, Science and Technology Agency. The rest of the funding for the five-year budget of $29 million will come from industry, revenues generated and in-kind contributions from the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, the Technical University of British Columbia, the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, and the University of Victoria. Other founding partners of NewMIC are TRLabs, the Advanced Systems Institute of British Columbia, IBM, Nortel, Xerox, Electronic Arts, Leboe and Grice Multimedia, and INSINC! Interactive Netcasting Systems Inc. Some other large and small companies are expected to join shortly. "British Columbia already has considerable strength in this rapidly growing part of the high-tech sector. We have world-leading companies in games and entertainment applications of new media as well as in electronic commerce, and Internet and wireless applications and designs," said Anderson. "Our universities have great research strength in this area. Through the funding of this world-class New Media Innovation Centre, we create a hub where innovation and development can cluster, and where we will be able to provide a competitive edge to the province’s ability to grow and thrive in this emerging sector," said Anderson. Bowbrick said the commitment the companies bring to NewMIC is the key to its success. The links between the academic institutions and the firms will benefit the industry as a whole and drive the development of the new-media industry. "By its nature, the new-media industry is creative, young and growing. This industry will provide tremendous opportunities for youth as well as new leading-edge technologies that will be applied across the economy," said Bowbrick. "New media is the next wave, and NewMIC is an exciting partnership," said Alan Winter, NewMIC’s founding president and CEO. "The financial contributions from the federal and provincial governments announced today, together with the financial contributions from our industry and academic partners, will provide a solid foundation for innovation in the new-media sector in British Columbia and Western Canada. We expect NewMIC to become one of the top new-media centres in the world." "I believe NewMIC is a most timely and significant initiative and I am especially pleased about the academic partnership among UVic, UBC, TechBC, Emily Carr and SFU," said Jack P. Blaney, Simon Fraser University’s president. "I am confident that NewMIC’s unique contribution will flow from the integration of information technology, the contemporary arts and the social sciences. We have the sciences and the arts working together to invent breakthrough ideas and applications." NewMIC is funded under the Canada/British Columbia Western Economic Partnership Agreement, a joint multi-million dollar agreement to encourage economic development and job creation in British Columbia. The federal department of Western Economic Diversification Canada and the provincial Ministry of Employment and Investment are the lead agencies for the partnership agreement. - 30 - Contact
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BACKGROUNDER
New Media Innovation Centre A consortium of high-technology institutes and companies approached the federal and provincial governments for funding to establish a new-media innovation centre in Vancouver. The centre, NewMIC, will undertake world-class research and development to stimulate and support inter-disciplinary collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship in the industry. The goals are to:
The consortium includes the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, the Technical University of British Columbia, the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, the University of Victoria, TRLabs, Advanced Systems Institute of British Columbia, IBM, Nortel, Xerox, Electronic Arts, Leboe and Grice Multimedia, and INSINC! Interactive Netcasting Systems Inc. Some other large and small companies are expected to join shortly. New media is the distribution of text, images and sound in an interactive format via a digital delivery system. The industry includes games producers, computer-animated film producers, Internet content developers and Internet carriers. Developments in the industry are transforming all other sectors of the economy and society, from health care to education and training, entertainment, e-commerce and data communications. The industry is young and dynamic. There are about 120 new-media firms in British Columbia, and most of these expect to double their workforce over the next two years. The high-tech sector has grown 61 per cent over the past five years and is the fastest-growing and most exciting sector of the British Columbia economy. It employs more than 51,000 people in nearly 7,000 businesses, and generates $5-billion in revenue each year.
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