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The Government of Ontario is investing $190 million over the next six years to help attract and retain top scientists, develop cutting-edge technologies, increase investment and create jobs. The Honourable Reza Moridi, Minister of Research and Innovation, was at Queen’s Monday to reiterate the funding announcement first made last week in Toronto.

“Research is the foundation of a knowledge economy — new findings lead to new technologies, companies and jobs,” says Minister Moridi. “Across the province, researchers and companies are improving competitiveness, launching new ground-breaking products and services and changing lives.”

Minister Reza Moridi (center) enjoyed a tour of Praveen Jain's (second from left) laboratory after Monday's announcement. Here John Lam explains his research project while (from left), Dr. Jain, Minister Moridi, Minister Moridi's colleague and MPP John Gerretsen look on.

Minister Moridi was welcomed to Queen’s by Steven Liss, Vice-Principal (Research), and researcher Praveen Jain (Electrical and Computer Engineering). The minister was accompanied by the Honourable John Gerretsen, Member of Provincial Parliament for Kingston and the Islands. .

“The research happening at Queen’s University and other Kingston-area institutions is truly world class and is addressing some of society’s biggest challenges, at the forefront of global issues and those that contribute to Ontario’s leadership and economic prosperity,” says Dr. Liss. “The support of the Government of Ontario is crucial to maintaining our record of excellence in research and innovation. We are proud of our researchers here at Queen’s.”

The funding will be divided between the Ontario Research Fund’s  Research Excellence ($65 million) and Research Infrastructure ($125 million) programs. Nearly half of all Canadian research is done in Ontario. In the last decade, more than 20,000 researchers have been trained in the province and 150 new companies have been founded.

“I want to thank the Ministry for advancing the work I do,” says Dr. Jain, a pioneer in the fields of power electronics, processing electrical energy using solid-state electronics. “You are helping me bring fundamental ideas from my team to the marketplace.”

 According to a release from the Minister’s office, the impact of Canada’s research ranks sixth in the world – ahead of other top-producing scientific countries like Australia, China, Germany and Japan, and right behind the U.S. and U.K.