Faculty and researchers from The University of Western Ontario, the University of Waterloo and area digital media companies, including RIM, Open Text and London’s EK3 and Digital Extremes, came together this week to talk about how to build a strong digital media economy.
Panel discussions were held in Stratford, home to the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus and the Stratford Institute. Western is collaborating with Waterloo on teaching, research and professional efforts at the institute.
University of Western Ontario Vice President, Research, Ted Hewitt says panel discussions focused on three target areas for digital media – medical imaging, consumer products and business applications, and the discussions were highly productive.
“As a university we want to know how we can best serve the needs of firms to help them build a strong cluster in the region,” says Hewitt.
“We heard loud and clear that companies are looking to us to turn out entrepreneurial and creative grads who can help take digital media to the next level.”
Hewitt says that Nick Prigioniero, CEO of EK3, was the keynote speaker at the meeting and told the audience that he relied heavily on university technology and talent in building his highly successful company.
“It’s all about collaboration – working together,” says Hewitt.
“Digital media is hot. We’re going to work together to build capacity in this region with a goal to make it Canada’s premier centre for digital media.”