Can we better manage our energy resources? Can we make major advances in our understanding of neurological disorders? Can we improve efficiencies in our public transportation systems?
Western looks to play a key role in discovering the answers to these (and many other) questions as a major partner in the $210-million IBM Canada Research and Development Centre, which will use state-of-the-art computer infrastructure to drive innovative discoveries and bring them to market.
Joining IBM Canada (contributing $175 million) and the governments of Canada and Ontario (contributing $20 million and $15 million, respectively), Western joins the University of Toronto as a major partner in the new Ontario-based multi-million dollar computing network, announced Tuesday in Toronto.
Western President Amit Chakma said the new centre would enhance the university’s current research projects with IBM Canada and grow strategic research areas at Western, such as wind engineering and surgical and simulation development.
“This collaborative approach, which addresses issues that will affect all Canadians in the years ahead, will create high-value jobs and substantial economic benefit for Canadians and Canada,” he said. “If we have any hope of tackling the big challenges and opportunities facing our society – especially given the constraints of our fiscal environment – public/private partnerships of this kind are critical to driving our research and innovation forward in Ontario and Canada.”
The academic consortium – also including McMaster University, Queen’s University, University of Ottawa, University of Waterloo and University of Ontario Institute of Technology – will use state-of-the art high-performance and cloud-computing systems to process data in research areas with significant commercialization opportunities, including infrastructure, resource management and neuroscience.
High-performance computing refers to the use of supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computational problems; cloud-computing is the delivery of computing services via shared resources, software and information over a network.
To remain on the leading edge of research, consortium members will also turn their attention to the development of next generation hardware and software for supercomputers.
The centre, the first formal research lab in Canada affiliated with IBM Research, is currently under construction in Barrie and scheduled for completion this fall. Supercomputing and cloud-computing infrastructure at Western and U of T to assist in tapping new innovation pipelines that can help create new products, services and opportunities.
“It is initiatives such as this that will help bridge the gap between academia and industry,” Chakma said. “Make no mistake, Ontario universities are teeming with expertise that is capable of tackling the worlds most complex and pressing problems. But we know we cannot overcome these challenges alone. It also requires the help of industry leaders such as IBM, who bring their own unique expertise and resources to the table.”
The centre’s research will focus on:
- Data management for health care, such as technology that can help doctors detect life threatening conditions in premature babies 24 hours earlier;
- Water conservation and management, such as reducing pollution in water systems by monitoring sewer systems and spotting problems in a pipeline before a leak;
- Energy management, such as finding better ways to track how hydro flows, reducing waste and saving customers money; and
- Rapid urbanization and aging infrastructure in our cities, such as managing traffic lights to improve traffic flow.
Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, said this virtual research collaboration will position southern Ontario at the forefront of research and development in areas not only critically important to our communities, but also show great commercial promise.
“No matter the industry, science and technology are driving the bottom line,” Goodyear said. “They are, in fact, what will build our future. It is this knowledge and technology that will help us meet the many challenges of the 21st century.”
John Lutz, IBM Canada president, said his company’s latest, and largest, financial investment in Ontario is expected to help increase Canadian competitiveness in the global economy by bringing new specialized skills in data management and analysis, software engineering and production to southern Ontario.
As a result, communities across the region and country stand to benefit from new economic opportunities and diversification, he said.
“We want to understand what is happening, why it is happening and what might happen next,” Lutz said. “This is a win for all Canadians because it will help us to build Canadian software and engineering skills and accelerate the commercialization of Canadian-led research and development to help us further excel in global markets.”
Chakma added Western played a leading role in establishing SHARCNET (Shared Hierarchical Academic Research Computing NETwork), one of Canada’s largest high-performance computing consortium, and is looking forward to taking the next step by using cloud computing to manage the staggering volume of digital data society creates on a daily basis.
“From neuroscience to our environment and industrial applications, supercomputing holds tremendous promise for helping us make complex research decisions more quickly, while mining data for better answers,” he said.
Western Computer Sciences professor Michael Bauer, who also serves as SHARCNET’s associate director, said one of the things this contribution from IBM gives Western is a tremendous start in addressing some very substantial problems in regards to dealing with large-scale data.
“In many, many circumstances, data will become the core problem of the next decade, not in terms of generating data but in terms of what do you do with it and how do you actually glean useful information from it,” Bauer said.
Paul Mayne, Western NewsGary Goodyear, Minister of State for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, talks with Western President Amit Chakma and Provost and Vice-President (Academic) Janice Deakin.
