In Montreal last week, Economic Development of Canada (EDC)
announced a $3.3 million contribution to the International
Institute of Telecommunication research and development centre
(IIT) to expand existing infrastructure.
It was all part of an ongoing working relationship IIT has
enjoyed with the government for many years and consolidates the
Institute's role in the telco industry, according to Louis Brunel,
president and CEO of Montreal-based IIT.
"The greatest demand we're seeing right now with respect to
telecommunications, is for research that is innovative and leads to
faster technological solutions," said Brunel.
One of the objectives of the IIT is to increase collaboration
with partners within the teleco sector and to help strengthen and
build it as a strong Canadian industry, he said.
"(Last year) was a great year of positioning, development and
concrete achievements," Brunel said. "In 2006 we will be able to
fully assume our role on the national and international
scenes."
Jacques Langelier, regional director for Montreal with EDC, said
they're very pleased with the partnership so far.
"(The EDC) entered into a partnership with the IIT because they
have the ability to help SMEs in Quebec develop and test new
applications, and to help commercialize them," said Langelier.
He noted that Industry Canada is also playing a significant role
in the partnership.
"In this particular case, there are people at Industry Canada
who have the knowledge of the industry, and they are helping us
follow the progression of the research and development the
Institute is doing," said Langelier. "We're not here as
specialists, we are more generalists and when we need expertise in
different fields, we ask (Industry Canada) to help us."
He added the IT sector in Montreal is a very important one
representing more than 100,000 jobs.
"That's one of the reasons why we have invested in the research
program at the Institute, but what we mainly do is a variety of
partnerships in different fields with different partners, so this
is not a 'one-of-a-kind' deal," Langelier said.
The mission of the EDC in this particular case, is to ensure
that SMEs in Quebec in telecommunications, and in other fields, can
develop new products and go forward, according to Langelier.
"It's important to us that they can be innovative and can test
their product and sell it," he said
IIT is the sole operator of both 2G and 3G real-time wire-based
and wireless networks, which gives companies and innovators the
ability to test pre-competitive services and demonstrate them on
existing networks, according to Brunel.
"We don't have a say in what type of research is done, what's
important for us is that the Institute is able to fulfill needs
that are brought forward by SMEs," Langeleir said.
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