Expanding the ICT network across Western Canada

May 18, 2000 -- Western Canada - The more extensive the TRLabs network becomes, the greater the opportunities for business and research collaboration.With this in mind, TRLabs has expanded its reach into British Columbia as a founding member of the New Media Innovation Centre (NewMIC).

NewMIC will be a hub for new media innovation. Based on the TRLabs industry-university-government model for collaborative research, NewMIC will support innovation and entrepreneurship through the sharing of ideas between artists and scientists, in industry and academia. Like TRLabs, NewMIC will help attract and retain excellent faculty researchers and graduate students, will produce highly qualified personnel, will enhance industry-university collaboration and will facilitate the transfer of technology to business. Visit the NewMIC website at www.newmic.com to learn more and to see a live webcast of the opening event.

Says Michael Leung, TRLabs Vice President of Business Development, "Throughout our existence, TRLabs has been implementing a pan-western strategy to build a critical mass of ICT expertise across Western Canada. Our founding role in NewMIC completes this strategy, connecting BC to Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba through the TRLabs network."

Along with TRLabs, other founding participants in NewMIC include the National Research Council, Advanced Systems Institute of British Columbia, University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, Technical University of British Columbia, University of Victoria, Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, IBM, Nortel Networks, Xerox and Electronics Arts.

TRLabs is Canada's leading research consortium in information and communications technology (ICT). Based on industry-university-government collaboration, TRLabs operates research labs in five cities: Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg. Industry partners include major telecom carriers, multinational equipment manufacturers and ICT service providers, and industry associates include close to 30 small technology businesses throughout Western Canada. University sponsors are the Universities of Alberta, Calgary, Manitoba, Regina and Saskatchewan, and government sponsors are the governments of Canada, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Since its inception in 1986, TRLabs has been conducting pre-competitive research, creating innovative technologies and training students at the graduate and undergraduate levels to enhance Canada's telecommunications and information technology expertise and improve its global competitiveness.

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