Expanded OCE program celebrates its 20th anniversary with renewed purpose

The Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) program is on a roll. With an increased budget to match its expanded mandate and activities, the organization is arguably more vibrant and influential than at any time in its 20-year history — a milestone celebrated earlier this month at its annual conference in Toronto.

The newly reconstituted OCE program has made an impression on the Ontario government, which has made it a key player in its innovation and commercialization strategy. The innovation strategy was recently elevated with the creation of the Ministry of Research and Innovation under the leadership of premier Dalton McGuinty.

In the past year, OCE has completed an organizational overhaul, received additional funding for its fledgling energy centre and taken on the government's new Investment Accelerator Fund in conjunction with the MaRS Discovery District (R$, September 19/06). It is also working to select three permanent managing directors to head up the centres that are currently staffed by interim leaders.

"The organization that I came to lead in the fall of 2004 is quite different today in 2007 … All of a sudden, folks that were working in a fairly defined area now find they are actually at a table playing in a multidisciplinary way," says OCE president and CEO Mark Romoff. "We're growing the organization by acquiring more business development people in order that we can get out there and do what we do well, which is work with the business and research communities. They figure out who are the real problem identifiers and who are the problem solvers and bring them together."

Yet in a very real sense, the OCE program has adhered to the original vision, which was formulated in the late 1980s under Liberal premier David Peterson. Peterson addressed the OCE conference and outlined its evolution from concept to reality, describing an organization that fostered collaboration among top-flight researchers in industry and academia.

Research and technology had a high profile within the Peterson administration, which drew upon the expertise of visionaries like Dr Martin Walmsley and Dr Fraser Mustard respectively to develop the program and select a slate of seven Centres with a combined budget of $30 million annually. A RE$EARCH MONEY article from that time reported that the process leading to the selection of the Centres was remarkably free of political interference.

"The province's political chieftains faithfully heeded the expert advice of a scientific panel … chaired by Dr Fraser Mustard," wrote then-editor Vincent Wright. "Despite the obvious political temptations, the Premier's Council basically rubber stamped the suggestions and agreed to back the university-based Centres with $200 million over the next five years ... from the province's 10-year, billion-dollar Technology Fund." (R$, July 8, 1987)

The OCE program appeared to lose its focus in the 1990s, prompting a long process of review and consultation leading to a major reorganization in 2004. The process was not trouble-free and many presidents of the individual Centres left the organization when it was integrated into a single corporate entity.

But Romoff says those days are history and the benefits of the new structure and support of the current government are about to pay real dividends. He expects the three interim managing directors will be replaced by permanent personnel by the summer, allowing a new management team to ramp up the new program structure and embark on the joint program with MaRS.

"There's no question, we're coming out of the chute in the fall with a full complement of bright and bushy-tailed managing directors. It's going to bring a whole new dynamism to the organization," he says. "We've got a team, everybody is in their spot and we will come out of the summer ready for bear. Let's do it."

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