Building a highly skilled workforce through collaborative R&D

Canada’s Innovation Strategy acknowledges that, "To succeed in the global, knowledge-based economy, where highly skilled people are more mobile than ever before, a country must produce, attract and retain a critical mass of well-educated and well-trained people." At the New Media Innovation Centre (NewMIC) we have an innovative model of industry-academia-government collaborative research and development that aims to do just this. By training a new generation of uniquely skilled new media researchers, attracting high-level research talent to Canada and exposing industry professionals to new ideas and technologies, NewMIC will help to position Western Canada as an international hub for the new media industry. The New Media Innovation Centre (NewMIC) is a not-for-profit organization designed to be the water cooler for Western Canada’s new media industry. It brings researchers together from large multinational corporations, local small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), academia and government – all sharing ideas and resources to build technologies and applications that will make British Columbia an internationally renowned centre for new media innovation. Within NewMIC’s 25,000 square-foot facility, artists, designers, engineers, computer scientists and social scientists work side-by-side on projects ranging from roadmapping the future of new media to designing interfaces for P2P networks to building operating systems for wireless devices. Graduate and undergraduate students from our academic members – Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Simon Fraser University, University of British Columbia and University of Victoria – conduct research in collaboration with our larger industry members – Electronic Arts, IBM, Nortel Networks, Sierra Wireless, Sony and TELUS – and with a group of local SMEs. The research looks far enough into the future to meet the thesis requirements of the academic organizations, but solves real problems identified by industry. Students graduate with the ability to conduct leading edge, novel research plus the ability to tackle industry priorities, meet deadlines and deliver results. They gain excellent presentation skills from sharing their research with a wide audience and are exposed to new ideas beyond their own discipline. They also have access to state-of-the-art facilities that include an immersive media lab, a human computer interaction lab, a wireless lab and a network performance lab. Our students graduate with a unique blend of research and business skills that will enable them to take leadership positions in today’s knowledge-based economy. This June, NewMIC had its first graduation celebration. Nine students, representing all four academic partners, finished their degrees with NewMIC experience under their belt. Three of these students enjoyed the experience so much that they will be returning this fall to pursue more advanced degrees. One student just returned from a three-week all expenses paid trip to Sony’s San Francisco Design Centre where he exchanged ideas related to his NewMIC research project with the Sony design team. The infrastructure, multidisciplinary intellect and energy at NewMIC have already begun to attract researchers from abroad to British Columbia. We recently hired Dr. Hong Yee Wong, an expert in 3D-visualization research from Singapore. He will be working alongside researchers from the National Research Council to study advanced collaborative networking technologies. Also, Japan’s NTT has contributed one of its star researchers to NewMIC for a one-year term. Masayuki Ihara will be working with us on human computer interaction research. NewMIC also plays a key role in employee training and professional development for industry members. Industry researchers that participate in NewMIC work in an exploratory environment, away from the day-to-day priorities of their supervisors and colleagues. They absorb new ideas and perspectives that span many academic disciplines and serve as a catalyst to spread these ideas throughout their company. SMEs benefit from NewMIC in a different way. They don’t typically participate in day-to-day NewMIC research as they are intensely focussed on getting their products to market. Yet, by attending regular research update meetings and frequent lectures at NewMIC from an international slate of industry and academic researchers, these companies are exposed to the latest R&D. This brand of professional development can help new media companies find new applications for existing technologies or lead to new ideas for future products. It also keeps them in touch with the latest standards and newest technologies. The interplay of art, technology and social science at NewMIC creates an environment that is contagious and vital for attracting, training and developing people. This critical mass of the world’s best and brightest new media researchers will help to position Western Canada as a key destination for innovative, growing companies.

Building a highly skilled workforce through collaborative R&D

Broadcast | August 21, 2002

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