Research Partnerships at McMaster

Nick Markettos is an engineer and Assistant Vice President for Partnerships at McMaster University. He stated that McMaster is in the top three Canadian Universities for research dollars with almost $400 million in 2010. McMaster's goal is to form partnerships both locally and internationally to promote a culture of commercialization of research. Through an interdisciplinary approach the university is focusing on six major areas: The McMaster Auto Research Centre; Water Research; Sustainable Energy; Interactive Digital Media; Food, Activity and Health; and, Remote Care and Space Medicine.

Over the past few years the university has worked steadily to develop the McMaster Innovation Park on Longwood Road in West Hamilton. To date a number of building are completed and several others are in the pre-construction phase. The centre is a place for collaboration and application for research contracts and start up companies with commercialization and knowledge transfer being the primary outcomes.

McMaster is a leader in research, having the world's most powerful electron microscope, its own nuclear reactor and over $310 000 in research funding per faculty member.

At the end of the meeting Nick was asked if our club could visit the Innovation Centre and he welcomed the visit.