In 2020, the Province of Ontario passed the Innovation Centre Governance Act: 2020 S.O., c. 36, Sched. 21. This was passed as part of the omnibus budget legislation Protect, Support and Recover from COVID-19 Act (Budget Measures), 2020, S.O. 2020, c. 36 (Bill 229). Through this legislation, the Provincial Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade was given a mandate vis-à-vis the Ontario Centres of Excellence, now re-named the Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI), to appoint up to thirteen directors to the board of the OCI. All thirteen board seats have been filled.
What is the OCI? Some will recall that the OCI is not new. In the late 1980’s a number of non-profit centres were formed in Ontario to foster collaboration between academia and industry across a number of industry sectors. In 2002, the Government of Ontario merged these centres to form Ontario Centres of Excellence Inc., which now carries on as the present-day OCI. The purpose of the OCI continues to be the enhancement of innovation by sponsoring research and commercialization between industry and academia to exploit made-in-Ontario solutions and technologies.
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