Waterloo Research and Tech Park renamed
Posted Jun 5, 2011 05:59:50 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Waterloo’s Research and Tech Park is now the David Johnston Research and Technology Park.
The University of Waterloo has honoured Canada’s 28th Governor General by officially renaming its Research and Technology Park.
About two hundred people were on hand as His Excellency unveiled a new sign at the University of Waterloo.
Johnston tell’s 570News that he’s thrilled to be associated with the park.
“I’m honoured to be here at the Research and Technology Park, and so humbled to have my name associated with it. This of course is a great symbol of Waterloo Region collaboration knowledge capital, and it’s so important to extend these lessons of collaboration on knowledge right across the country, so what a thrill it is to be here and have this association.”
Johnston has played a leading and collaborative role with establishing the R+T Park with the government, the region, Communitech and Canada’s technology triangle.
Johnston says the park goes hand in hand with the Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics.
“Because we go from fundamental to experiment to applied and then back to experimental and to theoretical. We bring that together today in these two things and of course that’s why it’s important to see them as a cluster, as a spectrum.”
The goal is to create breakthrough research discoveries that lead to social and commercial advantages for generations to come.
“If we get knowledge right, that is the extending of the opportunity to develop the talents of all of our people to the fullest, and we build a series of communities and therefore a country that are prosperous in the best sense of that word. Healthy, caring, smart with a great sense of improving things for the next generation.”
Johnston also gave a keynote address at the opening of the inaugural Equinox Summit at the Perimeter Institute.
The Summit includes leading experts in energy and carbon emissions and it runs through Thursday.
The parks 1.6 million square feet of office space will house nine thousand knowledge workers, in hopes of creating new technology jobs and generating billions of dollars in economic impact.
570’s Eric Drozd was there, catch video of the event below.
