Media Releases

U of T Welcomes Provincial Investment in New Centre Focused on Economic Success

February 25, 2016

Toron­to, ON — The Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to wel­comes the $15M invest­ment by the Ontario gov­ern­ment for the new Cen­tre for Engi­neer­ing Inno­va­tion and Entre­pre­neur­ship (CEIE). As stat­ed in the 2016 Ontario Bud­get intro­duced today, this invest­ment will sup­port strength­en­ing the Inno­va­tion Super­Cor­ri­dor in Ontario.

This Cen­tre will bring togeth­er smart build­ing design and state-of-the-art learn­ing tech­nolo­gies, enabling stu­dents, fac­ul­ty, alum­ni and indus­try part­ners to work togeth­er in address­ing some of Canada’s most press­ing eco­nom­ic chal­lenges.

“We are pleased at this recog­ni­tion of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to’s excel­lence and con­tri­bu­tion to the econ­o­my through inno­va­tion, entre­pre­neur­ship and work-inte­grat­ed learn­ing,” said U of T Pres­i­dent Pro­fes­sor Mer­ic Gertler.  “With the province’s sup­port to devel­op the Cen­tre for Engi­neer­ing Inno­va­tion and Entre­pre­neur­ship, we will be able to accel­er­ate our efforts in these key areas.”

The Uni­ver­si­ty has raised almost $26 mil­lion in dona­tions to sup­port the CEIE includ­ing one mil­lion dol­lars from stu­dents through the U of T Engi­neer­ing Soci­ety. Designed to sup­port and accel­er­ate eco­nom­ic growth and long-term pros­per­i­ty in Ontario and Cana­da, the CEIE will:

Help enhance Ontario’s pri­vate sec­tor pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and com­pet­i­tive­ness:

  • Mod­ern­ize the province’s man­u­fac­tur­ing sec­tor by gen­er­at­ing inno­va­tions in robot­ics and advanced man­u­fac­tur­ing;
  • Accel­er­ate entre­pre­neur­ship activ­i­ty lead­ing to the cre­ation of more tech­nol­o­gy-based start-ups; and,
  • Pro­duce high­ly qual­i­fied grad­u­ates in fields of study that are key to Ontario’s and Canada’s eco­nom­ic suc­cess.

Pres­i­dent Gertler also wel­comed con­tin­ued mod­ern­iza­tion of the Ontario finan­cial aid sys­tem. These changes will help stu­dents with the great­est need get bet­ter access to grants upfront and increase the amount of finan­cial sup­port.

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For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact:
U of T Media Rela­tions
416–978-0100
media.relations@utoronto.ca