New North Foundation, New Idea
By 250 News
Thursday, January 22, 2009 02:30 PM
Prince George, B.C. – Imagine a world where the bulk of research on natural resources actually took place in a resource based community.
That’s the image UNBC Interim President Charles Jago has presented at the economic summit underway in Prince George. He has hopes of developing the New North Foundation.
What’s that?
Well, UNBC is a research -intensive university. In fact, it’s one of only four research-intensive universities in the province and the only one wholly to be located outside of Vancouver or Victoria. “This is a tremendous economic asset for our region in a country where research and innovation are overwhelmingly concentrated in big universities in big cities” says Jago.
He says if we are to get serious about kick starting the resource based economy and making some changes to match a new era, then the future has to look towards research and development and UNBC can fill the bill.
Dr. Jago says the University has assisted in times of crisis, case in point; the development of the Northern Medical Program, train in the north and the Doctors will stay in the north. The economic crisis is not that far off the mark says Jago “The challenge of economic renewal we face today is no less great than the healthcare crisis we faced in 2001, the need for action is no less apparent, and the opportunity for universities to rise to the occasion is no less obvious.”
The New North Foundation would connect northern communities and the northern BC resource
economy to the knowledge power of UNBC and BC’s research universities.
While still in the idea stage, Dr. Jago says the New North Foundation will be mandated to mobilize university research in the direct service of northern communities “Think of the New North Foundation as the knowledge portal, serving as a single point of contact connecting communities and researchers.”
One of the most recent research ideas that could have an impact on the north is the development of the beetle wood /concrete. It was a project that used beetle killed wood as an aggregate for concrete, and it produced a very strong product.
Jago says the time has come for those in resource communities to put emphasis on research and development to improve their opportunities “Half a century ago, the only practical thing to do was treat this region as a source of resource wealth and to focus R&D investments exclusively in Vancouver and Victoria.” Jago says that has to change, “The new north needs to expand its own capacity for research and innovation, strengthen the connection between this region and the provincial knowledge infrastructure, and mobilize this capacity in the direct service of northern communities.”
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Posted by: gus on January 22 2009 10:07 PM
Translation: innovation, and creativity, underpinned by it's requisites design, art and culture, are the keys to our future moving forward.