The Business development Bank of Canada (BDC) is pleased to announce that it is a key player in McMaster Innovation Park’s new $69 million research complex that will help boost the new economy in the Hamilton area. Made possible under the federal government’s Business Credit Availability Program, the $57 million financing is BDC’s largest contribution under this initiative to date.
In collaboration with McMaster University, this 37-acre complex is evolving into a number of labs and research facilities focused mainly on new technology and higher-value products. The anchor tenant is Natural Resource Canada’s CANMET Materials Technology Laboratory (CANMET-MTL), one of the most recognized centres of research excellence of its kind in Canada. Presently located in Ottawa, CANMET-MTL is relocating to its new facility at McMaster Innovation Park in the fall of 2010 and will employ 100 people in Hamilton. The building is targeting a LEED Canada Platinum Certification.
CANMET-MTL will support research activities in materials development and performance assessment, including pilot-scale casting, rolling, forming, welding, corrosion, mechanical testing and micro-structure evaluations. It also has a special academic program partially funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). The academic user program, the first version of which was spearheaded by professors at McMaster University in 2003, allows its facilities to be made available to all Canadian university researchers.
