Mayor's Breakfast, 23-09-2021

President's speech

Veuillez noter que les discours sont publiés dans la langue dans laquelle ils ont été présentés.
Seule la version prononcée fait foi.

Monsieur le maire,

Conseillers, conseillères et députés

Membres de la chambre de commerce

Leaders du secteur d’affaires dans la région d’Ottawa/Gatineau

Bonjour.

Je suis très heureux, et surtout honoré, de participer à ce petit-déjeuner du maire, en présentiel, par surcroît ! De vous voir en chair et en os me rappelle à quel point nous sommes partis de loin, en mars 2020, alors que la pandémie de COVID-19 touchait nos communautés de plein fouet.

La solidarité régionale, provinciale et nationale nous aura amenés à nous surpasser et en utilisant un terme repris par plusieurs, à nous réinventer depuis un an !

Pour bien débuter, laissez-moi féliciter et saluer le nouveau gouvernement qui a obtenu la confiance des Canadiens, il y a tout juste 3 jours. L’ensemble des députés pourra compter sur la collaboration de l’Université d’Ottawa pour relever les défis qui sont à notre portée.

It is a great pleasure for me to be here with you this morning. Not only because I have an important message to deliver – a message about success – success as businesspeople and as citizens of this great city, but also because it is truly wonderful to be speaking to real live people again.

Our presence here is also a testament to our commitment to overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic by working together and by making extraordinary efforts on behalf of the public good. That too is thrilling. I am convinced that we must build on this capacity to work together. That now is the time to develop and pursue a new shared vision so that we may continue to achieve collective success.

For although Ottawa is an extraordinary city, a terrific city in which to live and to do business,

we nonetheless have an opportunity to become even greater. If we work together we can make Ottawa one of the most influential and successful cities on earth. A city that stands as an inspiring model to the world in the 21st century.

Today I will tell you how the University of Ottawa proposes to help realize this future.

But before looking to the future, I need to introduce you to the uOttawa of the present. For it is vital that everyone understands: uOttawa is no longer the modest regional institution that it was decades ago. Today uOttawa is truly a local, national, and international powerhouse.

Let me begin proving this bold statement by sharing some facts and figures about the business of uOttawa. In 2020 the University of Ottawa’s budget was over 1.1 billion dollars. With the vast majority of that money spent right here in Ottawa.

In fact, a study by the Conference Board of Canada in 2016 assessed uOttawa’s economic impact in the Ottawa/Gatineau region at 7.5 billion dollars annually.

Let me repeat this because it really matters: uOttawa injects 7.5 billion dollars into the Ottawa/Gatineau economy every year. This includes the impact of our more than 45,000 students, each of whom spends tens of thousands of dollars locally every year.

Not only that, but uOttawa is also the 5th largest employer in the Ottawa/Gatineau region, with nearly 5,000 faculty and staff. In other words, although uOttawa is not technically a business, the reality is that we have an enormous and very direct impact on Ottawa’s economic success.

Nous tirons notre force à plusieurs autres égards. Par exemple, l'Université d'Ottawa est la plus grande université bilingue français-anglais au monde. Près d'un tiers de nos étudiants obtiennent un diplôme dans plus de 350 programmes de langue française.

La richesse de notre bilinguisme, dans les deux langues officielles du pays, et notre engagement à faire rayonner la francophonie au sein d’un environnement culturel exceptionnel font partie de nos plus fières réalisations.

Nous sommes – et de loin – le plus important établissement offrant des cours en français au Canada à l’extérieur du Québec. Nous avons formé l’essentiel des avocats pratiquant en Français à l’extérieur du Québec. Pour devenir médecin en Français à l’extérieur du Québec, ça passe par l’Université Ottawa.

J’aime rappeler que sans l’Université d’Ottawa qui a formé des générations de médecins et de personnels de la santé en français, il n’y aurait pas d’hôpital Montfort aujourd’hui, ce haut lieu symbolique de la lutte des franco-ontariens.

Nos diplômés assurent une partie congrue des services qui se rendent en Français un peu partout au Canada, de la Nouvelle Écosse à la Colombie Britannique, du sud de l’Ontario au Nunavut. Cela fait aussi partie de notre identité.

Nous accueillons à chaque année des milliers d‘étudiants francophones en provenance de partout au Canada et d’ailleurs du monde francophone, d’Afrique de l’Ouest, du Maghreb, de l’Europe ou d’Haïti pour ne mentionner que ces régions. Ces étudiants transforment notre campus et font aussi partie de notre identité en mouvance, à l’image de la francophonie elle-même.

La réalité francophone de notre campus est loin d’être la même qu’il y a 50 ans, 20 ans ou même 5 années. 13 000 de nos étudiants fréquentent plus de 350 programmes de formation entièrement en Français et, bon an mal an, nous attribuons de bourses à plus de 6000 de ces étudiants afin de soutenir leurs études en Français. Plus de 90% de nos personnels sont bilingues et offrent leurs services en Français.

uOttawa’s student population has almost doubled this century, with much of that growth coming from international students. In fact, international students from 147 different countries make up almost 20% of our student population now. We are truly a global university, with a growing number of research partnerships in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.

In addition to growing larger in recent years, uOttawa has also gotten better. Much better. In fact, last year we were ranked for the first time in the top 150 universities in the world. Top 150 might not sound that great but consider that there are over 20,000 universities in the world. The reality is that we are among the best universities in the country, and in the world, and we are getting better all the time.

Our research in artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, neuroscience, public policy, food security, climate change, Indigenous health, cancer treatments, and indeed even in fighting COVID-19 are all extraordinary and world-class.

Let me tell you a story to illustrate our impact.

The most widely used COVID-19 test in the world is a molecular test known as RT-PCR, which stands for ‘reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction’. This process relies on a chemical whose total annual production was only a single kilogram per year prior to COVID-19. However, with the world suddenly needing hundreds of millions of PT-CTR tests, much more of this chemical was urgently needed.

I am extremely proud to say that researchers at uOttawa’s Flow Chemistry Research Facility in the Centre for Catalysis Research and Innovation developed a new, safer, and more sustainable way to prepare multiple kilograms per month of this chemical, to meet the global demand. Our researchers have thus enabled hundreds of millions of people around the world to be tested for COVID-19, saving countless lives. This is global lifesaving research and innovation happening just across the canal on the uOttawa campus.

At the outset of this speech, I began to describe a possible future for Ottawa, a future in which stories like this are commonplace, a future in which we work together to create more success at home and abroad for the benefit of all.

Now it’s time to tell you a little more about this vision.

I want to focus first on a recent study that assessed science, technology, and innovation indicators to determine the world’s 20 most scientifically competitive cities. The rationale given for this study is, and I quote: “Scientific and technological innovation (aka S&T) plays a strong role in dictating the future of society. S&T contribute to the innovation of cities, by focusing on their strengths and identifying areas of potential development.”

I believe we all know this to be increasingly true. The study also makes the somewhat obvious but nonetheless vital point that, and again I quote: “Research is the foundation for S&T innovation; concurrently, enterprises are the key engine to transfer knowledge powered by innovation into an application.”

The study makes for a fascinating read, but it is relevant to us here today not only for what it says, but for what it does not say. And what it does not say is anything about Ottawa. The only Canadian city to make the top 20 is Toronto, but I believe that if we work together we can change that. After all, we are not far behind.

As many of you know from decades of personal experience, Ottawa has a tremendous history of scientific research, innovation and entrepreneurship. Over 2,000 Ottawa ICT businesses employ over 77,000 knowledge workers in Ottawa today. In fact Ottawa was ranked number one in concentration of tech jobs in North America in 2020 with 11% of our workforce working in IT.

I believe now is the time to seize the moment and focus on building a more scientifically competitive future in Ottawa. We have both an exceptional academic research community and an equally exceptional private tech sector. Let us collaborate and innovate to achieve greater wealth and prosperity together for our city and region.

And why do I say now is the time?

Because in the post COVID era the economic forces in play will be staggering: In the next five years the European Union will invest more than 2 trillion euros in post COVID recovery for a “greener, more digital and more resilient Europe.” And that does not even include the amounts already announced by research powerhouses such as France and Germany. Closer to home, the Biden administration is planning 2.5 trillion dollars in post COVID investments in research and infrastructure.

Comparés à ces vastes sommes, les montants annoncés pour soutenir la recherche en S&T dans le dernier budget fédéral sont en effet modestes, même s'ils concernent des secteurs d'une importance cruciale comme la biofabrication, les sciences quantiques et la génétique. Il reste à voir avec quelle intensité notre nouveau gouvernement fédéral entend investir dans les S&T, mais espérons qu'il comprendra que de tels investissements génèrent d'énormes retours sur investissement (ROI), des retombées économiques et sociales, tant au niveau local que national.

Que signifie tout cela pour Ottawa ? Cela signifie que si nous pouvons travailler ensemble pour exploiter et accélérer les forces réelles de notre ville et de notre région en matière de S&T, nous générerons des retombées économiques transformatrices qui profiteront à tous les citoyens. Également, nous prendrons notre place en tant que ville d’influence sur la scène mondiale dans l'ère post-Covid. C'est l'occasion qui se présente à nous aujourd'hui.

We have so much to build upon. Ottawa has tremendous strengths in industries ranging from life sciences to clean technologies to automated vehicles to software, AI and beyond. And let us not forget the formidable research mandates of federal agencies in our region, like the National Research Center, Agriculture Canada or Health Canada to mention just a few. The research needs of the federal government can be a fabulous lever in that respect. Nor can we overlook the importance of effective industry associations and industry leaders with global reputations. Or the fact that Kanata North is the largest technology park in Canada.

The pieces of the puzzle are there; the question is: will we be able to put them together to turn ourselves into one of the few smart Canadian cities? The University of Ottawa is ready and willing to be a major contributor to this effort.

We are already an indispensable actor in the S&T ecosystem, especially at a moment when the public and private sectors - all industries and governments - depend on talent to fulfill their missions.

For universities are the growers of talent; we have a unique role to play in training future generations of leaders, be they scientists, like Canada’s Chief Science Advisor, Dr Mona Nemer, who is a former Vice-President of Research at uOttawa, or entrepreneurs like Harvey Finkelstein, a uOttawa grad and President of Shopify.

We are working hard to maximize opportunities for cutting-edge research, for entrepreneurial innovation, for professional development and for cross-sectoral collaboration. Among many other initiatives, we continue to develop our Kanata North Satellite Campus that in 3 years has already developed numerous relationships in the high-tech sector, as well as co-op programs, reskilling programs and more.

And as I have already demonstrated, a wide range of impactful research is being done in our labs, be they biotech labs discovering new cancer treatments or photonics labs discovering quantum processes. And yet, cutting-edge research can only be done in state-of-the-art facilities. In that context uOttawa has big plans.

Although the formal announcement of these plans is still a little ways off, today I am excited to give you an advance taste of them. A teaser, if you will. uOttawa intends to build an extraordinary new world-class research facility called the Advanced Medical Research Centre, to open in 2025.

The Advanced Medical Research Centre will be home to hundreds of world-class researchers, students, post-doctoral fellows, trainees and employees working in a wide range of state-of the-art research labs, and it will be anchored by the Ottawa Health Innovation Hub, which will spin off dozens of new cutting-edge biotech, medtech and digital health startups and attract hundreds of millions of dollars in VC investment to Ottawa.

In fact, the independent 3rd party economic impact analysis we commissioned to assess our plan concluded that by 2030 the Advanced Medical Research Centre – and the many companies to be incubated and accelerated within it – will collectively generate a billion dollars in regional economic annually.

That is on top of uOttawa’s existing economic impact. These are big plans indeed.

The Advanced Medical Research Centre will complement another major uOttawa initiative: the new Faculty of Health Sciences to be built beside the Rideau River on the Lees campus that will bring together the schools of Nursing, Nutrition, Human Kinetics, Rehabilitation and Interdisciplinary Health in another state-of-the-art facility on Lees Campus.

This new Health Sciences complex is fundamental to uOttawa’s vision of becoming a world leader in health sciences research. Its co-located and collaborative lab spaces will drive innovative exploration, invite partnerships, foster multidisciplinary collaboration, and fuel new ideas. With a focus on Indigenous, women’s, and mental health, it will catalyze revolutionary advances in global health, wellness, and care.

It is through ambitious initiatives such as the Advanced Medical Research Centre and the new Faculty of Health Sciences campus that uOttawa intends to help Ottawa achieve world-class scientific competitiveness.

These initiatives are also invitations to Ottawa’s business and community leaders – invitations to join forces for shared success. I invite you to accept this invitation to come talk to us and to seize these exciting opportunities.

uOttawa is determined to be a catalyst for transformative economic development in the Ottawa/Gatineau region, for we are at crossroads at the beginning of this post pandemic era. But we cannot do it without you. As that report on the massive regional impact of S&T showed, we need each other.

We need the private sector to become champions for Ottawa, and for uOttawa at Queen’s Park, at City Hall, on Parliament Hill and around the world. We must not only be partners, but ambassadors for one another and for our shared vision of a great future for all of us in Ottawa.

Our success at uOttawa must become your success, and your success ours. As we work to make Ottawa an even more prosperous, innovative, and globally renowned city in which to live, work, play and learn.

We have come so far already, yet there is still so much to achieve. I look forward to finding out what we are truly capable of in the years to come.

Thank you.

Merci.