TRRA's mandate is to help mobilize the Toronto Region to promote its extraordinary strengths and to compete more effectively in the international research and development (R&D) marketplace. TRRA works with regional partners to:
- Attract new innovative research-intensive companies and to expand those already here; and
- Strengthen the Toronto Region's public and private capacity for research, development and innovation
A neutral convener, catalyst and advocate on issues and opportunities related to our R&D mission, we help forge a regional consensus on strategic priorities. In addition to our significant sales activities, we deliver informed analysis, promote cross-sectoral dialogue, increase awareness and facilitate coordinated action.
Our activities are focused in four priority sectors where the Toronto Region possesses impressive competitive advantages:
- Advanced manufacturing including materials science
- Bio life sciences
- Energy & Environment
- InformationTechnology/Communications
Highly-successful economic regions around the world are characterized by innovative industry clusters that produce high-quality jobs and superior productivity and rates of business formation. They are typically driven by powerful collaborations of government, business, and academic institutions working across a variety of research-intensive sectors and disciplines. Metropolitan areas worldwide have been rapidly mobilizing to foster greater innovation and cluster development, investing significant resources to build their R&D capacity and aggressively compete for international research-driven companies and investment.
The potential of the Toronto Region in this highly competitive global environment is extraordinary:
- The most diversified economy and most highly-educated workforce in North America.
- Unparalleled access to North American markets, with 400 million people accessible through NAFTA and an exceptional transportation and communications infrastructure.
- The third-largest information and communications technology (ICT) cluster and third-largest biomedical and biotechnology cluster in North America.
- The highest concentration of post-secondary institutions in Canada, with an R&D infrastructure that attracts the best and the brightest researchers from around the globe.
- The most multicultural urban region in the world -celebrating more than 100 different languages and dialects.
The future prosperity of the Toronto Region - and indeed Ontario and Canada - depends on our ability to sustain and enhance this extraordinary capacity and capitalize on the results of research to create new businesses, strengthen existing business and attract research-intensive companies to the region.
The Toronto Region Research Alliance is committed to working collaboratively with partners in industry, research institutions and government to realize the following goals:
1. Attract more R&D investment and research-intensive industry to the region
- Build a comprehensive, web-based Toronto Region R&D fact base to support marketing efforts and benchmark progress
- Compile a comprehensive picture of the key location drivers for our target sectors and identify the region's corresponding selling features for each sector.
- Help develop and aggressively market the Toronto Region R&D story.
- Marshal business, institutional and government leaders to help promote the region's R&D capacity across the world.
- Attract two to four major new research-intensive industrial facilities within three years.
- Significantly expand the R&D facilities of two to four major existing companies within three years
2. Build research capacity
- Act as a focused voice for the region's research community to help shape and respond to federal and provincial government science and technology initiatives.
- Assist in building industry/research institution R&D partnerships.
- Release an annual report on the region's innovation performance.
- Significantly increase the region's share of public research investment.
3. Promote the importance of research and innovation to future prosperity
- Work with our stakeholders to develop communication strategies to increase public awareness of the region's research strengths and the importance of research and innovation to our future prosperity.
© 2011 Toronto Region Research Alliance