Kitchener firm wins commercialization award

Kitchener firm Miovision Technologies Inc. and its research partners at the University of Waterloo have won the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) 2010 Mind to Market Award.

The company makes technology that make transportation networks smarter. It translates into huge environmental benefits as well as overall reductions in traffic and improvements in road safety as well as significant cost savings for traffic data analysis.

In four years the firm has gone from mere idea to a company with more than 160 clients in 18 countries around the world, employing 46 people and with a seemingly bright future in terms of jobs and revenue.

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“Winning OCE’s Mind to Market Award is truly an honour,” said McBride, whose research at the University of Waterloo laid the foundation for the company’s technology. “We’ve worked with OCE for four years, and they have been instrumental in helping Miovision become a viable business. OCE understands how to take academic research and turn it into a commercial success,” said Miovision CEO Kurtis McBride.

“The University of Waterloo continues to be proud of its record of spinning off great companies,” said University of Waterloo President, Feridun Hamdullahpur. “We consider the Ontario Centres of Excellence to be one of the main partners in helping our graduates and Professors accomplish the many tasks it takes to create and commercialize innovation. Research remains a contact sport, and the Centres represent the virtual arena where that invention happens.”

The Mind to Market Award is sponsored by the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) and celebrates the best OCE-supported, commercially successful collaboration between research and industry partners. OCE President and CEO Dr. Tom Corr said Miovision’s progress in four short years is phenomenal.

“Miovision is a living, breathing example of the translation of academic research into a promising new technology company with the ability to compete effectively in global markets, create knowledge-based jobs and of course generate revenues and attract capital,” said Corr. “That is the core of what we do at OCE and we couldn’t be any prouder of Miovision’s success.”

The award was presented as part of the OCE’s annual general meeting held in Toronto.

Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) Inc. is a not-for-profit organization that sponsors research across key market sectors to improve Ontario’s global competitiveness.