Northern universities focused on research.

• Author: Louiseize, Kelly
• Position: SPECIAL REPORT: RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

A defining role of a leader is the ability to set the right course and then take people with him/her as the idea develops and flourishes.

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Northern universities have become stellar examples of community leadership as they have taken a progressive stance for the coming years.

In the next five to 10 years Thunder Bay's Lakehead University wants to become known as one of the top 25 research intensive universities in the country.

It is doable, says Dr. Rui Wang, vice president of research.

Funding has been flowing into the university for over 20 years from various resources, ever since it was established more than 42 years ago.

But what they have achieved in the last five years is quite outstanding.

In 2006, Lakehead University was named number one in the whole country in terms of research increases by Research Infosource, a division of The Impact Group, Canada's source of R & D intelligence.

"Over five years we doubled (our funding) and over 10 years we tripled," Wang said.

"In many areas this university leads the country and leads the whole world."

Lakehead is on the cutting edge of nanotechnology, creating a new world of terms and language known as nanotechnology. Nano is a measurement meaning a nanogram is a billionth of a gram. Nanoscience is the field that investigates this type of measurement and nanotechnology is the engineering of disciplines that make use of nano.

Lakehead is using nanotechnology to create environmental systems for contamination monitoring, as well as new material for construction and mining and forestry industries. Research done will have the capability to grow Thunder Bay's knowledge-based economy, as well as the university's research budget.

In the last four to five years, research funding has gone from $13 million, $15 million, $18 million to now $20 million as of 2007.

With seven Canada Research Chairs and four internal chairs, the university works closely with private and public sector stakeholders in the medical and science sectors providing graduates for their niche market.

It is called building critical mass, Wang said.

In the recent 2008 Ontario budget, $25 million was set aside to explore biorefining in the Thunder Bay region. Biorefining looks at ways to add value to the forest products through further processing. Lakehead will play a clear role in obtaining a portion of this funding, Wang said.

"We want to be the leader in research and innovation and we want to strategically invest...