McMaster University and Cisco set to transform academic research in Canada
1 min read
If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know that recently I wrote about our announcements with the Universities of Waterloo, Laval, Saskatchewan and Regina. Each of these is significant on its own, but collectively they send a message to business leaders and educational institutions across Canada: Cisco is committed to furthering the innovation created in, and the productivity of, this country.
And why wouldn’t we be? Canada is a nation built on innovation. We introduced the world to smartphones, snowmobiles and the 56k modem. Even basketball, standard time and the egg carton were invented by Canadians. And building on this tradition of innovation is what makes our announcement last week with McMaster University so exciting.
If you didn’t already read about it, Cisco and McMaster have established a long-term relationship that will see the creation of the Cisco Research Chair in Bioinformatics and the establishment of a Professorship in Integrated Health Biosystems.
The Research Chair in Bioinformatics will collaborate on an incredible program in Integrated Health Biosystems, but it’s the Professorship that will really demonstrate the power of innovation through technology by establishing a university-wide cloud-based computing environment and infrastructure.
McMaster University President Patrick Deane and Cisco Canada President Nitin Kawale
When in place, the cloud environment will be one of the most advanced in Canada, enabling multiple Faculties at McMaster easy access to technology resources. For the first time, they will be able to share data and collaborate for a more comprehensive delivery of results. In the future, this “research cloud” could serve multiple institutions and research facilities.
In fact, with more and more devices being connected to the Internet every day, the creation of clouds like the one at McMaster will make it easier to access, manage and analyze data across networks. And with the Internet of Everything on our horizon, this is a roadmap that could transform how universities across Canada share and manage their research data.
And that means more discoveries, breakthroughs and yes, innovation.
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