GE Canada announced last week that it will open a new $40 million "
Grid IQ Innovation Centre" in Markham. The 200,000-square-foot centre will be devoted to developing and manufacturing sustainable energy products to modernize the electrical grid. It will also contain a global testing and simulation lab.
This is the second major innovation centre in the GTA announced by GE this year.
Just last month, we reported that the company would be opening a Digital Pathology Imaging research centre. As in that case, the new Grid IQ centre draws on provincial government investment -- the Government of Ontario will be contributing $7.9 million towards the project.
GE General Manager of Smart Substations Juan Marcias said the project would create approximately 146 new "innovation-related jobs" over the coming four years, and would also have an even greater indirect job creation effect through design and manufacturing, which are scheduled to begin within months. Marcias said that Markham's population of "highly skilled, educated and multi-lingual workforce" were a contributing factor to the planned location, which he expects to engage in significant global collaboration. The facility should be completed by July 2012.
Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Sarah Triantafillou, GE Canada