Waterloo Hi Tech Business draws attention from US Governement

By Benjamin Bach, the Wealth Team on April 25, 2010 in kitchener waterloo

The Record has a terrific article about the attention that Waterloo is getting from globally, due largely in part to the growing hi-tech industry here. Good news for real estate investors!

‘Waterloo on the radar of every business person,’ U.S. ambassador says

By Greg Mercer, Record staff

WATERLOO REGION — United States Ambassador to Canada David Jacobson paid his first visit to Waterloo Region — a place known around the world for innovation, he said — with radar, BlackBerrys and theoretical physics on his mind.

Before returning to Ottawa late yesterday afternoon, the former Chicago lawyer and President Obama fundraiser made three official visits here: at Research In Motion, the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and Waterloo radar systems maker Raytheon Canada. The places he chose may say a lot about how this region is viewed as a centre for technology and research by his administration in Washington.

“I’ve known about Waterloo for quite some time, particularly about the innovation that goes on here between the business community, tech community and the universities,” Jacobson said, during an interview at the Record. “Waterloo is on the radar of every business person in the world.”

He described himself as “one of BlackBerry’s best customers” — and one of its first — and said the chance to meet with co-CEO Jim Balsillie at RIM’s world headquarters was a thrill. His boss, Barack Obama, is a well-known user of RIM’s smart phones.

“It’s kind of like going to the Holy Grail for me and my boss, the president,” Jacobson said.

He described his visit as a learning trip, part of his broader plan to get to know Canada better since becoming ambassador last October.

Yesterday afternoon, he was given a crash course in string theory and other out-there ideas in the world of physics from the Perimeter Institute. The ambassador met with institute director Neil Turok and wanted to know about how PI’s model of bringing together experts from various backgrounds could work for similar “centres of excellence” in African nations.

“I’m very interested in their efforts in math and science in Africa,” he said, before his visit.

Perimeter spokesperson John Matlock said the institute is “happy to share our model with the world,” and pleased the ambassador has taken an interest in its work. But Jacobson is far from the first international visitor to want to see the region’s successful formula for combining research and innovation with commercial ventures.

Jacobson’s final stop of the day was at Raytheon Canada, the company that makes all the radars used at U.S. airports. Jacobson wanted to know how the company’s high-frequency surface wave radar systems, recently bought by the Romanian government for surveillance on the Black Sea, could be used to improve American border security, said Raytheon general manager Brian Smith.

“He understood we had some very interesting technology in that sector and he wanted to see it first hand,” Smith said. “We’re not just on his radar, we are his radar.”