Province investing into new innovation arena at the University of Waterloo's Downtown Kitchener campus

A new home for medical technology research The provincial government is pledging millions of dollars for a new innovation hub in Kitchener. CTV’s Shebly Knox has more.

The Ontario government is spending $7.5 million to help build a state-of-the-art Innovation arena at the University of Waterloo campus located in Downtown Kitchener.

On Thursday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford was in Kitchener to announce the construction of the hub which the province says will support the development of new health technology and the commercialization of intellectual property and encourage investment and job creation.

The University of Waterloo and the City of Kitchener are partnering to build the new 90,000-square-foot Innovation arena which comes with an overall price tag of $35 million.

The facility will be at the University of Waterloos health sciences campus in Kitchener.

“It’s great to see the team Ontario spirit in action with the University of Waterloo, the private sector and all levels of government coming together to build this world class facility,” said Premier Doug Ford. “As we continue to grow our province’s life sciences sector, the new innovation arena will accelerate the development and commercialization of made in Ontario innovations, create new jobs and help to attract investments to Kitchener and Waterloo.”

The province said the facility will include a health-tech incubator and a small business centre with a shared wet lab for local entrepreneurs and start-ups.

Kitchener Mayor Barry Vrbanovick said the innovations out of this area will help millions of Canadians benefit in the future.