Enterprising partners

DALSA emerged almost 30 years ago from semiconductor research by Savvas Chamberlain, then a Waterloo professor of electrical and computer engineering.

Looking like a big metal bug with one inquisitive eye, the NASA Mars Rover Spirit rolls across a dusty red desert under a pink sky. A Pancam on top of Spirit’s mast swivels this way and that, snapping spectacular, finely detailed pictures of the Martian landscape.

Inside the camera, critical to the quality of those photos, is an image sensor called a charged coupled device (CCD). The CCDs in the Pancam and in Spirit’s other eight cameras were fabricated by DALSA Corp. The company’s image sensor chips will also travel to Mars in 2011 in the new rover, Curiosity, part of an investigation to assess whether Mars could, or ever did, support microbial life.

DALSA emerged almost 30 years ago from semiconductor research by Savvas Chamberlain, then a Waterloo professor of electrical and computer engineering. The company, a leading maker of sensors and digital cameras, is now one of Waterloo Region’s largest employers. It has maintained close ties with the university, supporting research in sensor technology and hiring co-op students.

From its earliest years, the university has connected with external partners such as DALSA to produce benefits to society. Dozens of research-based companies trace their roots to the University of Waterloo.

To support the growth of research-based enterprise in Waterloo Region, in 2002 the university worked together with all levels of government to create the UW Research and Technology Park on 120 acres of land north of the main campus. Its tenants include leading companies such as Open Text, Google, and Sybase. A key feature of the park is an Accelerator Centre designed to incubate new high-tech companies and promote the development of new products and services.

The park now has six buildings. Two were added in 2008: the Research Advancement Centre, intended to nurture new university research projects with entrepreneurial promise; and the InnoTech Building, recently occupied by Research In Motion. A seventh building, phase 2 of the Research Advancement Centre, began construction in 2009.

> Research & Technology Park

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