In November I wrote about Cisco’s Research Chair in Smart Grid at the University of Waterloo on this blog, and shared why university chairs were so important to our company.
Even if you did read my previous blog, it bears repeating: Canada’s productivity is lagging behind many other nations, and we believe that innovation is the key to revving up our productivity engine. And innovation starts with education.
I am proud to bring light to three more university research chairs today. The first, announced on March 13, is a new Chair in Educational Leadership devoted to Distance Learning with Université Laval. . The goal of this Chair is to explore leading-edge technology in computer science and software engineering that will allow the Faculty to offer new, high-calibre online courses. But more on that in a moment.
Photo courtesy of @PaulZed
Our other two University Research Chairs, announced in late 2012, are with the universities of Regina and Saskatchewan, respectively. Our Chair in e-governance at the University of Regina and Chair in mining solutions at the University of Saskatchewan further our commitment to driving educational research in the fields of engineering, environment, science and technology. They will help both universities spearhead research and, we hope, lead to new ways of using technology in each field.
L-R: University of Regina President and Vice-Chancellor Vianne Timmons, Cisco Canada President Nitin Kawale, The Honourable Don Morgan, Q.C., MLA for Saskatoon Southeast, University of Saskatchewan President Ilene Busch-Vishniac.
I am particularly excited about our announcement with Laval because distance education is truly the next frontier of education in Canada. As you’ve read on our blog already, Cisco believes that the Internet of Everything (IoE) is going to change our lives, and distance education – using connected devices to learn in ways never before possible – is just the tip of the educational IoE iceberg.
But it doesn’t stop there. Productivity is about being more efficient at work thanks in part to being able to do a job in new, faster ways. These Research Chairs will help drive the innovation that finds these new ways to work or as Denis Brière, Université Laval rector notes, this new Chair means that “workers and people in remote areas will now have access to quality education and will help fulfill the growing workforce needs of businesses.”
If you have a question or comment about how Cisco is partnering with universities across Canada, please leave it below.
