News & Issues: Stiller Centre
JUNE 2010
STILLER CENTRE
There was
significant media attention regarding the Stiller Centre located at the
Research Park at the University of Western Ontario. The coverage while frequent
missed a couple of important and significant points.
The Stiller
Centre began as a partnership between the University and the City of London. In
1999, the Province and the municipality contributed financial capital to the
project, the University gave the land and free rent for 10 years.
The Stiller
Centre offers small, research space to enable young scientists, entrepreneurs,
medical experts, and biotechnology professionals to bring their product/ invention,
to the open market. Support systems such as market research, business plans,
operational analysis and mentoring programs are offered by bio-MBA graduates and
Stiller management. When a tenant advances sufficiently in research and
innovation, they outgrow the centre and seek commercial research space
elsewhere. This process from start up to transitioning out of Stiller can take a
decade or more as research takes significant time.
So why did the
issue get so complicated? An agreement between the University and the city came
into effect Jan. 1 of 2000. At this time, it was determined by all parties that
the Stiller Centre would not have to pay property taxes. The rationale being,
the University does not pay taxes and the Stiller Centre is a not-for-profit
facility. The individual scientists and entrepreneur tenants are private,
commercialization ventures.
The tax free
status was challenged and after a period of deliberation, the province
determined taxes were owed. At the same time, the city's agreement with the
University required renewal. The tax concerns and all remaining issues were
bundled into negotiations with the University. This process was legally complex
and took time. The resulting agreement determined the two partners, the city and
the University would each pay their portion of the taxes owing. The city would
continue providing the annual $200,000 grant to use as leverage for research
grants.
While Waterloo
is renowned for information technology, London has a dynamic cluster in life
sciences, medical devices and technology that leads the country. We fully expect
this area of entrepreneurial innovation to continue to bring cutting edge
medical technology and research to London. Most of the firms at the Stiller
Centre have been in business for 5 years or less.
A number have already raised
significant investments and several are in the process of raising more based on
successful results to date. These include Viron Therapeutics, one of the
most promising biotech companies in Canada, and Curocom/Sumagen, which is
beginning human trials for its HIV-AIDS vaccine this year. A few companies have
emerged from the Stiller Centre to operate elsewhere in the City, including
Plantigen and Onco Screen, both of which have strong potential to become a
significant commercial success. In total, companies at the Stiller Centre
have brought in close to $100 million into the city over the past 7-8 years, the
majority of which has gone to support local jobs at the various firms. The
Stiller Centre also played a critical role in attracting a Global Research and
Development Centre for LANXESS Inc. this past year. LANXESS, located in the
Convergence Centre at the Research Park, is a
leading German
corporation that
has made a long-term investment in London (exceeding $20 million) and which has
already recruited dozens of very high paying scientific and engineering
positions over the past 12 months.