Federal scientists who think Hamilton is nothing more than a grimy city coated in factory soot are going to get a sales pitch from the president of the McMaster Innovation Park and staff from the city's economic development department.

Zach Douglas and the city staff are heading to Ottawa in September in an effort to sell scientists employed by Canada's CANMET materials technology laboratory to follow the facility to Hamilton when it moves into the new McMaster park. Douglas told a lunch meeting at Hamilton's Temple Anshe Sholom recently overcoming that vision of a skyline dominated by smokestacks is a real hurdle to the city's hopes for a new economy.

"Before I came here, I had a typical outsiders view of Hamilton as a grimy steel town," Douglas said in an interview. "I'd been through Hamilton before, seeing the city over the Skyway bridge and that's the image that stuck in my mind, so I had lots of apprehension, but now that's all gone."

Douglas was appointed in November to head the redevelopment of the former Camco appliance plant on Longwood Road into an "idea factory" employing scientists and technicians rather than assembly line workers.

CANMET -- employing 100 research scientists and support workers, including some of the top minds in the country -- is to be an anchor tenant of that facility.

They will work along with McMaster researchers and private industry to develop technologies for metal and materials manufacturing, processing and evaluation.

Douglas explained the CANMET lab won't be fully up and running before 2010, chiefly because of the time needed to arrange for moving 100 federal employees.

"We're going to Ottawa because it's important to provide an opportunity for employers to get to know Hamilton," he added.

"Some people may not consider coming to Hamilton because of its image, but you just have to cross the threshold to realize Hamilton's a great place to live."

Douglas told the Anshe Sholom audience the innovation park has the potential to trigger hundreds of millions of dollars worth of economic activity in the city when it is fully developed.

As well as the research, there's the spinoff effects of suppliers to the labs, new products and companies to be developed from that research and even a hotel to be operated on the property.

Other tenants already announced for the park include a corrosion research centre sponsored by General Motors and a diesel engine research lab sponsored by Ford.

McMaster's radio frequency identification lab will also be there. Its scientists and graduate students will look for ways to help business and industry cut costs by using transponders and other methods to track inventory.

"We have the vision, we have a plan, the capital is in place and we're hiring the team to make it all work," he said. "We're starting to move into the active building phase now."

Steve Arnold
The Hamilton Spectator