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Saint John (NB) – December 3, 2008 – Respected researcher, Dr. Christopher J. O. Baker is the first Innovatia Research Chair at the University of New Brunswick Saint John. Dr. Baker brings to the province the vision and know-how to build new web solutions for enterprise using Semantic Web, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0 technologies.

Beginning his new position on December 1, Dr. Baker will establish a new team to build cutting-edge information integration systems that will aid scientists, knowledge workers and non-technical experts in the testing of new hypotheses and in data integration.

The appointment of the Chair is the result of a partnership between the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), UNB and Innovatia.

ACOA’s support of the Innovatia Research Chair came through an Atlantic Innovation Fund investment to Innovatia in January, 2008.

“The partnership between Innovatia, ACOA and UNB to bring Dr. Baker to New Brunswick is a perfect example of what deep partnerships can accomplish for our province,” said Dr. Robert MacKinnon, vice-president of UNB Saint John. “Dr. Baker’s expertise has applications across a wide-spectrum of interests, from health care to information technology, and we are thrilled to have him join our community.”

As a Research Chair, Dr. Baker will lead research on a number of related projects while holding an official position as Principal Scientific Researcher with Innovatia, and also teaching at UNB Saint John.

“Innovatia is pleased to be forging new ground with this collaboration between UNB Saint John and ACOA,” said Roxanne Fairweather, COO, Innovatia. “We have been working for over a year to bring someone with Dr. Baker’s international expertise to this region. Innovatia shares Dr. Baker’s desire to create better and more efficient information management systems and we have no doubt it can be accomplished right here in New Brunswick.”

The potential of bio-informatics and semantics as a new growth area affects many sectors in New Brunswick, including health research, education and industrial applications. Previous to his appointment as Innovatia Research Chair, Dr. Baker was head of the Semantic Technology Group in the Data Mining Department, Institute for Infocomm Research (Singapore), where his team developed knowledge navigation infrastructure based on semantic technologies.

ACOA’s Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF) encourages the commercialization of research in Atlantic Canada and has been a key driver for many Atlantic Canadian businesses, universities and research institutions. It has enhanced Atlantic Canada’s reputation for innovation and, through the success of the projects it has funded, the AIF has contributed significantly to the region’s research, development and economic performance.

Innovatia Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bell Aliant (bell.aliant.ca), offers an expansive set of Next Generation Knowledge Solutions, including an eLearning content library, documentation, technical support, professional services, knowledge management delivery solutions and knowledge business process outsourcing. Innovatia is a recognized leader in transforming information through a single source methodology, to reuse knowledge in multiple formats. Innovatia employs more than 300 people globally and serves over 1,500 customers in 29 countries world-wide.

Established in 1785, UNB is one of the oldest public universities in North America. One of the top five comprehensive universities in Canada, according to Maclean’s, UNB has more than 12,000 students from more than 100 countries. As the largest research institution in New Brunswick, UNB conducts 80 per cent of the province’s research. The university has more than 3,500 faculty and staff, and an annual operating budget of more than $160 million. UNB’s two main campuses are located in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick.

For more information please contact:

Dan Tanaka, University of New Brunswick, 506-648-5697 dtanaka@unb.ca

Isabelle Robinson, Innovatia, 506-694-6762 isabelle.robinson@bell.aliant.ca

Paul LeBlanc, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, 506-452-3310, paulcj.leblanc@acoa-apeca.gc.ca

EDITOR’S NOTE: Christopher J.O. Baker, Bio

Previous to his appointment as Innovatia Research Chair, Dr. Baker was head of the Semantic Technology Group in the Data Mining Department, Institute for Infocomm Research (Singapore), where his team developed knowledge navigation infrastructure based on semantic technologies. He has been widely published on the subject of the semantic web and was editor of Semantic Web: Revolutionizing Knowledge Discovery in the Life Sciences. He is also the former Bioinformatics Project Manager at Concordia University, Canada where his team won the Semantic Web Challenge (2nd prize) in 2005 at the International Semantic Web Conference. His prior appointments include Group Leader of In Silico Discovery at Ecopia BioSciences, Inc., Montreal and post doctoral research at Iogen Corporation, Ottawa and the University of Toronto.