TORONTO, April 10, 2018 – The Fields Institute is pleased to announce that the province of Ontario is investing $4 million in a two-year pilot initiative to establish the Fields Centre for Quantitative Analysis and Modelling (Fields-CQAM).

“In a world of big data, artificial intelligence and accelerated change, mathematics is more important than ever before,” said Reza Moridi, Minister of Research, Innovation and Science. “With Ontario’s support, Fields-CQAM will help keep our province competitive in the knowledge economy.” 

The Fields-CQAM initiative is motivated by an economic landscape that is changing rapidly: traditional industries are becoming knowledge-based while entire new sectors are emerging. The mathematical sciences are at the heart of this multidisciplinary transformation—they provide a framework for describing and understanding the phenomena that shape our world in a way that was previously unimaginable. Indeed, mathematical models and analytic methodologies—also known as quantitative analytics—are central to understanding, predicting, and navigating the complexities of processes in modern society.   

Within this changing landscape, new partnerships are needed to effectively transfer knowledge between industry, government, and research scientists. With Fields-CQAM, these partnerships will be incubated and accelerated through start-ups and laboratories, bringing highly skilled workers and their innovations into Ontario’s economy.  

Eight Fields-CQAM research laboratories will be situated at universities across Ontario. Each lab focuses on a sector of strategic importance to the province, including healthcare, advanced manufacturing, cyber-security, FinTech, and the environmental sciences. These teams of researchers and students will tackle some of the forefront challenges facing society, from spearheading the fight against the spread of infections such as Ebola, influenza and Lyme disease, to identifying fraudulent financial transactions, and even diagnosing rare forms of cancer. The activities made possible by Fields-CQAM will lay the groundwork for training the next generation of innovators, ensuring the province has the necessary highly skilled personnel for the emerging Ontario economy.