TBA The Biotechnology Initiative

The Voice of Bioscience in Ontario



Toronto and Halle in Cooperation

The City of Halle, Germany started sending students from their 500 year-old Martin-Luther University to Toronto in 2002, following a meeting at BIO between Matt Buist, City of Toronto Manager for Business Development in Medical and Biotechnology, and a German cabinet minister.

This very successful program has continued ever since. In 2005, the Economic Development, Culture and Tourism Department (EDCT) of the City of Toronto and the City of Halle signed an Agreement of Cooperation. The focus of this agreement is that the cities assist each other in extending business opportunities for their organizations and their clients, mainly for the life sciences and technology-oriented companies in their cities. The partners share an interest in an exclusive internship exchange program to promote common initiatives and facilitate both the implementation of joint projects as well as new projects.

Every April and October a new intern begins a six-month internship in Toronto. Currently Romy Büchner, a recently graduated Bachelor of Real Estate student, is interning with the EDCT at the City of Toronto, managed by Matt Buist. During her internship she is expanding on programs and initiatives that will promote partnerships and investments between Toronto and Germany, including updating the BioSource Directory (Toronto’s life science database) and the Toronto Discovery District Guide (a guide to partnership and collaboration with Toronto’s research community). Romy is also meeting with senior management and scientists from the life science community in Toronto to achieve business-to-business opportunities. Other objectives of the program include providing the students with an understanding of international business practices as well as exposing them to Canadian culture and lifestyle.

Matt Buist says, “This has been a very successful program bringing great economic benefits to Toronto and the City of Halle. The calibre of the interns from Halle has been exceptional and they are a joy to work with.”

This year the City of Toronto sent a student from Toronto to Halle so that both cities can benefit more from this exchange. The applicants needed to demonstrate a good working knowledge of the German language appropriate for every day use. Nicholyne Agudoawu, a bachelor student in Political and Business Science from the University of Toronto, landed the job. She started her six-month internship with the City of Halle, Economic Development Department, in July and is scheduled to return at Christmas. In Halle, Nicholyne represents the City of Toronto and works on similar projects to Romy in Toronto.

Halle is situated in one of the oldest industrial regions of Germany and can look back on over 1,200 years of industrial and cultural development. Just a 10 minute drive away from the city center is the second-largest technology park in East Germany - the weinberg campus. Important institutions such as the Max Planck, Fraunhofer, von Helmholtz and Leibniz societies as well as approximately 60 companies and different scientific departments from the University are also located here. This innovative potential, highly concentrated in one area, is unique in the eastern part of Germany.

For more information on this program, please do not hesitate to contact Romy Büchner or Matt Buist, City of Toronto.

Contact:
Romy Büchner
Phone: 416-397-4831
Fax: 416-392-3374
E-Mail: rbuechn@toronto.ca

Related links:
City of Halle http://www.halle.de
Economic Development Halle http://www.wifoe.halle.de
Technology Park Weinberg Campus http://www.weinbergcampus.halle.de
Technology & Founders’ Centre Halle http://www.tgz-halle.de