NLIS 8
June 8, 2000
(Industry, Trade and Technology)

NOTE TO EDITORS:

Newfoundland and Labrador representatives to participate in Ireland seminar via videoconference

Media are invited to attend a live videoconference for a seminar being hosted by the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) in Ireland in association with Memorial University of Newfoundland. Noel Treacy, Irish Minister for Science, Technology and Commerce, will provide the keynote address and Dr. Jack Botsford, president & CEO of Operation ONLINE, has asked Sandra C. Kelly, provincial Minister of Industry, Trade and Technology, to provide a response. Additional representatives from the province are in Ireland participating in the seminar.

The event will take place Friday, June 9, 2000 at 11:00 a.m. (NST) at the Telemedicine Centre at Memorial University, Room 2990. (Directions: Entrance is on east side of the Health Sciences Centre. Parking in Area 9 off Clinch Crescent (area will not be ticketed). A path goes from parking area to entrance to Telemedicine Centre. Go up stairs through double doors and Telemedicine Centre is first door to the left.)

The GMIT conference is the first concrete training development activity resulting from almost two years of groundwork and opens the door for the delivery of Newfoundland and Labrador expertise in distance learning to the European market. It is part of an ongoing collaboration between Newfoundland and Labrador and Ireland which began with a visit by an Irish delegation led by Minister Treacy to the province in the fall of 1998. Preliminary research suggested potential partnership opportunities existed with Canada, particularly Newfoundland and Labrador, in information and communications technology in the areas of distance learning and economic renewal. This stemmed from a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and the republic of Ireland in 1996 to encourage economic opportunities between the two regions.

The partnership evolved into a strategic alliance, and subsequent visits, between members of the Western Economic Interest Group (WestEIG) in Ireland and Newfoundland and Labrador agencies including Operation ONLINE, OLIN (the Open Learning and Information Network), College of the North Atlantic, Memorial University and regional economic development agencies. The activities to date have led to a framework which focuses on four areas: entrepreneurship development, e-commerce and telework, community development, distance learning and training. It was agreed that a significant opportunity exists for technology transfer between the two groups.

Media contact:

Lori Churchill, Operation ONLINE Inc., (709) 729-4230.

Jackie Simon, Department of Industry, Trade and Technology, (709) 729-0050.

2000 06 08