Photo C/O McMaster Innovation Park

"Although we are owned by the university, we operate as a separate, for-profit business."

On March 21, 2022, McMaster Innovation Park is removing its mandatory masking and vaccine requirement in line with provincial guidance.

“MIP welcomes your decision to wear or not wear a mask when accessing our facilities. We are also encouraging everyone to be mindful and respectful of personal decisions on this matter when using our common areas,” stated an email release by MIP officials.

MIP’s new rules differ from McMaster University’s announcement that masking will continue.

According to an email statement from McMaster University’s Media Relations Manager Wade Hemsworth, “McMaster will maintain its longstanding mask requirement at all indoor sites until at least the end of the winter semester, including exams.”

Some might wonder how it’s possible for McMaster University to maintain its mandate, while MIP removes theirs.

“Although we are owned by the university, we operate as a separate, for-profit business,” reads a statement on MIP’s website.  

This means that MIP is not subject to the same rules imposed by the university.

Accordingly, any students planning to attend MIP may choose whether to wear a mask.

C/O Franca Marazia

Art in the Workplace promotes Hamilton’s arts and culture by sharing the works of local, emerging creatives

Art can be found in the most unexpected places. You can find it organically in nature, scribbled along abandoned alleyways and streets, or even nestled inside the McMaster Innovation Park. The MIP is a research and innovation facility located near campus and displayed on the first two floors of the Atrium@MIP is the Art in the Workplace gallery. Founded in 2009, the gallery is a not-for-profit organization creating opportunities for local artists to showcase their talents to the Hamilton community.

Although the MIP is a technology and business-focused space for start-up companies and research labs, it has served as an unconventional and unique operating base for Art in the Workplace since the gallery’s establishment. Currently running its 32nd exhibit, the gallery hosts three exhibitions a year, each featuring around 200 pieces of art from over one hundred local artists. 

Planning for each exhibition begins with a call for entry which is open to any artist. The submissions are then juried by a committee, comprised of members of the gallery, before they are presented both online and in the physical space at the MIP.

As a not-for-profit organization, Art in the Workplace transfers all sales from the exhibitions directly to the artists. In 2020, the gallery celebrated a milestone of having raised $100,400 through 301 pieces sold since its inception 11 years ago. It was also the year it displayed its 6,000th art piece. 

“All the art sales go to the artists which I think is something unique to us and really special,” said Emily Benedict, president of Art in the Workplace.

Art in the Workplace president Emily Benedict and a volunteer
C/O Franca Marazia

Benedict has been with the gallery since 2013 and began volunteering as the president of the group in 2019. 

“People don’t just get to view the work, but they get to support the artist too,” she said.

"People don't get just to view the work, but they get to support the artist too."

Emily Benedict, president of Art in the Workplace

Despite having met many goals last year, the gallery was still significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic along with the rest of the Hamilton art scene. The 32nd exhibit was originally planned to kick off in April 2020 with a large opening event which typically attracts a few hundred attendees. However, due to the large scale of the event and safety concerns in the face of the pandemic, it was postponed. Instead, all the art was posted for viewing on their virtual gallery through its website. Pieces were also shared on the gallery’s Instagram and Facebook pages.

“People have really enjoyed seeing everything come online to the website, Facebook and Instagram. Many artists also really appreciate when their pieces get shared,” said Benedict.

For many emerging artists, the opening gala is especially important and momentous as it is the first time their work gets displayed to the public. For all the artists part of the exhibition, it is a memorable night and a chance to connect with other artists, friends and family. 

“I always like the opening because it is a good chance to get to see everyone, from artists you see every couple months to just seeing people’s happiness on being able to show their pieces to family and friends . . . It’s getting to see that and getting to be part of that which I really like,” said Benedict.

“I always like the opening because it is a good chance to get to see everyone, from artists you see every couple months to just seeing people’s happiness on being able to show their pieces to family and friends . . . It’s getting to see that and getting to be part of that which I really like.”

Emily Benedict, president of Art in the Workplace

Fortunately, with many COVID-19 restrictions being lifted, the Atrium@MIP has now reopened to visitors on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Planning and preparation for the opening ceremony of the 32nd exhibit is under way as well, with the date tentatively set for Nov. 25, 2021. If all goes as planned, after the event, the gallery is hoping to return to its normal operations of three exhibitions per year.

“[The opening event for the 32nd exhibit] is something that we’ve been talking about, the whole 18 months, as a group because we thought we could maybe do it, but everything has been kind of shuffled . . . When we are able to do it, we want to be able to do it right and safely,” Benedict said.

The gallery has received positive support from the community and contributing artists during the lockdown and since its comeback. Many artists who had been part of the Art in the Workplace exhibitions for years also returned, along with volunteers, family and friends.

C/O Timothy Story

Art in the Workplace has a long history of collaborating with other groups in the community. In fact, through one of its collaboration projects is how Benedict first joined the team. She was a student in the Art History program at McMaster University and as part of her fourth-year seminar on the history of collecting, she researched and displayed Hamilton’s art collection at the gallery. Through this opportunity, she was able to gain hands-on museum and gallery experience which further cultivated her interest in this career field.

Aside from the main exhibitions, the gallery is known for their “mini-exhibits” featuring the works by high school students and community group members. The mini-exhibits are curated by students, their teachers and gallery volunteers. The gallery’s regular collaborators include Westdale Secondary School, Glendale High School arts program, St. John Henry Newman Catholic Secondary School, Compass Collective and Lynwood Charlton Centre.

For any students interested in learning about the inner workings of a gallery, Art in the Workplace is always looking for volunteers and Benedict encourages students to come check out the current exhibition at the Atrium@MIP. Volunteers can assist with pickup and drop off evenings, hang art pieces and prepare for opening galas. 

“I always had a lot of fun with [volunteering at Art in the Workplace] and I thought it was a really great experience. So, if there were students that were wondering about how [an art gallery] works or would enjoy [volunteering], I think it’s a great opportunity,” Benedict said. 

From small artists to students and office workers, Art in the Workplace aims to bring art to all corners of the community. In the future, the gallery is considering integrating more virtual components to their space to help deliver art to a broader audience and continue supporting local artists and creatives.

Mac students tap into Hamilton's potential

By their fourth year of university, most McMaster students would hope to be on track to earn their degree, have some work experience and be prepared to graduate without too much debt.

Mohamed El Mahallawy has something better.

The fourth-year Psychology and Economics student is CEO and founder of his own business, called Nervu, that won third place on Oct. 4 in Hamilton’s Lion’s Lair competition.

The Lion’s Lair contest, which has a premise similar to that of CBC’s Dragon’s Den, offers entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch their business idea to a panel of local business owners in the hopes of earning start-up funds.

The prize? Fifteen thousand dollars.

He and two fellow McMaster students Bilal Husain and Shawn McTigue developed the business and chose to pitch it in the competition, organized by the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce and Innovation Factory.

And in fact, it was Innovation Factory, a Hamilton not-for-profit organization funded by the Ontario Network of Excellence, that helped get his business started through Innovation Night, a networking event for local startups.

“I shot a few ideas here and there with my dad and my friends, but I never really had the guts to do it,” El Mahallawy explained. “Once I found out about Innovation Night, and I actually went … I realized maybe my idea actually had some potential. Why not maybe go out and pursue it?”

El Mahallawy said that at first, Lion’s Lair didn’t seem accessible for him as a student, since no students had ever entered before.

“When we first became a client [at Innovation Factory] we thought, no way, it’s never going to happen, [but] Lion’s Lair was an open window that we … just tried.”

Their company, Nervu, is a text-message based service that allows its users to choose brands in order to receive notifications about sales or deals they have.

El Mahallawy and his colleagues, who all hail from the GTA, had good things to say about Hamilton as an incubator for new businesses.

“Hamilton is no longer the ‘armpit of Ontario,’” he said. “The only thing is, we don’t have a very thriving economy. And that’s why I think [that] entrepreneurship in Hamilton, that’s really key … [it] creates jobs … and that grows and puts Hamilton on the map.”

He feels that McMaster, on the other hand, could afford to offer more encouragement and support to entrepreneurs.

Recognizing that significant funds and resources are dedicated to medical and scientific research, El Mahallawy said, “there’s not really any resources or any help for startups.” He also claims the school lacks “incubation space.”

McMaster’s Faculty of Engineering is one area, outside of the undergraduate commerce program, that offers entrepreneurship support in an academic setting. As of last fall, the faculty offers an entrepreneurship stream through the faculty’s five-year Engineering and Management program.

The optional specialization is meant to give undergrads “the opportunity to test the feasibility of new business start-up ideas while they are introduced to the concepts and tools used for new business creation.”

The Engineering and Management program was unavailable for comment.

“I believe it is more of a science school, as well as an engineering [school] so it’d be nice to see entrepreneurship and resources and whatnot here,” El Mahallawy said of Mac.

Whether or not McMaster is providing similar support to students, El Mahallawy, Husain and McTigue will walk away from this experience happy.

“It really taught us a lot, from things like what to wear in front of a camera, how to speak to a journalist, to … organizing our pitch and whatnot.”

And what of their $15,000?

“We’ll be using it to accelerate the development [of Nervu],” said El Mahallawy.

According to a prominent trade magazine in the U.S., Hamilton now leads Canadian cities in new industrial and commercial projects.

Site Selection Magazine in Atlanta reports that Hamilton generated the highest number of expansion projects during the past year that have drawn at least $1 million, created at least 50 new jobs, or made use of at least 20,000 square feet.

Analysts ranked cities based on new projects mostly in the private sector that would attract potential investors.

Norm Schleehahn, manager of business development at the City of Hamilton, says the university’s main contribution to Hamilton’s 2012 ranking is its new automotive resource centre (MARC) at McMaster Innovation Park (MIP).

The federal government has injected $11.5 million into the new facility, which will cover approximately 80,000 square feet of space in a former industrial warehouse across from the MIP Atrium.

For the most part, MARC will be a laboratory facility to accelerate research in the automotive sector, focusing on hybrid vehicles.

The project costs $26 million in total and is expected to employ 120 to 150 people.

McMaster’s downtown health campus, to open two years from now, will make the list of projects for 2013, Schleehahn said.

Nick Bontis, professor in the DeGroote School of Business, says the City is pushing forward with downtown renewal and McMaster faculty and students are leading the charge.

Bontis said facilities like MIP offer researchers a bridge between doing research in the lab and finding opportunities to commercialize ideas in the marketplace.

“That’s why McMaster University acts as an engine of growth for the manufacturing sector,” he said.

“We’re sitting on a large supply of potential commercialization projects,” he continued. “But we don’t have enough horsepower or capacity for faculty to both do the research and commercialize the research. That’s where we need the community to get involved.”

MIP, a $69 million off-campus facility used mainly for conferences, is in the midst of discussions with private developers to build a hotel at the park. Plans haven’t been finalized but the hotel would accommodate researchers, entrepreneurs and the general public.

In addition, the federal and provincial governments have invested heavily in the university’s health and engineering research facilities.

A grant announcement in early August revealed the province would provide $4.6 million for 14 projects in the research sector.

Over the past two years, McMaster has received $38.5 million through the Knowledge Infrastructure economic stimulus program for post-secondary infrastructure enhancements across Canada.

$22 million will help create new research space and stimulate increased production of medical and industrial isotopes at McMaster’s nuclear research facilities. The remaining funds will help build two new centres for cancer and spinal cord research.

“Hamilton has been a leader in the manufacturing industry but our economy is diversifying. There are a lot of businesses in the city that are thriving,” Schleehahn said.

He added that the city’s new status as an investment hotspot provides a reason for students to consider staying in Hamilton post-graduation.

A survey conducted by the McMaster Students Union last year concluded that only 24 per cent of total students polled (of which 24 per cent were originally from Hamilton) would look for a job in Hamilton after graduating.

37 per cent said they would take a job in the city only after looking elsewhere.

Previously ranked second and fifth, Hamilton beat Quebec City (16 new projects), Toronto (15 new) and Montreal (13 new) for the top spot in the ‘Canadian Top Metros’ annual ranking.

Among the 20 new projects that emerged in Hamilton this past year are: Maple Leaf’s new meat processing plant, expansion of Activation Labs in Ancaster, expansion of facilities at Hamilton pier and new grain handling facilities built by Parrish & Heimbecker and Richardson International.

In late August, Hamilton was also named the ‘top location in which to invest in Ontario’ by the Real Estate Investment Network of Canada (REIN).

REIN Founding Partner Don Campbell said in a news release that the city intends to work in tandem with the growth occurring at McMaster University in order to “spark an entrepreneurial spirit in the city.”

Criteria that REIN used to evaluate cities include: the average rate of growth of income, population and job creation as compared to the provincial average. Other factors were: number of major employers, economic growth atmosphere created by political leadership, ability of infrastructure to handle growth and major transportation improvements.

From right to left: former McMaster president Peter George, former Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien, UNU-INWEH director Zafar Adeel and Hamilton's mayor Bob Bratina.

Former prime minister of Canada Jean Chretien was at McMaster Innovation Park on Tuesday morning to speak about global water issues.

The event was a book launch for The Global Water Crisis: Addressing an Urgent Security Issue, a publication from the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH). The book was produced alongside the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation and the InterAction Council, of which Chretien is a member.

Also in attendance was former McMaster president Peter George, who chaired a panel discussion following talks from Chretien, UNU-INWEH director Zahar Adeel and Thomas Axworthy, who is President and CEO of Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation and the Secretary-General of the InterAction Council. UNU-INWEH is hosted at McMaster University.

Chretien, who spoke after Adeel and Axworthy, expressed his concern over the coming global fresh water shortage, mentioning that Canada has 20 per cent of the world's fresh water.

"We might regret that nobody paid attention to this problems when it started ... and I have a feeling that we can find solutions, but we should not start to do that too late. It's better to start right away. We might avoid international crisis," said Chretien. He explained that the recommendations in the book were key to the solution.

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