July 23, 2002
For immediate release                                                                             Contact:    Katherine Hayes, 519-721-2804
                                                                                                                               or 519-888-4567, ext. 2765
 

MAJOR INTERNATIONAL GOVERNANCE CENTRE TO OPEN IN WATERLOO, ONTARIO

Waterloo, Ontario — Jim Balsillie, chairman and co-CEO of Research In Motion (RIM), today announced a donation of $30 million for the establishment of a world-class global research centre in Waterloo, Ontario. At the announcement event in Waterloo, Deputy Prime Minister John Manley said the Canadian government will match the donation with $30 million.

The Centre for International Governance Innovation will bring together international scholars, policy makers, and representatives from civil society to study the global political economy in a unique “think tank” setting. Housed in the former Seagram Museum, the CIGI mandate will be to produce expert analysis on international governance, as well as national and international policy recommendations.

The CIGI will be among the leading institutes in the world focused on the restructuring of international governance, with particular emphasis on the financial and economic institutions.  It will be the only such centre in Canada.

Supported by Waterloo's leading expertise in information technology, the CIGI’s work will be developed and shared through an extensive global network of policy-makers and researchers.

“Jim Balsillie is prepared to make an extraordinary commitment to Waterloo, Canada, and the world with the establishment of this institute,” said Waterloo mayor Lynne Woolstencroft. “The research work of the CIGI will be highly regarded, and influential in national and global affairs.”

The world must develop a better system of international governance, says Balsillie.  “We are living in a knowledge-based economy, where the most successful individuals, companies, and nations are those able to capitalize on the right information,” he adds.  “Our centre will help Canadians, and the world, make better sense of the global political and economic changes, and discover the best ways to manage those changes.”

For more information, please call our contacts and see our website at www.internationalgovernance.ca.