TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 05/08/09 -- Five Ontario companies and partnering universities, selected as finalists for Ontario Centres of Excellence's (OCE's) Mind to Market Award, have created new ways of generating clean energy, reducing manufacturing costs and connecting rural areas, reflecting an innovation sector that shows no signs of slowing down.

Sponsored by the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), the OCE Mind to Market Award celebrates the best OCE-supported research collaboration betweens the business and research communities, resulting in ventures that possess tremendous market potential. OCE supported each collaboration through research funding, business mentorship and industry connections.

The Mind to Market Award winner will be selected by a panel of experts in science and commerce and announced at OCE's annual conference: Discovery 09. Taking place May 11th and 12th in Toronto, Discovery is Canada's premier innovation and commercialization event and expects to attract over 2,100 leading researchers, investors and entrepreneurs.

The Mind to Market Award finalists are:

EION Inc. & University of Ottawa

EION has created a way to bring wireless voice, video and data communications to rural areas worldwide. Today, it has deployed over 25,000 broadband wireless links in Africa, India, the Middle East and North America.

StormFisher Biogas & University of Western Ontario

StormFisher Biogas is a renewable energy company that builds and operates biogas plants across North America. Working with the food processing and agricultural industries, it processes organic by-products and turns them into natural gas and electricity, and also produces an organic, all-natural fertilizer that reduces the need for chemical fertilizer.

Terrafix Geosynthetics Inc. & Queen's University

Terrafix Geosynthetics is making the world's landfills safer with its geosynthetic clay liner - a woven fabric-like material that acts as a barrier to keep hazardous landfill waste from leaching into the land and nearby waters.

Transform Automotive & University of Western Ontario

TransForm Automotive is an auto parts manufacturing company not only surviving, but growing and capturing new market share, manufacturing and supplying transmission parts for automatic transmissions.

WDI Wise Device & University of Toronto

Wise Device Inc. (WDI) has developed leading-edge technologies incorporating laser and optics that revolutionize the manufacturing process for LCD displays, reducing the cost of their production.

"These finalists exemplify just what can be achieved when you bring the imagination and entrepreneurial spirit of Ontario companies, with the brilliance on our academic researchers," said Mark Romoff, OCE President and CEO. "What strikes me about this year's finalists is their potential to succeed in the global marketplace, which is the foundation of our growing innovation economy."

For more information about the Mind to Market Award and Discovery 09, visit www.ocediscovery.com

About the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) Inc. (www.oce-ontario.org)

Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) Inc. drives the commercialization of cutting-edge research across key market sectors to build the economy of tomorrow and secure Ontario's global competitiveness. In doing this, OCE fosters the training and development of the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs and is a key partner with Ontario's industry, universities, colleges, research hospitals, investors and governments. OCE's Centres work in communications and information technology, earth and environmental technologies, energy, materials and manufacturing and photonics. OCE is funded by the government of Ontario and is a key partner in delivering Ontario's Innovation Agenda.