Telecommunications:

Northern Ontario's telecommunications infrastructure and industry (including secondary services such as Internet service providers, call centres, Website developers and on-line businesses) has grown dramatically. The call centre industry alone created 8,000 new jobs in two and a half years, in North Bay, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay and Timmins.

The establishment of broadband telecommunications networks in the urban centres and the rapidly expanding network of northern communities connected with fibre optics has resulted in the fast growth of information-intense business activities.

The Ontario Regional Innovation Network (ORION) is a powerful, high-speed optical communications network that connects Ontario's research institutions to one another and to the world. ORION transmits massive amounts of data almost instantaneously, enabling grid computing, tele-robotics and other advanced applications.

Energy:

Northern Ontario possesses vast resources that can be utilized in the production of energy, and approximately 43 percent of the power generating plants in Ontario are located in the North. Over 60 percent of these northern power-generating plants are hydroelectric. There is also a small amount of energy generated through biomass conversion - burning leftovers from forestry industry activities. Northern Ontario also presents the potential for wind power in certain areas along the north of Lake Superior, and in some remotely populated communities along Hudson Bay.