British physicist Stephen Hawking won't be moving to Waterloo, Ont.

TORONTO — Reports that physicist Stephen Hawking was looking at leaving the University of Cambridge for a new career in Waterloo, Ont., have been dismissed by aides for the sci-fi icon, but Canadian experts say it's no surprise the region would be considered a suitable home for a world-renowned scientist.

"The local geography might be further down the list than other criteria like who else might he be working with, who are the other minds he'll be able to tap into," said technology expert Tom Vassos, a professor at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management.

But Vassos said while Waterloo may not hold the glamour of New York City, the southern Ontario city is known worldwide as a centre of technology and innovation.

On Wednesday, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported the 66-year-old scientist was mulling over a decision to move to Canada to work at the Perimeter Institute, a research centre devoted to theoretical physics that was founded in 1999 by Research In Motion co-CEO Mike Lazaridis.