College-industry collaborations enhanced by new research funding
WELLAND, ONTARIO — It takes strong collaboration to spark innovation, and Canada’s colleges apply their research expertise to help businesses do just that. When equipped with state-of-the-art labs and equipment, researchers and their students have the tools they need to foster these meaningful partnerships and get results.
Today at Niagara College Canada in Welland, the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Sport, announced over $3 million in research infrastructure support through the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) College-Industry Innovation Fund (CIIF). This fund helps colleges both enhance their partnerships with the private sector and create news ones, generating socioeconomic benefits locally and nationally, and training a new generation of innovators.
“Partnerships between business and industry and colleges and polytechnics play an essential role in enabling Canada to compete successfully in the global economy,” says Roseann O’Reilly Runte, President and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation. “The Canada Foundation for Innovation is proud to support these excellent initiatives through the College-Industry Innovation Fund.”
This funding is in partnership with the Innovation Enhancement Grants component of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council’s College and Community Innovation Program which helps cover research costs in addition to infrastructure provided by the CFI.
College-Industry Innovation Fund (CIIF)
Projects funded
Institution | Project title | Maximum CFI contribution |
| Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) | NAIT Centre for Culinary Innovation By engaging with more than 100 regional organizations, post-secondary institutions, private companies and industry associations, NAIT’s Centre for Culinary Innovation will work to overcome gaps in the food industry by focusing on enhanced and authentic food experiences, nutrition and health, sustainability, and kitchen efficiency and productivity. | $1,000,000 |
| SAIT Polytechnic | Centre for Innovation and Research into Unmanned Systems SAIT’s Centre for Innovation and Research into Unmanned Systems will work with industrial partners to research and develop new ways of using unmanned systems to obtain useful data, and will investigate the potential use of different unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and sensor combinations for new and untested applications such as monitoring methane emissions, construction project management, and designing innovative safety cages and air bags. | $425,800 |
| Cégep de La Pocatière | Regroupement de l'innovation fongique - Développement et intégration des mycotechnologies CFI funding will support the advancement of mycotechnologies which use fungal strains in the development of pharmaceutical and food products. These technologies also offer strong potential in the global development of bioremediation and bioenergy. | 566 102 $ |
| Cégep de Thetford | Technologies innovantes pour l'industrie extractive dans une perspective géométallurgique An electro-fracturing device will allow for the extraction of important minerals in a more environmentally-friendly way for use in, among other things, cosmetics, food and energy industries. This will help the Centre de Technologie Minérale et de Plasturgie Inc. (CTMP), a Quebec non-profit, meet the needs of its customers and partners in the mineral and plastics sectors more efficiently. | 362 103 $ |
| TOTAL | 4 projects | $2,354,005 |
NOTE:
As part of this announcement, an additional $706,202 was awarded under the Infrastructure Operating Fund, a mechanism that assists institutions with the incremental operating and maintenance costs associated with the new infrastructure.