Author: Mark Henderson

McGill to open retail innovation lab with $25-million donation

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Aldo Bensadoun, founder of global shoe retailing chain Aldo Group, has donated $25 million to McGill Univ to establish a digital retail innovation lab.  The Bensadoun School of Retail Management will offer multidisciplinary education to students from the undergraduate to PhD levels while providing a test environment for new ideas, technologies and products. Slated to…

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Air Canada to participate in NRC biofuels contrail and emissions project

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Air Canada is teaming with the National Research Council to undertake a project examining the benefits of biofuel use on contrails —clouds formed when water vapor condenses and freezes around small particles in aircraft exhaust. The project involves five biofuel flights operated by Air Canada and followed by a 1960s-era T-33 Canadair research jet equipped…

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Arctic Council produces agreement on scientific cooperation

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The Arctic Council wrapped its 10th Annual Council Ministerial meeting in Fairbanks AK with the signing of Agreement on Enhancing International Arctic Scientific Cooperation and the passing of the chairmanship from the US to Finland. The meeting — attended by Foreign Affairs minister Chrystia Freeland — also witnessed the signing of the Fairbanks Declaration —…

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Lazaridis receives $2.5 million from FedDev Ontario for scale-up data platform

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The Lazaridis Institute for the Management of Technology Enterprises will deliver a new national scale-up data platform in conjunction with Hockeystick, a Toronto-based private market data network. Funding of $2.5 million will be provided to Wilfrid Laurier Univ by FedDev Ontario to support the venture. The platform will be used by the Lazaridis Institute to…

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Budget critics miss the point: The future of education is the foundation for innovation

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The most recent federal Budget has garnered headlines more for what people say it did not do than for what it does. It has been branded as anodyne — a do-nothing Budget, a place holder while we wait to see what our neighbours to the south will do. A recent Nanos poll reported in the April 17/17 Globe and Mail shows that “Canadians dislike [the] Liberal budget,” more for not tackling the deficit than for anything it does.

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Time to act on Canada’s stem cell science competitive advantage

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Throughout the world, countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan are striving to become world leaders in this promising new area. Canada has an incalculable advantage — we are already there. We have been leaders since James Till and Ernest McCulloch discovered stem cells more than 50 years ago. Canada’s foundational research in stem cell biology has underpinned all subsequent work on clinical applications in regenerative medicine, stem cell-related drug discovery, and cell and tissue engineering. Stem cell science is, truly, Canada’s science.

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Canada’s clean tech industry at perilous crossroads: report

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A new report on the state of Canada’s clean tech industry warns that many companies are “awash in red ink”, posting negative shareholder returns and are vulnerable to foreign takeovers, despite the federal government’s Budget 2017 commitment of $1.8 billion in new support for the sector. However, that funding is slow to ramp up and…

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Stéphanie Lord-Fontaine

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Stéphanie Lord-Fontaine has been appointed to Oncopole, a newly created R&D and investment hub for cancer research. Oncopole was established last February as a partnership between the Fonds de Recherche du Québec — Santé (FRSQ) and Merck & Co Inc, the latter of which is contributing $15 million over three years. Lord-Fontaine’s appointment was announced…

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Rob Campbell

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Rob Campbell has been appointed VP and chief commercial officer at Ballard Power Systems. Campbell is a veteran executive in the clean tech and power generation business sectors including the hydrogen fuel cell industry. Campbell will report directly to the CEO with responsibility for global business development, sales, marketing, product line management and after-sales service…

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Killam Prize winners

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The Canada Council for the Arts has announced the winners of the 2017 Killam Prizes, which celebrate world class excellence in the arts and sciences. This year’s five winners will each receive $100,000 at a May 30th awards ceremony at the Governor General’s residence in Ottawa on May 30. This year’s winners are: Dr John…

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