Organization: Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance

The Short Report – April 3, 2019: Future skills, Lightspeed POS, cannabis research

Concordia University has launched the Future Skill Innovation Network, or FUSION, linking five other universities — Simon Fraser, Calgary, Saskatchewan, Carleton and Memorial — to promote student skills development for the globalized economy. The project is funded with a $2.5-million investment from the Government of Canada’s Future Skills Centre, which also announced five other pilot projects to…

Structural Genomics Consortium expanding clinical and patient reach with new Phase IV funding

Canadian funding for the Toronto-based Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) has been renewed, injecting $33 million into the ground breaking open innovation organization that determines the three-dimensional structure of proteins related to human diseases. The fourth phase of the public-private SGC will see an expansion its collaborative network to include disease and patient foundations while partnering with clinicians and research hospitals to validate new targets for drug discovery by testing its chemical probes on patients.

Feds and Alberta fund carbon conversion test facility

The federal and Alberta governments are providing up to $20 million to develop the Alberta Carbon Conversion Technology Centre (ACCTC) for the testing of carbon conversion technologies. The centre will be hosted by the 860-megawatt Shephard Energy Centre and will be used by finalists in the natural gas track of the $20-million Carbon XPrize competition now underway.

COSIA launches ARCTIC Innovation Challenge

An ARCTIC Innovation Challenge is being launched to find ways to capture and reuse low grade heat generated during oil sands operations. The initial challenge is being mounted by Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) and the Foresight Cleantech Accelerator Centre, a new program aimed at accelerating collaboration between industry and innovators. The COSIA ARCTIC…

Israeli smart grid technology being applied in Ontario

The Canada-Israel Industrial R&D Foundation is providing $1 million to a bilateral team of companies and partners to develop smart grid technology for the energy sector. CIIRDF is providing $1 million to the project — valued at $14 million — through the Canada-Israel Science and Technology Energy (CIEST) fund, a three-year, $10-million initiative. The bulk…

Oil sands producers form new alliance

Canada’s oil sands production companies have established a consortium to improve environmental performance by scaling up and accelerating the discovery and development of environmental technologies and reducing the time between idea and implementation. Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) consists of 12 founding firms including BP, Imperial Oil, Total, Nexen, Shell, Suncor Energy and ConocoPhillips.…