Organization: General Motors of Canada

Canada needs a targeted industrial strategy to improve innovation performance, experts say

Canada’s continued poor performance in innovation and business productivity is due to a failure to link publicly funded research and innovation programs to an industrial strategy based on the country’s strengths, say innovation experts. Meanwhile, studies by University of Toronto researchers show the federal innovation agenda has negatively impacted funding for basic, investigator-driven research but hasn’t addressed the underlying problem of industrial innovation in Canada.

GM Canada commits $850 million to R&D

General Motors of Canada has committed to sending $850 million on R&D over an eight-year period between 2009 and 2016 as part of a commitment it made when it received $10.5 billion in support from the federal and provincial governments in 2009. The public funding was provided to allow GM to restructure following the 2009…

NRC launches multi-partner nanocomposite initiative

The National Research Council’s Industrial Materials Institute (IMI) has launched Canada’s first multi-partner R&D program for nanocomposites. The initiative — dubbed PNC Tech — will see $300,000 annually invested in R&D for polymer nanocomposites, miniscule layers of plastic with tiny amounts of clay sandwiched between them. The combination results in a new so-called supermaterial with…

Toronto to host high school robotics competition

Toronto will be host to 55 teams and more than 4,000 students for the largest high school robotics competition in canada. The FIRST Robotics Competition Canadian Regional event will be held March 28-29. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a non-profit group founded by US inventor Dr Dean Kamen. Students have…