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Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) will launch another $1-billion engine development project with $300 million in assistance from the Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative (SADI). The project will be split over the company’s Longueuil and Mississauga locations (65/35) and focus on a new-generation compression system for business jet engines, turbo shafts for helicopters, rotor control systems and new production techniques in the areas of robotics, additive manufacturing and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS).

Genomics and DNA bar coding offer the only realistic approach to avoiding mass extinction of species, says the leader of an international research initiative dedicated to identifying animal and plant species.

A wide range of S&T-driven organizations have submitted an ambitious list of Budget recommendations for 2015. Although they were made prior to the government’s announcements of billions in tax cuts, the submissions reflect an optimism that after years of being asked to wait until the federal deficit was slayed, the time for reinvestment has arrived.

The National Research Council (NRC) has launched a long-range research program in quantum photonics to derisk early-stage technologies with the aim of intersecting with industry over the next five to 15 years.

AIAC Conference 2014

Canada’s aerospace industry is being cautioned not to rest on its laurels despite its status as the fifth largest national aerospace sector globally by revenue. Unless companies inculcate a more effective culture of innovation and accelerate their embrace of advanced manufacturing, big data, targeted skills development and the Internet of Things, aggressive competitors from developed and developing nations could divert future investment and erode market share.

Industry Canada has announced the members of a new Space Advisory Board (ASB), fulfilling a recommendation made in 2012 by the Aerospace Advisory Council chaired by David Emerson. The ASB was announced at the annual conference of the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC) by Industry minister James Moore who pledged that the new body would provide the government with “unvarnished, thoughtful and constructive criticism on how to move policy forward … in a meaningful way”.

A $130-million donation from the family of the late Ted Rogers is expected to attract an additional $139 million from three participating institutions to undertake an unprecedented multi-disciplinary research program into heart disease.

The federal government is committing new infrastructure funding to a Factory of the Future (FoF) program that will see significant upgrades to National Research Council (NRC) laboratories in Montreal and London and the construction of a new facility in Winnipeg.

Neutron gap unavoidable

Atomic Energy of Canada has created a wholly owned subsidiary – Canadian Nuclear Laboratories – to assume full responsibility for operating all of its sites including the massive Chalk River Laboratory division.

Bombardier Inc continued to dominate Canadian corporate R&D spending in 2013, posting another new company record with $2.2 billion in outlays to overcome problems related to the development of its C Series aircraft.