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The Waterloo region’s technology incubator and accelerator has landed its largest single funding award to oversee the development and launch of two microsatellites it hopes will serve as the basis of a cluster of firms generating, commercializing and exploiting big data.

A research team led by TRIUMF has used a medical cyclotron to generate enough of the isotope technetium-99m (Tc-99) to supply a city the size of Vancouver. The breakthrough moves Canada a major step forward towards generating sufficient quantities of the isotope required for medical imaging of various diseases without the need for a nuclear reactor.

Expertise drawn from across NRC

The National Research Council (NRC) has launched an aluminium R&D program aimed at reducing the weight of materials used to build ground transportation vehicles. The $45-million, eight-year program is the first to emerge from a new NRC-led consortium for aluminium R&D and is part of the agency’s automotive and surface transportation (AST) portfolio — one of 12 created to replace the former NRC institute structure.

All projects to include users

After more than a year in the planning stages, Genome Canada has launched its most applied R&D program to date in an attempt to pull mature research out of the lab and boost industry financing of targeted genomics research.

By Debbie Lawes

Canada’s research and technology (R&T) parks are launching an ambitious strategy to convince foreign companies to locate more of their R&D operations here. Armed with a new economic impact study and strategic plan, the Association of University Research Parks (AURP) Canada is also lobbying on behalf of its 26 member parks for a more visible and active role in the national innovation agenda, including federal funding for capital expansions and accelerator services that support companies beyond the start-up phase.

A new report from the CD Howe Institute argues that the federal government should abandon its current policy of encouraging academic researchers to become more industrially relevant and instruct the granting councils to “increase the emphasis on academic excellence over perceived practical utility”.

State of the Nation 2012

Canada’s showpiece indicator for international science, technology and innovation (STI) — Higher Education R&D (HERD) —has eroded significantly, according to new data released May 21st in Ottawa by the Science,Technology and Innovation Council (STIC).

Unprecedented collaboration

The Canadian mining industry is banding together to develop tools and technologies to enhance its ability to remotely sense and assess hard-to-find mineral deposits. The Footprints Project has attracted $8 million in cash and in-kind from 27 participating firms augmented by $5.

An Algal Carbon Conversion Pilot Project (ACCPP) is the first of the National Research Council’s flagship programs to be announced. It will leverage previous NRC research for using algae as a biofuel by testing its viability for using photosynethesis to recycle CO2 emissions from oil sands and other industrial processes.