Topic: oil and gas industry

MaRS innovation hub hits pause on plan to expand to Calgary

The Toronto-based MaRS Discovery District innovation hub has hit the “pause button” on expanding to Calgary after more than a year of discussions with the University of Calgary and other players in Calgary’s innovation ecosystem. However, MaRS says it will continue working with and supporting Alberta companies during the scale-up stage from its Toronto base.

Today’s energy infrastructure can provide tomorrow’s clean energy

Western Canada’s oil and gas industry is ideally positioned with the knowledge, assets and personnel to develop clean geothermal energy as part of the global transition to low-carbon energy, writes David Yager, an entrepreneur who has been a founder, executive and director of three oilfield service companies.

After billions in funding, Strategic Innovation Fund failed to improve Canada’s innovation performance, experts say

Nearly $3.4 billion in federal spending through the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) during the last three years has failed to improve Canada’s “disastrous” innovation performance and productivity, say some innovation and policy experts. An analysis by Research Money of SIF data shows that Ontario, Quebec and foreign-based firms have received the lion’s share of SIF funding.

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.

Survey: Canadian universities are increasingly cutting fossil fuels from their investment portfolios

A growing number of Canadian universities, including some of the country’s largest, are significantly reducing the industrial carbon in their investment portfolios, a R$ survey shows. Less than a handful of universities are divesting specifically from fossil fuel holdings, but many schools also are using a “responsible investing” approach which considers environmental, social and governance factors.