NSERC Presents National Awards for University-Industry Innovation in Halifax
Halifax, Nova Scotia, October 19, 2005 –
Canada 's largest science and engineering granting agency, the Natural
Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), will present its
national annual awards for excellence in innovation at an awards
ceremony tonight at the Halifax World Trade and Convention Centre.
“The
2005 NSERC Synergy Awards for Innovation celebrate the very best
Canadian achievements in R&D collaboration between universities and
industry,” said the Honourable David L. Emerson, Minister of
Industry and Minister responsible for NSERC. “Collaborations such as
these are responsible for new products, new services, and new ways of
doing things. They make this country one of the world’s most innovative
and ensure our future prosperity and quality of life.”
Six
partnerships will be singled out for national prizes. The university
leaders in the winning collaborations each receive a $25,000 NSERC
research grant.
- The University of New Brunswick (Saint John), Irving Pulp and Paper Ltd. and Environment Canada’s National Water Research Institute
will be honoured for world leadership in pinpointing the source of pulp
and paper mill compounds that cause reproductive changes in fish, and
in validating a reliable technological remedy.
- The University of Manitoba wins a prize with Vector Construction Group
for a remarkable long-term collaboration that has combined innovative
ideas with leading-edge materials and systems to advance the state of
the art in the restoration and monitoring of concrete and timber
structures.
- The University of Manitoba also collects an award for its work with Manitoba HVDC Research Centre and RTDS Technologies Inc.
Together, they developed and commercialized state-of-the-art
technologies for power systems simulation and created an outstanding
corps of dedicated, highly trained professionals and leaders in the
field.
- Simon Fraser University and VSM MedTech Ltd.
will receive a prize for a 30-year partnership that has developed
revolutionary medical imaging technologies and opened new frontiers in
the understanding of brain function and the evaluation and treatment of
neurological disease.
- The University of Toronto, TD Bank Financial Group, RBC Financial Group, Bell Canada and BMO Financial Group
win for their collaborative work in finding unconventional solutions to
such challenges in the financial services sector as evaluating mutual
fund performance and corporate failure, estimating the relative
efficiency of production units and improving the accuracy of the
automated detection of credit card fraud.
- The Université du Québec à Chicoutimi and Hydro-Québec
will receive the NSERC Leo Derikx Award for an extraordinary, long-term
collaboration that resulted both in the creation of the world’s largest
laboratory for understanding the effects of ice build-up on electric
transmission equipment, and in the development of new technologies to
reduce this damage.
“Synergy prizes
celebrate effective partnerships that connect university research
leaders with the private sector to deliver research results to the
marketplace,” said Nigel Lloyd, NSERC’s Executive Vice-President
and Chief Operating Officer.
Also to be honoured will be Benjamin Hatton, of the University of Toronto, top prize winner in NSERC’s Innovation Challenge Awards competition.
In
this annual competition, launched in 2004, graduate students from
across Canada are invited to identify potential products and services
that could be created from their thesis findings. Dr. Hatton won
the top prize of $10,000 for his outstanding proposal to develop
and commercialize nanoporous films for applications in
microelectronics. Two runners-up in the competition –
Richard Yuqiang Tu of Simon Fraser University and Razvan Nutiu of McMaster University – will each receive $5,000.
“The
quality of entries in this year’s Innovation Challenge was very
impressive and reflected Canada’s broad research in many fields,” said
Dr. Lloyd. “It’s very encouraging to see such exciting new talent
maturing and finding their place in our universities.”
The
NSERC Innovation Challenge is co-sponsored by GrowthWorks, a leading
venture capital fund manager, Bell Canada, MDS Sciex, and
Foragen Technologies Management Inc.
NSERC is a
federal agency whose role is to make investments in people, discovery
and innovation for the benefit of all Canadians. With an annual budget
of more than $860 million, the agency supports more than
22,000 university students and postdoctoral fellows in their
advanced studies. NSERC promotes discovery by funding more than
10,000 university professors every year and fosters innovation by
encouraging more than 600 Canadian companies to participate and
invest in university research projects.
Backgrounders on the winners are available at http://www.nserc.gc.ca/award_e.asp?nav=synergy&lbi=current.
For more information, contact:
Christiane Fox
Office of the Honourable David L. Emerson,
Minister of Industry Canada
Tel.: (613) 995-9001
Arnet Sheppard
NSERC Public Affairs
Tel.: (613) 794-9170
E-mail: communications@nserc.ca
Dan Tanaka
University of New Brunswick at Saint John
Tel.: (506) 648-5697
E-mail: dtanaka@unbsj.ca
Steven De Sousa
University of Toronto
Tel.: (416) 978-2105
E-mail: steven.desousa@utoronto.ca
John Danakas
University of Manitoba
Tel.: (204) 474-8551
E-mail: john_danakas@umanitoba.ca
Chantale Leblond
Université du Québec à Chicoutimi
Tel.: (418) 545-5011
E-mail: chantale_leblond@uqac.ca
Marianne Meadahl
Simon Fraser University
Tel.: (604) 291-4323
E-mail: marianne_meadahl@sfu.ca
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