NRC Institute for Information Technology (NRC-IIT)

(Ottawa, Ontario; Fredericton, Moncton and Saint John, New Brunswick; Gatineau, Quebec)

IIT: Strengthening Canada's Leadership in Information and Communications Technologies

NRC-IIT creates and commercializes software and systems technology to help Canada prosper in the knowledge economy. Through its research, the dissemination of its findings and innovative business services, including licensing opportunities, R&D support, business mentoring and strategic partnerships, NRC-IIT provides a competitive advantage to myriad industry sectors, from health care and manufacturing, to transportation and entertainment.

The three images represent the strategic directions of NRC-IIT research: People-Oriented Systems, e-Business and Knowledge from Data.

NRC-IIT's research focuses on three strategic directions:

• Knowledge from Data: Enhancing access to information, research in Knowledge from Data involves extracting real world information and representing it in meaningful and useful ways — whether through 3D visual representation, virtual or augmented reality, text, video or voice applications. Also focusing on data and literature mining, as well as information capture and storage techniques, Knowledge from Data simplifies the analysis, interpretation and extrapolation of essential data to assist in decisionmaking and knowledge discovery.
• People-Oriented Systems: People- Oriented Systems explores how humans interact with technology and interact using technology. Examining the context of technology use, including cultural and social influences, personal preferences, and the user's knowledge base, it includes the development of advanced user interfaces, broadband technologies and advanced collaborative environments that enable distance collaboration. This direction also studies mobile and pervasive technologies, accessibility requirements and language and localization technologies that mediate communication between users.
• e-Business: Broadly defined, e-Business is the undertaking of social, political and economic activities by means of computers and communication networks (such as the Internet). These activities capitalize on infomation sharing and value-adding applications, and are applicable to trade, commercial transactions, cooperation, culture, education, governance, health care, and other such human endeavours.

NRC-IIT operates Industry Partnership Facilities (IPF) at its Ottawa and Fredericton sites to help small- and medium-sized business exploit emerging technologies by providing a supportive working environment and access to NRC expertise.