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Clusters
IRAP - Charting a course toward innovation
If you want to understand the virtues of internationally competitive research enterprises, just ask survivors of the wreck of the Eve-N-Clare. In October 1999 this Grand Banks fishing boat sank quickly and unexpectedly, forcing the crew into the frigid, life-threatening waters. Nevertheless, they were able to take to those waters in an enclosed marine capsule, a self-righting, rigid life-raft that kept them safe and comfortable until their rescue.
That happy ending began with a local commitment to technological innovation, part of a larger commitment toward making the most of Atlantic Canada's research potential. It is a trend reflected in many parts of the world, where clusters of talent and technology are assembled to lead R&D; efforts in strategically chosen fields.
Those efforts are often spearheaded by small to medium size enterprises, like the one that conceived and built the survival capsule. Ovatek, based in Bas-Caraquet, New Brunswick, has been working with IRAP since 1992. IRAP advised the company on how to turn their idea into a viable project. By attracting investors and advisors, IRAP helped Ovatek create a product that has won both Canadian and U.S. Coast Guard approval.
Technology Clusters in Atlantic Canada
In Atlantic Canada, IRAP has had a long and fruitful history of supplying SMEs with targeted advice, financial support and access to the best available information.
Combined with access to NRC's research institutes, the result is the creation of a dynamic technology cluster, a network that nurtures R&D; activities, knowledge sharing, the construction of research facilities and other infrastructure investments. It is a model that has demonstrated an ability to turn boardroom blueprints into products that can compete on a world stage, sometimes even saving lives in the process.
IRAP is helping SMEs take part in technology clusters, fostering linkages between government agencies, research institutions and individual researchers. The goal is a strengthening of the region's industrial capacity in the ocean engineering, aquaculture and agri-food sectors, as well as in information technology and e-business.
IRAP-related funding in Atlantic Canada came to $33 million in 2000-2001, which went to 1,300 projects at 1,100 small and medium sized companies. This figure adds significantly to activities from just two years earlier, when there were some 700 projects worth more than $15 million. In addition there were more than 2,000 other technical assistance projects, as well as hundreds of CTN contacts adding value to various businesses.
Through a team of 35 Industrial Technology Advisers based in Atlantic communities, IRAP works with regional agencies, technical centres, universities, colleges and other partners to enable SMEs to make the most of every available resource.
Over the next five years NRC intends to invest even more in Atlantic Canada, building on existing facilities and creating new community-based technology clusters. IRAP is already working with NB SPIN, a network of IT professionals, and the University College of Cape Breton's High-level Skills Advancement Program. With CTN, IRAP is establishing the Atlantic Venture Group, which will attract investment and match capital for local companies.
An Atlantic Cluster: Ocean Engineering
Atlantic Canada has the ingredients to be a world class centre in the growing area of Ocean Engineering and clustering initiatives build on these strengths by fostering the science and technology needed to support a largely marine-based economy.
Regional strengths in ocean engineering is augmented by a research program at NRC's Institute for Marine Dynamics in St. John's, a business incubator with a program for young entrepreneurs and a component to bring researchers together with business people.
Opportunities abound. Entrepreneurs and established businesses alike are eyeing new horizons in offshore operations, deepwater equipment, underwater vehicles, propulsion technology, aquaculture and techniques for dealing with ice.
Technology for survival
Ovatek represents an outstanding example of this kind of ambitious undertaking. A decade ago, the notion of a marine survival capsule was a new concept in ocean engineering. Through IRAP, the company designed and built the Esperanto 6, a six-person unsinkable life raft. In addition to featuring a specially designed ballast tank that automatically stabilizes the craft in heavy seas, the Esperanto 6 can be boarded on deck, cutting the risk of injury or hypothermia from jumping into the sea.
A second IRAP project resulted in the Ovatek 7, which has a simpler manufacturing process and lower price, coupled with enhanced stability and ease of entry. A smaller, four-person version also meets the needs of fishing boats down to 10 metres in length.
The company is now seeking to raise its profile in the market, through a network of distributors and strategic alliances in the marine-survival systems industry. Ovatek's mission, stated simply, is to become a leader in this technology.
Technology for tight spots
Another IRAP partner, St. John's-based CORETEC Inc., has been using information technology to make its own mark in the navigation industry. Established in 1988, CORETEC now employs a world-class team of scientists, naval architects and software engineers to create some of the most innovative products available to make shipping safer and more efficient.
Since 1993, the technical advice and financial assistance of IRAP has concentrated on the commercialization of an electronic tracking system that combines satellite data and intense computation. CORETEC has refined this system to provide a highly accurate, real-time display of the vessel's immediate position and future course. Fully integrated with a ship's propulsion and steering systems, it can significantly improve a large vessel's ability to maneuver in narrow passage, as well as employing better fuel economy to do so.
Prototypes of CORETEC's technology are already in use on vessels plying international waters, after the company signed a memorandum of understanding with a large shipping firm. Even as this product enters the marketplace, it is winning the praise from people who can see their benefits.
IRAP and the Ontario Wine Industry
Few things capture the essence of time, talent and technique like an inviting glass of wine. This passionate craft tradition has now evolved into a major international business, one that has in turn captured the imagination of entrepreneurs and researchers in Ontario. IRAP has played a key role in helping them realize their ambitions, through technical innovation and an unprecedented collaboration amongst themselves.
The province's wine industry began to develop after 1988, with the appearance of a number of new firms. Over the years these enterprises have met many challenges in order to become commercially viable and offer products that have become well regarded in an ever more competitive global market. IRAP has helped several of these companies take advantage of new technology that benefited their own operations and set new standards in the field.
The wineries of Ontario have developed a niche market that is the product of many years of collaboration between IRAP, individual companies and the industry as a whole.
Shared Technology Creates “Best Cellars”
IRAP has worked closely with local wineries to help each company commercialize successfully developed technology. IRAP has also worked to create the environment in which the companies shared the results extensively and distributed reports to other companies for the benefit of the entire industry in that region.
IRAP also works closely with other research partners, building a network of trust and cooperation. The result is a powerful forum for sharing ideas, insights and information, linking participants with the most advanced research efforts in the region and throughout the world.
Working with wineries such as Reif Estate Winery and Chateau des Charmes Wines Ltd., IRAP has enabled them to make the most of their own unique and complementary capabilities, showing them how to apply new technologies to create high-quality products.
Above all, IRAP showed them the virtue of enhancing their success - and the results of their work - by improving the reputation of the entire region. In 1991, for example, the industry established the “Vintners Quality Alliance“ (VQA) designation, a production standard to safeguard and promote this reputation.
Sweet Success, in a Glass
That reputation grew significantly in 2001, when Reif Estate Winery won two gold medals at VinExpo in France for its 1999 Vidal Icewine. The distinction vaulted this wine into an elite category, surpassing competitors from around the world. The accomplishment represents a significant contribution to the image of Canadian wines, one that company president Klaus Reif is eager to share with IRAP.
He recognizes IRAPs's role in promoting basic investigations into a new form of yeast that improves the quality of icewine. The yeast makes possible the complete fermentation of grapes used to make this wine, grapes with high sugar levels that have traditionally interfered with this process. This research began with companies that emerged from the University of Guelph, and continued at Brock University's newly established Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute.
Other research activities have addressed a wide range of issues surrounding the improvement of local wines. This work has included an examination of drainage practices, vine spacing, soil analysis, and trestle design to optimize photosynthesis, spray and harvest techniques, and improvement of pesticide and fungicide practices.
Such progress will be crucial to the growth of Canada's wine industry, which is expected to expand by as much as 500 to 1000 hectares annually. That translates into some one million new plants each year, with the price of certified, virus-frees vine being worth about $2 million in the Niagara region.
Conventional methods of testing for viruses costs about $1,400 per vine and can take three years. A new IRAP project with Chateau des Charmes could reduce this cost to $25 per vine, as well as reducing necessary time to just one week. In addition, a new chemical fingerprinting method would confirm the health of a vine and its varietal identity just as quickly.
The Ontario Wine Industry makes a valuable contribution to the Canadian economy with sales of over $338 million in 2000-2001, employing over 5000 people. Every $10 million in wine sales translates to $14.8 million in economic activity in Ontario.
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