University-Industry Partnerships Driving Innovation

Companies, universities capture national innovation prizes

(Ottawa, Ontario) - The winners of the Synergy Awards for outstanding university-industry R&D partnerships were announced today by Tom Brzustowski, President of NSERC, and Anne Golden, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Conference Board of Canada. The two agencies sponsor the prizes, which include $25,000 research grants for the university partner. The prizes will be presented next week in Montreal by the Hon. Dr. Gilbert Normand, Secretary of State (Science, Research and Development) on behalf of the Honourable Brian Tobin, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for NSERC.

"Successful partnerships between universities and industry are essential to innovation. Collaboration between universities and the private sector is the main factor that will allow Canada to reach its goal of rising to fifth place among R&D performing nations," said Dr. Normand.

Anne Golden also congratulated the winners. "This year's Synergy Award winners are excellent examples of how the collaboration of Canada's top researchers from university and the private sector leads to increased productivity, better protection for the environment and innovations that benefit all Canadians."

"Innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship are at the heart of university-industry partnerships," said Tom Brzustowski. "They bring those who produce new knowledge together with those who can use it productively in the Canadian economy."

List of Winning Partnerships

(See www.nserc.ca/about/award_e.htm for a full description of their achievements.)

Kodak Canada Inc., Eastman Kodak Company, McMaster University, INRS-Eau at the Université du Québec and Wilfrid Laurier University for measuring silver released into the environment during the photofinishing process and researching the effects of silver on aquatic organisms. This research will help set criteria for new water quality guidelines for metals in the environment.

Solutia Canada Inc., LPM Technologies, the University of Toronto and the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières for their development of state-of-the-art technology that brightens pulp inexpensively in an environmentally friendly way. The technology reduces the use of chemicals in processing while improving a paper mill's machine performance.

The Pressure Pipe Inspection Company and Queen's University for developing a unique patented technology that inspects large concrete high pressure water supply pipes. With this technology, electromagnetic signals are transmitted through the pipes to the steel pre-stressing wires embedded in the concrete allowing analysts to monitor distortions and determine if there are broken wires that may cause pipes to rupture.

CanAmera Foods and the University of Manitoba for their development and commercialization of a new, selectively bred rapeseed. The seed's high erucic acid oil is used in industrial applications, such as lubricants and anti-stick agents, while the low glucosinolate meal from the seed is used in animal feed.

Datec Coating Corporation, Millenium Biologix Inc. and Queen's University for the advancement and commercialization of two distinct university-industry research ventures. With Datec, these include ceramic paint technology used in industrial markets for applications such as electric insulation, non-stick surfaces, and coatings for diamond mining. With Millenium, unique synthetic bone biomaterials have been developed for orthopedic, dental, diagnostic and therapeutic products.

Ontario Beekeepers' Association (a consortium) and the University of Guelph for their research into pollination. Successful, sustainable pollination programs will lead to better quality fruits and vegetables, increased agricultural productivity and lower food prices.

The Leo Derikx Award will be presented to the University of British Columbia Geophysical Inversion Facility and a Consortium of 11 companies for their development of new and more accurate ways of processing and interpreting geophysical data in the mining exploration industry.

The prize-winning partnerships were selected from 37 university-industry entries in this year's Synergy Awards competition.

Each of the partnerships was required to demonstrate an effective use of university and industry resources, commercial benefits to industry and benefits to the university. The award includes a $25,000 research grant for the university partner, and an original sculpture for their industrial collaborator.

The awards will be presented by the Hon. Dr. Gilbert Normand on Tuesday, November 20, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., at the Hôtel Wyndham Montréal, as part of Investing in Innovation, the Conference Board's 2001 Innovation Conference. The November 19-20 conference will focus on innovation strategies for companies in the traditional resource and manufacturing sectors as well as for those in the new economy. Topics will cover investment, best practices and incentives, and the growing role of universities and colleges.

A backgrounder on each winning partnership can be found at
www.nserc.ca/about/award_e.htm.

For more information, contact:

Arnet Sheppard, NSERC Newsbureau, at (613) 995-5997 or axs@nserc.ca.

Paul Warren , Media Relations Assistant, Corporate Communications, The Conference Board of Canada, at (613) 526-3280, ext. 432 or corpcomm@conferenceboard.ca.