Geoscience - Government of the NWT
The availability of geoscientific information strongly influences company decisions on mineral exploration. In 2002, with INAC support, the NWT Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development began an initiative to scan the C.S. Lord (now Northwest Territories) Geoscience Centre’s holdings of geoscientific documents and maps, including more than 4,000 NWT mineral exploration assessment reports publicly available nowhere else, for distribution by on-line file transfer or compact disk.

INAC invested in three 2003-2004 projects:

• completion of the digitization begun in 2002, a grand total of more than 100 gigabytes of data;
• a manual for staff training in image capture, manipulation and storage, and operating, maintaining, and troubleshooting the Centre’s hardware and software; and
• a map server and software dedicated to staff development of new applications. As a result, the Centre’s Internet service has been enhanced to provide user access to interactive geology maps.

Geoscience Field School Pilot Project - University of Alberta
Development of curriculum for a summer field school in the NWT, to address the NWT shortage of field-trained geology graduates and fill some of the gaps in NWT geoscience data.

Hydrocarbon Development Geomatics - Government of the NWT
The NWT Centre for Geomatics acquired satellite data on parts of the Mackenzie Valley and Delta, with software for analysis and geospatial modeling in areas of oil and gas development.

Pre-feasibility Study of Natural Gas Distribution - Flashpoint
Pre-feasibility assessment (technology, supply, market, potential partners, feasibility study costs) of shipment of natural gas from the southern NWT overland to supply the diamond mines.

Export Development, Land Registry System - Inukshuk Geomatics
Investigation of market opportunities in Russia, as it implements private land ownership, for a land registry system developed for Aboriginal-owned lands in northern Canada.

Completion and Testing of Geo-thermal Engine - Chinook Aerospace
INAC partnered with the National Research Council in supporting acquisition of equipment necessary to complete construction of a cost-effective, marketable prototype engine, based on known technology, and begin its testing phase.

Economic Opportunities in Waste Management - Ecology North
"Forum on Waste Management Issues in the North" — re-evaluating economic development opportunities in the areas of recycling, contaminant reduction, and landfill management.

INAC also supported further work on two projects begun in 2002-2003 by the Arctic Energy Alliance (micro-turbine pilot project) and by the Fort Providence Metis (economic development strategy).

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Backgrounder - NWT 2004-2005 Innovation and Knowledge Projects

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