What it is
The Technology and Innovation Research and Development (T&I R&D) Initiative was established in 2003 to advance promising greenhouse gas (GHG) technologies through R&D. The T&I R&D budget is $115 million over five years.
What it does
OERD provides T&I R&D funds directly to partner departments and agencies, which then team up with provinces, the private sector and/or universities.
To achieve significant GHG reductions in the near term, T&I R&D aims to ensure that clean technology options which provide incremental advances are brought into the energy economy as quickly as possible, e.g. vehicles with reduced fuel consumption, energy-efficient buildings.
In the medium to longer term, bridging technologies will pave the way for the transition to a low-emission energy future but will need financial support for bringing them to the market-ready stage, e.g. hybrid vehicles, technologies to access unconventional oil and gas supplies.
Transformative or “next generation” technologies will eventually take us into a clean energy future and require S&T investments now, e.g. hydrogen fuel cells and production, and carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage.