The federal government is weeks away from tabling its next budget and is calling on Canadians to share their bold ideas to build a greener, more competitive, more innovative, more inclusive, and more resilient Canada.
For us, collaboration between colleges and institutes and their industry partners will be key to rebuilding a growing economy. Over the past few months, we asked our members to share their own examples of how their partnerships are driving community innovation. Here’s a snapshot of what we heard:
- Working with Saskatchewan Polytechnic, VeriGrain Sampling, a company specializing in grain sampling and data management to improve farm sustainability has been able to advance its leading-edge products towards commercialization.
- Working with Optech (the college centre for the transfer of technology affiliated with Cégep André-Laurendeau), ChrysaLabs was able to take advantage of laboratory expertise to develop, test, and validate its final spectroscopic probe aiming to improve agricultural production by measuring soil health and nutrient distribution.
- In partnership with Canadore College, The Stratagem Group, a creative collective specializing in post-production and screen-based industries in Northern Ontario was able to provide extraordinary training and workforce development opportunities for young people across the region.
- Working with NAIT, Growing Greener Innovations, a Canadian energy technology company focused on engineering and manufacturing batteries, battery management systems, and battery energy storage solutions was able to recruit new talent, participate in joint research, and advance products towards commercialization.
- Nova Scotia Community College has been a critical partner for Glas Ocean Electric, working to electrify small commercial marine vessels and scale the impact of introducing cleaner energy to coastal waters.
- Through a collaborative research effort with Selkirk College’s Selkirk-SME Applied Research & Technology Solutions (SMARTS) Program, Dark Horse Innovations has been able to strengthen its mandate of assisting others in bringing innovative ideas to market in the most sustainable way possible.
We’re always looking for powerful stories of how college and institute applied research supports small business and community innovation to share with decision makers in Ottawa! So far, we’ve heard from close to 100 SMEs.
In the context of post-pandemic recovery, the eye on innovation is more important than ever and gives real-world examples to inspire Canadians across the country:
- Our white paper, COVID-19 and Beyond, highlights how Canada can leverage the full capacity of colleges and institutes to build a recovery-ready workforce, drive innovation, and support sustainability.
- We issued recommendations, both independently and as part of an applied-research taskforce, to the federal government’s pre-budget consultations to leverage college and institute expertise in sustainably relaunching our economy;
- Published jointly by CICan and RE$EARCH Money, the third edition of Applied Research Comes of Age highlights collaborations between college and institutes, small and large businesses, and the community at large in support of a resilient recovery.