Minister Jim Prentice highlights government investment and new research partnership for Southern Alberta Institute of Technology

February 10, 2010

 

CALGARY, Alberta — Albertans and local businesses will benefit from a new research partnership that will bring together the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and industry. The partnership will support innovation and help move new discoveries, developed on campus, into the marketplace, where Canadians and people around the world can benefit from them. The initiative was celebrated at an official event at the college today by the Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of the Environment and Minister for Southern Alberta.

“Our government supports innovation because it creates jobs, improves the quality of life of Canadians and strengthens the economy,” said Minister Prentice. “This new partnership will provide skills training for Calgary, position the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology as a destination for international research talent and give local businesses access to the knowledge and resources they need to innovate.”

The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology was one of nine post-secondary institutions selected across Canada, following a peer reviewed competition, and will receive $2.24 million over five years. This project will focus on improving green construction technologies and practices, including architectural ecology, the use of renewable energies and the transformation of current industry standards.

Funding for the partnership comes from the federal government’s College and Community Innovation Program, administered by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Established as a permanent program by the government in Budget 2007, the program enables colleges to develop or expand knowledge transfer activities in their communities through partnerships with local companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises. The program is supported as part of the government’s Science and Technology Strategy launched by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2007.

“The CCI Program builds on other initiatives that foster collaboration between industry and post-secondary institutions,” said Dr. Suzanne Fortier, President of NSERC. “The partners will be working on important, multifaceted Canadian projects with direct impact on their local communities. We look forward to helping them achieve their maximum potential and impact.”

“We are honoured and excited to receive this grant from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council,” said Irene Lewis, President and CEO, SAIT Polytechnic. “This funding will allow SAIT’s Applied Research and Innovation Services to pursue key areas of research that support the over-arching goal to develop a Net Zero energy standard and certification for Western Canada.”

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council is a federal agency whose vision is to help make Canada a country of discoverers and innovators to the benefit of all Canadians. The agency supports some 28,000 students and postdoctoral fellows in their advanced studies. It promotes discovery by funding more than 11,800 professors every year and fosters innovation by encouraging more than 1,500 Canadian companies to participate and invest in post-secondary research projects.
More information on the College and Community Innovation Program and the nine funded projects is available in the backgrounder.