Government of Canada Supports Partnerships for Innovation

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Aug. 1, 2012) - The University of Ottawa has worked with 14 businesses across southern Ontario on a variety of projects that have stimulated innovation and business growth. The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), congratulates the university on its partnerships with small-and medium-sized businesses.

"Because science powers commerce, our government is investing in the University of Ottawa and helping businesses access the research capacity and resources they need to develop new ideas and bring those to market, while also helping researchers gain valuable work experience and entrepreneurial skills," said Minister Goodyear. "Our government is focused on the economy, creating jobs and economic growth."

In 2010, through FedDev Ontario's Applied Research and Commercialization Initiative, the University of Ottawa was approved for a contribution of up to $750,000 to partner with small- and medium-sized enterprises in areas that have traditionally challenged SMEs: applied research, engineering design, technology development, product testing and certification. Facilitated by the SME4SME program, these businesses were able to benefit from the facilities and expertise of the university in order to advance their innovative products and ideas.

"Every year, innovation driven from University of Ottawa research contributes over $1.2 billion to our regional economy in improved productivity," said Allan Rock, President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Ottawa. "SME4SME has assisted the University of Ottawa to create partnerships with 15 companies and further drive the innovation that is so vital to our contribution to Canada's economic and social success."

For more information on the Applied Research and Commercialization Initiative and the University of Ottawa's partners, please refer to the backgrounder.

Created in 2009, FedDev Ontario supports the southern Ontario economy by building on the region's strengths and creating opportunities for jobs and economic growth. The Agency has launched a number of initiatives to create a Southern Ontario Advantage and place the region in a strong position to compete in the global economy. These initiatives are designed to encourage partnerships and support projects that help the region's businesses and communities become more competitive, innovative and diversified. To learn more, please visit www.FedDevOntario.gc.ca or call 1-866-593-5505.

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BACKGROUNDER

Applied Research and Commercialization Initiative - University of Ottawa

The Applied Research and Commercialization Initiative helps small- and medium-sized businesses in southern Ontario access applied research and development and pre-commercialization expertise found in post-secondary institutions.

Since its launch in 2010, the Applied Research and Commercialization Initiative has invested more than $14.5 million in 24 colleges and universities across southern Ontario so they could work with the private sector to bring new products and innovative processes to the marketplace faster. In December 2011, FedDev Ontario announced the extension of the initiative until March 31, 2013 with additional funding to further support innovation efforts in southern Ontario.

The University of Ottawa has worked with 14 small- and medium-sized enterprises under the initiative including the following projects:

Allen Vanguard (Ottawa)

Allen Vanguard, a maker of bomb disposal suits and helmets, has developed a second generation helmet-mounted sensor for the military, to track the incidence of traumatic brain injury in soldiers exposed to a blast. This device demonstrates the capability of tracking head movement with high accuracy when subjected to shock waves. This project with the University of Ottawa has resulted in a new technology that uses gas detonations as a means to drive strong blast waves in a shock tube to test the company's helmet-mounted sensors.

Baker Engineering & Risk Consultants Inc. (Burlington)

Baker Engineering & Risk Consultants Inc. provides solutions to companies and government agencies involved with hazardous materials to prevent accidents, and protect people and assets. Their BakerRisk division helps clients understand and prioritize their risks, and offer cost-effective solutions to manage those risks. Their partnership with the University of Ottawa focused on evaluating typical wood trailer construction used in hazardous facilities in the Canadian market and determined how they react when exposed to blasts. This resulted in new knowledge about how these trailers can be upgraded to better protect workers from an accidental blast event.

CIS Group Inc. (Ottawa)

CIS specialises in the trenchless rehabilitation of municipal drinking water mains through the use of a proprietary coating that is applied to the interior surface of ailing pipes. CIS's objective is to return a water main to service the same day it is rehabilitated, eliminating the requirement of a temporary water by-pass system. The partnership with the University of Ottawa has helped to address the challenge of effectively removing all moisture after cleaning the pipe, prior to lining it with the coating. With improved pipe drying performance, the company will be able to rehabilitate more kilometres of water main in less time.

DNA Genotek (Ottawa)

DNA Genotek is a life sciences company that uses its proprietary DNA collection system to increase the use of DNA in research and commercial products around the world. The purpose of the company's project was to develop chemicals to improve purification of DNA from samples. The chemicals were tested for their ability to significantly improve a new product currently under development, allowing for the introduction of one or more of the new compounds into future commercial products. The partnership with the University of Ottawa will help improve the DNA purification systems, providing DNA Genotek with a competitive advantage and lead to increased sales.

InvoDane Engineering (Toronto)

InvoDane provides engineering solutions that increase efficiency, productivity, and profitability for clients. The company has recently commercialized a robotic device (Explorer II) to inspect gas pipelines of different diameters with the goal of preventing leaks. The company has worked with the University of Ottawa to move toward an intelligent unmanned system capable of expanding the actual operational capabilities of the robot. This will minimize human intervention and eventually lead to a fully self-directed robotic system capable of performing decision-making processes without the need of human inputs. The merging of the hardware technology built by InvoDane and the software technology developed at the university has moved the company closer to creating an intelligent and independent pipeline inspection robot, which will be first of its kind worldwide.

Irdeto (Ottawa)

Irdeto's renewable, software security solutions, such as Irdeto ActiveCloak™ protect the digital economy by securing the lifecycle of digital assets from creation through distribution to consumption. This project focused on one of a fundamental set of problems to solve regarding protection and establishing digital security in harsh environmental conditions. The techniques designed and implemented through this collaboration with the University of Ottawa have the potential to form an important component in the connected digital world of the future by implementing an important cryptographic procedure that is resistant to attack in a hostile execution environment.

Life Prediction Technologies Inc. (Ottawa)

Life Prediction Technologies Inc. (LPTi) delivers world-class systems and services for predicting the useful life of turbines and other mechanical structures. The project with the University of Ottawa resulted in the generation of "deformation mechanism maps," a graphical engineering tool that can be used to locate deformations in actual components to better calculate the service life of an engineering component. The project involved the collection of comprehensive materials, property data, extensive computational analysis for map generation, graphical presentation of results and validation through laboratory testing.

Magor Communications Corp. (Ottawa)

Magor works with technology and channel partners and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to bring the power of telecollaboration to businesses of all sizes, across a range of industries. In this project, the University of Ottawa worked with Magor's personnel to design, implement, and deploy a system for predicting and controlling the amount of internet bandwidth during a video session to avoid congestion in Magor's High Definition Video Conferencing (HDVC) product. The specific problem to solve was to forecast bandwidth variations in the network shortly before they happen. With accurate prediction comes the ability to maintain high-quality and real-time HD video streaming, which is critical for customer satisfaction. This will enable Magor to deliver HDVC performance over networks and comparable to the best systems on the market, at a fraction of their operating cost.

Opel (or OPEL) International (Ottawa)

Opel (or OPEL) is focused on developing technology, designing solar concentrating products, and producing solar energy solutions for industrial and commercial applications ranging from solar farms to solar rooftop systems for commercial building applications. This project with the University of Ottawa studied the optics of a solar energy module's concentrator photovoltaic cell. This project resulted in the identification of opportunities for substantially improving the solar to electricity performance, while maintaining low cost and manufacturability. This will greatly enhance the company's ability to compete in a developing and highly competitive global marketplace.

PCI Geomatics (Ottawa)

PCI Geomatics is a world leader in geographical information systems (satellite-based images) solutions and has set the standard in remote sensing and image processing tools. In collaboration with the University of Ottawa, PCI investigated innovative techniques for the analysis and interpretation of geo-imaging data to improve the performance of the company's software. This project will result in employment opportunities and the reinforcement of PCI's competitiveness in the global market by creating new intellectual property to support the commercialization of their reliable, highly automated state-of-the-art software products.

PharmaGap Inc. (Ottawa)

PharmaGap's business is to license its drug compounds to companies in more advanced phases of drug development, prior to commencement of later-stage clinical trials in humans. The company worked with the University of Ottawa on the development of novel treatments for combating ovarian cancer. Specifically, the project examined different ways of administering the treatment to increase the effectiveness of the drug. In looking at existing methods for treating ovarian cancer, the research also tested the drug formulations that have been created by the company partner in a collaborative and cost-sharing venture. This has brought the company closer to licensing this novel anti-cancer therapy to partners, and closer to treating patients in Ontario.

S5 Systems Inc. (Ottawa)

S5 Systems Inc. is a company that helps telecom businesses speed up product development life cycles with their phone systems that have built-in hardware and software. The research project with the University of Ottawa involved taking an existing radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, a device used in applications such an inventory control, and dramatically enhancing its performance. The project has developed a new product for the market that will allow Ontario and global companies better control over their inventory and security access.

Solink Corporation (Ottawa)

Solink is a video analytics company specializing in building customizable, easily deployable and "return-on-investment-based" video analytic solutions for enterprise customers. Their project was aimed directly at addressing and detecting automated teller machine (ATM) fraud. Building upon existing research with ATM fraud investigators, providers and users, the company worked with the University of Ottawa to translate the research into a video analytic tool that can be used by banks around the world to reduce the instances of loss due to ATM fraud. This project helped to move Solink closer to its goal of becoming the international leader in ATM fraud fighting software.

TRIAS Innovations (Ottawa)

TRIAS Innovations has developed a variety of mechanical products including high-capacity wind turbines and the development of a lubricant additive that protects and greatly enhances the performance of delicate mechanical systems. TRIAS worked with University of Ottawa researchers to build a smart monitoring system that integrates vibration analysis and the performance of the additive in a single machine. This project will assist TRIAS in developing and entering new markets around the world by having sound scientific data underlying the performance of the product.