Researchers unite to advance sustainable development

Montreal, QC – A group of researchers has come together to create the Centre interdisciplinaire de recherche sur l’opérationnalisation du développement durable (CIRODD — Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Sustainable Development Operationalization).

The first strategic group focusing on sustainable development in Québec, CIRODD brings together 15 research chairs, 71 researchers from 11 universities, three CÉGEPS and a technology transfer centre. These experts are well-known in the areas of lifecycle assessment, corporate social responsibility, process engineering and re-engineering, environmental policy and law, eco-design, industrial symbiosis, green logistics, sustainability measurement and analysis, green economics and sustainable innovation.

Located at the Polytechnique Montréal, CIRODD aims to become the catalyst for interdisciplinary research. With its members active in a number of key industries, including aerospace, food, forestry, mobility and transportation, construction and real estate, mining and ICT, interdisciplinary issues involving the implementation of sustainable development will be facilitated.

“The main obstacles to the operationalization of sustainable development are undoubtedly ambivalence on the part of business and a lack of knowledge,” says Réjean Samson, CIRODD’s director and general manager, and a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Polytechnique. “How do we find the right solutions? How can we be sure that they’re truly sustainable? There are a lot of factors to consider and we can’t get the answers if we’re operating in a vacuum. In order to find such solutions, we need a range of expertise and a pooling of results.”

CIRODD will receive funding from the Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies ($2.46 million) and the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et Culture ($420,000), as well as contributions from the various participating research chairs, universities and CÉGEPS.

One of CIRODD’s first projects, conducted together with Bombardier, is aimed at developing methods for the disassembly and recovery of end-of-life aircraft. Initiated by the Consortium de recherche et d’innovation en aérospatiale au Québec (CRIAQ — Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Québec), the project brings together CIRODD academics (Université Laval, McGill) and industry representatives (Bell Helicopter, Aluminerie Alouette and BFI Canada).

More information is available on CIRODD’s website.