$52M funding for research projects throughout Atlantic Canada

Moncton, NB – The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency has announced support for 24 research and development projects throughout Atlantic Canada that will receive a total of $51.8 million in funding. The projects bring together the region’s universities, businesses and research institutions to conduct leading-edge research.

Six projects in Nova Scotia will share a total of $12.4 million in funding. The projects include:

1) Dalhousie University (Halifax) Project: Advanced Acoustics Technologies for Measuring Dalhousie University, in collaboration with Memorial University, of St John’s (NL), and Nortek Scientific, of Halifax, will develop new automated acoustic instrumentation systems for high resolution measurement of fluid and sediment transport in aquatic environments. Some of the practical uses of the technology include shoreline protection and navigation channel maintenance. This project, with total estimated costs of $1.8 million, will receive approximately $1.1 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a five-year period.

2) Oxford Frozen Foods Limited (Oxford) Project: Risk Mitigation System for Wild Blueberry Production Oxford Frozen Foods, in partnership with the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, will develop a number of new technology based products, processes and services with the objective to increase harvestable yields, reduce costs of production, increase productivity and improve product quality while enhancing environmental stewardship. These technology based processes include pest and disease management and software interface. This project, with total estimated costs of $3.9 million, will receive approximately $1.4 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a five- year period.

3) Helly Hansen Canada (Dartmouth) Project: Innovations in Cold Water Survival Suits Helly Hanson, in collaboration with the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board and ExxonMobil Canada, will investigate a number of technological innovations that have the potential to improve the performance of their cold water survival suit and thus more effective in saving life. Specifically, the company plans to develop a new generation of helicopter passenger suit/rig abandonment suit for the offshore industry by 2012. This project, with total estimated costs of $1.9 million, will receive approximately $1.0 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a three- year period.

4) C-Vision Limited (Amherst) Project: Command and Control/Solar Power Lighting in LED Roadway Lights C-Vision will research and develop two new technological innovations in the field of command and control of LED roadway lights infrastructure. The project also has a goal of developing and incorporating renewable energy into outdoor lighting so as to significantly reduce energy consumption and provide remote and/or independent operation. This project, with total estimated costs of $4.2 million, will receive approximately $3.0 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a two-year period.

5) Keata Pharma (Sydney) Project: Daffodil-derived Product for Treatment of Alzheimer’s disease Keata Pharma Inc. will focus on the development and commercialization of a daffodil-derived natural product that can be used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Project collaborators include the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, in Truro, and the National Research Council’s Institute of Nutri-Sciences and Health. This project, with total estimated costs of $4.2 million, will receive approximately $3.0 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a three-year period.

6) Genome Atlantic (Halifax, NS and locations in NB and NL) Project: Maturation Challenge in Cod Aquaculture Genome Atlantic will develop new processes to reduce early maturation in farmed cod, a significant problem facing the Atlantic industry. New techniques to breed sterile cod will address the problems of elevated mortality, lengthened grow out cycles and poor flesh quality associated with early maturity. This project, with total estimated costs of $5.8 million, will receive approximately $3.0 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a four-year period.

And in Newfoundland and Labrador, five projects were awarded a total of $11.7 million in funding. The projects were:

1) Camouflage Software (St John’s) Project: Cacheless Masking & Re-identification Risk Camouflage Software will strengthen its flagship program, Camouflage, which masks sensitive or personal data in databases to protect privacy and identity. In this project, the company will enhance the product’s security features in response to market demands. This project, with total estimated costs of $2.6 million, will receive approximately $1.7 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a two-year period.

2) Compusult (Mount Pearl) Project: Geospatial Open Platform Sensorweb (G-OPS) Compusult will expand its existing Web Enterprise Suite (WES) software, which provides a single point of access to a vast array of location-based information including maps and satellite imagery, by adding a feature to allow access to sensors deployed anywhere in the world. This project, with total estimated costs of $3.6 million, will receive approximately $2.3 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a two-year period.

3) Memorial University of Newfoundland (St John’s) Project: Sustainable Technology for Polar Ships and Structures (STePS2) Memorial’s Faculty of Engineering will work with local and international partners to address the shortage of tools and expertise in the engineering of polar ships and structures. This project, with total estimated costs of $6.0 million, will receive approximately $3.0 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a five-year period.

4) Oceanic Consulting Corporation (St John’s) Project: Numerical Simulation of Hydrodynamic Loads in Harsh Marine Environments With its partners, Oceanic will improve and develop tools and methods to provide comprehensive performance evaluations for a variety of oil and gas exploration and production vessels and platforms operating in harsh marine environments. This project, with total estimated costs of $3.7 million, will receive approximately $2.5 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a three-year period.

5) Wabush Mines, Cliffs Natural Resources (Wabush) Project: Manganese Separation Wabush Mines will assess and evaluate a manganese separation technology on a production prototype to determine whether the technology can be transferred to a full facility rollout. If the company can reduce the manganese content of its iron ore deposits to acceptable levels, it can increase the remaining life of the mine from 10 to up to 20 years. This project, with total estimated costs of $4.0 million, will receive approximately $2.2 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a one-year period.

In Prince Edward Island, funding of $10.2 million in total is being awarded to five projects, which are:

1) University of Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown) Project: Biomed Atlantic – Innovative Solutions for New Drug Development The vision of this project is for the creation of a new PEI- based corporation (Biomed Atlantic) operating as a contract research organization for late stage pre-clinical drug evaluation and new product development. The objective is to create, use and patent unique and clinically relevant animal models of seizure disorders, stroke, schizophrenia and cognitive dysfunction for broader drug testing. This project, with total estimated costs of $12.5 million, will receive approximately $1.6 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a four-year period.

2) University of Prince Edward Island – Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC) (Charlottetown) Project: Cell-based Therapies for the Promotion of Musculoskeletal Tissue Healing in Veterinary Regenerative Medicine Through this project, researchers at AVC will focus on the development of new cell-based therapies targeted at accelerating the promotion of tissue regeneration of bone and ligament in injured horses and companio
n animals. With new methods developed, veterinarians from across North America will be able to send tissue samples from injured animals to the AVC for treatment and return for re- implantation to treat musculoskeletal injuries – all without the cost and risk of moving the patient. This project, with total estimated costs of $3.3 million, will receive approximately $2.1 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a four-year period.

3) Aqua Bounty Canada (Souris) Project: Generate technology to produce reproductively sterile Atlantic salmon. In this project, Aqua Bounty Canada will work to improve the culture of reproductively sterile Atlantic salmon. The future objective is the safe commercial launch of triploid salmon with Atlantic Canada identified as the source for associated commercial benefits, and worldwide distribution of the product. This project, with total estimated costs of $5.9 million, will receive approximately $2.9 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a five-year period.

4) Atlantech Engineering & Associates (Atlantech) (Charlottetown) Project: Advancing Water Recirculation and Effluent Treatment Technology for the Land Based Salmon Aquaculture Industry. Atlantech will further develop its technological advancements in system equipment to address growing concerns among salmon producers with respect to energy utilization and the environmental impact of operations. The research and development for this project involves developing larger salmon rearing tanks; improving energy efficiency of existing equipment; advancing effluent treatment capabilities; and improving fine solids control within recirculation systems. This project, with total estimated costs of $2.4 million, will receive approximately $1.6 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a three- year period.

5) Solarvest (PEI) (Charlottetown) Project: Microalgae Oils for Salmon Feed Nutraceutical Application Through this project, Solarvest (PEI) will undertake research to produce oils from algae that will replace oils from the wild fishery which are used in the production of fish feed in a cost effective manner. Solarvest proposes to offer an organic uncontaminated source of oil to the environmentally and health conscious consumer. This project, with total estimated costs of $3.3 million, will receive approximately $2.0 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a four- year period.

Funding for projects in New Brunswick was reported previously on www.labcanada.com (see http://www.labcanada.com/issues/ISArticle.asp?id=94760&issue=01192009).

In addition, the Coastal Zones Research Institute (CZRI) will receive up to $3 million in funding over a five-year period to help further its research on turning fishery-based waste into wealth.

The funding will help researchers to develop new technologies that will allow for the extraction, isolation and characterization of bioactive ingredients from marine waste to create value-added products for aquaculture as well as microbiology, natural health product and food markets. The project will also help fish processors extract more value from their catch, as well as reduce the amount of fish waste generated by current practices. The project has an estimated total cost of $5.4 million.