Seven projects in Newfoundland share nearly $14M in federal funding

St John’s, NL – Seven R&D projects in Newfoundland and Labrador are receiving a total of $13.8 million in federal funding support under Round VII of the Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF).

The projects include:

PanGeo Subsea (St John’s) Project: Acoustic Zoom® – A Transformative Deep Imaging Method for High-Resolution Reservoir Characterization PanGeo Subsea will develop the Acoustic Zoom® Method – an innovative seismic exploration tool. The Acoustic Zoom® Method will be used on oil and gas wells in production to provide real-time information to operators on the location and size of the reservoir reserves in 3D. A better, more accurate picture of the reservoir and small pockets can result in more accurate drilling and well completion with a substantial economic benefit. This project, with total estimated costs of $6 million, will receive approximately $3 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a three- year period.

C-CORE (St John’s) Project: Integrity and Security of Critical Infrastructure C-CORE, in partnership with national and international partners, will conduct R&D in next generation satellite imaging, ground radar technology, and geoscience methods capable of predicting subsurface ground movement. C-CORE will seek to combine the three existing technologies to create a unique space-ground-subsurface method of monitoring critical infrastructure, for structural stability and security purposes. This project, with total estimated costs of $5.3 million, will receive approximately $2.2 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a four- year period.

Memorial University of Newfoundland, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science (St John’s) Project: Responsive Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Localization and Mapping (REALM) Memorial’s Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science will integrate sonar and advanced navigation and adaptive mission control systems for its Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). The new technology will enable the AUV to perform high quality seabed surveys to focus on areas of interest, thereby reducing time, energy, cost, and risk of vehicle loss. This project, with estimated total costs of $4 million, will receive approximately $2.1 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a four-year period.

Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland (St John’s) Project: Reducing Seabed Impacts of Bottom Trawls The Marine Institute’s Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Resources (C-SAR) will work with its commercial partner Vónin Canada Ltd. in developing and commercializing new bottom trawl fishing technology capable of catching commercial quantities of finfish and shellfish with reduced seabed contact, thereby reducing environmental impact on the seabed. This project, with total estimated costs of $4.2 million, will receive approximately $1.8 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a five-year period.

Memorial University of Newfoundland, Faculty of Medicine, Population Therapeutics Research Group (St John’s) Project: The Newfoundland Genealogical Toolkit In this project, Memorial’s Population Therapeutics Research Group (PTRG) will develop the Newfoundland Genealogical Toolkit – a state-of-the-art information technology platform able to generate large sample groups (family trees) to conduct studies on the identification of genes implicated in common diseases and research on undesirable drug reactions. The research will help make drugs more effective, optimize drug dosage decisions, and enhance drug therapy. This project, with total estimated costs of $3.1 million, will receive approximately $1.8 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a three-year period.

Memorial University of Newfoundland, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science (St John’s) Project: High Frequency Radar Ocean Surface Applications (HF-ROSA) Memorial’s Faculty of Engineering and industry partner Northern Radar Inc. will develop software to exploit High Frequency (HF) radar signals to monitor ocean activities, such as identifying the path and speed of ships and icebergs; tracking the drift of oil spills, sediment or other pollution in the upper ocean; assisting search and rescue planning; and supporting oceanographic and climate change research. This project, with total estimated costs of $2.9 million, will receive approximately $1.7 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a four-year period.

AMEC Americas Limited (St John’s) Project: Net Available Wind Power Forecasting AMEC will develop a unique Net Available Power (NAP) forecasting service that will provide real-time forecasts of the actual power supplied by a wind farm to the local energy grid. With this project, AMEC will set out to address the wind energy industry challenge of accurate forecasting. This project, with total estimated costs of $2.4 million, will receive approximately $1.3 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a three-year period.