Fast Tracking Innovation to Market

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TRLabs - Who we are

Est. 1986, in EdmontonNot-for-profitTri-Partite consortium

GovernmentGovernmentAcademiaAcademiaIndustryIndustry

Applied ICT research Calgary1991

newt2002

Winnipeg1994

Regina1996

Edmonton1986 Saskatoon

1992

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TRLabs facilitates economic development through:Applied researchApplied researchPrototype and application developmentPrototype and application developmentTechnology DemonstrationsTechnology DemonstrationsTechnology testing and verificationTechnology testing and verificationPrePre--commercialization Assistancecommercialization AssistanceConnecting industry and academic institutionsConnecting industry and academic institutionsDeveloping Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP)Developing Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP)

University IndustryInnovation Valley

Awareness Basic R&D Dissem. Applied R&D Prf-Concept Prototype

Networking Adopt/Adapt Liaison Application Adaptation Scale-up

Pre-comm Commercial Growth Expansion Re-invest

Test Mfg Commercial Growth Expansion Mezzanine

Innovation = New ideas Commercialization = Creating Local Wealth

TRLabs – What we do

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The Numbers

Small Business43

Larger Business9

Universities5

Governments4

Total: 61Total: 61

Consortia Members

45% Government 45% Industry

10% University

$13 Million Annual R&D Budget$13 Million Annual R&D Budget

Consortia Funding

Admin19

Faculty65

Students120

Researchers35

Total: 243Total: 243

Visiting Researchers

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Consortia Personnel

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TRLabs Research Program

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Breadth of technical knowledge

‘Special Initiatives’ in new innovative emerging technologies will spawn new focus areas

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• Agent Technology

• Augmented Reality• Auto Service Generation• Cellular• Digital Media• DRM• Grid Computing

• Environmentally Aware Networks

• Mesh Networks

• Microsystems• Modulation/Coding

• MIMO• MRG• Nanotechnology

• Network Centric Applications

• Network Characterization• P2P Networks• Personalization• Photonics• Protocols• Reliable Networks

• Self organizing networks

• Sensor Networks• Software Radio

• User Interface Technology• UWB

• Web Services

• Wireless

Focus Areas

Emer

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Connected Media Focus Area

The Connected Media Focus Area at TRLabs looks at how to evolve communication networks to provide seamless ubiquitous access and become cognitive in their operation so they dynamically adapt to provide end users with customized services.

Research themes in this focus area include:• Ubiquitous cognitive networks• Social networking

• Session based connectivity• Presence• Location based services

• Personalized mobile web-based services

Networks are evolving from “delivery vehicles” to “providers of ICT resources”• Computation (a la Amazon web services, SUN, etc.)• Storage (Google++)• Services and Media (*tubes, entertainment, HD-everything)

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eHome Focus Area

The goal of the eHome Focus Area is to develop both enabling technologies and integrated applications for the ‘Smart Home’ and workplace of the future.

Research themes in this focus area include:• Home automation and security• Content technologies

• Trans-coding• DRM

• Personalized infotainment• Broadband connectivity• Collaboration

• Information spaces• Distributed computing/virtualization

As networks evolve from “delivery vehicles” to “providers of ICT resources”, the world will change:

• At home eHome (the Smart Home)• At work Enterprise 2.0• In person Personalized Healthcare/

Infotainment

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eHealth Focus Area

In the not-too-distant future centralized databases, electronic medical records, 3D digital imaging, and wireless networks will enable ‘distributed personalized health care’. The goal of the eHealthFocus Area is to make this vision a reality.

Research themes in this focus area include:• Informatics

• Electronic Medical Records• Medical Imaging• Visualization and Modeling

• Health Management• Intelligent Systems (collaboration, correlation,

dissemination)• eHealth Services• Systems Biology

• Clinical Networks• Storage/computation/connnectivity/collaboration• Autonomous networks/sensor networks

The Future Systems and Applications That Deliver ‘Distributed Personalized Health Care’

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Emerging Technologies Focus Area

The purpose of the Emerging TechnologiesFocus Area is to complete scans that identify emerging/blue-sky technologies as well as technologies closely aligned with TRLabs Research Focus Areas

The Future

• Machines will out number and out compute people (Kurzweil – “The singularity is near”)

• Digitization of everything at an exponential rate; everything is connected and mobile

• Smaller, cheaper, more integrated

The Disruptive Technology Challenge (DTC)

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The Disruptive Technology Challenge (DTC)

The Disruptive Technology Challenge (DTC) seeks to support faculty and student innovation that has the potential to disrupt or create markets, disrupt current thinking in a field, or provoke new avenues of research

Examples:• Interdisciplinary work that brings developments from several disciplines

together in novel ways - creating ‘flashpoints', or the Medici Effect(e.g., Macintosh computer, iPod)

• Software development (e.g., Google, Facebook, Flickr)

• Development of a unique business model that is applicable to existing services/products

(e.g., what iTunes did for the iPod, Charles Schwab for online trading) • Applying existing technologies and applications to new or different markets

(e.g., Amazon, eBay) • Developments that enable existing products/services to cross a disruptive

market threshold(e.g., Bell Telephones vs. Telegraphy, CDs vs. LPs, ...)

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The DTC Award

Amount• $100,000 Cdn annually• The majority of each award must be used to fund graduate students

Who May Apply• This award is open to faculty and students at universities affiliated with TRLabs,

i.e. the Universities of Alberta, Calgary, Manitoba, Regina, and Saskatchewan.• Both individual and team submissions are eligible. Inter-disciplinary, inter-

university teams are encouraged.• As long as the primary contact and award recipients are resident at the affiliated

universities, there are no restrictions on any other members of the team.

Key Dates• All submissions must be received by 14:00 MST, October 31, 2008.• Winners will be announced in December

Forms and Submissions• Online at http://trlabs.ca/trlabs/research/dtc

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DTC Selection Process

Selection Process

• The division of the DTC award will be at the discretion of a Selection Committee

• Selections will be made by a multidisciplinary review panel consisting of prominent members of the academic and business communities.

• In addition to the Chair, six members are anticipated:• One from TRLabs • One from TRLabs' Research Advisory Board • Three from the affiliate universities (Alberta, Calgary, Manitoba, Regina, &

Saskatchewan) • One from a TRLabs industrial member

• Selection Committee members will be announced once the award selections have been made

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DTC Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation Criteria

• The problem (i.e. project description)• Who currently has the problem (i.e. target market)

• The proposed solution• The scientific merit of the solution• Marketability of the proposed solution• Alternative technical and/or market approaches to solve the problem• Technical and/or financial implications• Technical and market risks• Capital needed to develop the solution

• Project team's distinct advantage • Capabilities and assets being leveraged • Project team qualifications

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DTC Award Management

• As both individual and team submissions are acceptable, and as the breakdown of the award is at the discretion of the Selection Committee, on winning a DTC award, award recipients will be notified as to the:

• Annual amount of the award • Breakdown of the annual amount by team member • Allocations for special resource requirements• Duration of the award

• Award funds will be provided to the recipient's University and in turn the Graduate Studies Department will issue payment to the student(s)

• Award recipients must provide TRLabs with quarterly project status reports, become a member of the Emerging Technology Forum, and, in the absence of confidentiality or IP concerns, present their final results at a TRLabs seminar

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DTC Confidentiality & IP

Confidentiality and Publication• Submission abstracts may be published. All other submission details will

be kept confidential and considered proprietary• Although publication is encouraged, the dissemination, exchange and

publication of information developed under a DTC award may be delayed to allow for time to negotiate an IP agreement or complete a patent application

IP Policy• Specific to the DTC, TRLabs will fund R&D in exchange for first rights of

refusal on the opportunity to license any arising IP that may be of interest to its members

• All negotiated arrangements will naturally exclude work done under a GPL and not inhibit use of the IP for research and educational purposes

Thank you

Questions ?