HIGHLIGHTS REPORT - Springboard Atlantic · Scott Costain is a progressive home builder in PEI who...
Transcript of HIGHLIGHTS REPORT - Springboard Atlantic · Scott Costain is a progressive home builder in PEI who...
HIGHLIGHTS REPORT 2011-2012
ACADIA UNIVERSITY
CAPE BRETON UNIVERSITY
COLLÈGE COMMUNAUTAIRE DU NOUVEAU-BRUNSWICK
COLLEGE OF THE NORTH
ATLANTIC
DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY
HOLLAND COLLEGE
MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY
MOUNT ALLISON UNIVERSITY
MOUNT SAINT VINCENT UNIVERSITY
NEW BRUNSWICK
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
NOVA SCOTIA AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE
NOVA SCOTIA COMMUNITY
COLLEGE
NSCAD UNIVERSITY
ST. FRANCIS XAVIER UNIVERSITY
SAINT MARY’S UNIVERSITY
ST. THOMAS UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITÉ DE MONCTON
UNIVERSITY OF NEW
BRUNSWICK
UNIVERSITY OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
Accelerating Innovation in Atlantic Canada Springboard Atlantic is a not-for-profit corporation owned by its 19 university and college member institutions with a mandate to support a commercialization network. Springboard increases collaboration among its members in Atlantic Canada, facilitates industry partnerships and accelerates the transfer of research and development to the private sector. With access to virtually the entire post-secondary research capacity of Atlantic Canada, Springboard creates commercial value by working with the private sector, faculty and students to foster innovations that enrich our communities and benefit the Atlantic region. Springboard has an effective network of knowledge and technology transfer and business development professionals. Springboard excels at mobilizing innovation by working on the application of a broad range of knowledge and technology opportunities. Springboard receives core support from its members and from the Government of Canada through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA).
Springboard Atlantic Board of Directors Dr. Chris Loomis - Memorial University (Chair) Dr. Katherine Schultz - University of Prince Edward Island (Vice Chair) Dr. Greg Kealey - University of New Brunswick (Treasurer) Dr. Kevin Vessey - Saint Mary's University (Secretary) Dr. Martha Crago - Dalhousie University Dr. Lise Dubois - Université de Moncton Brian Tobin - College of the North Atlantic Emad Rizkalla - BlueDrop Performance Learning Wes MacAleer - Wesmac Holdings Ltd. Brian Lowe - First Angel Network Barrie Black - Intelivote Systems Inc. Denis Connor – Angel Investor Michelle Carinci – MJC Group Ex officio Chris Mathis - Springboard Atlantic Inc. (President & CEO)
Central Office Springboard Atlantic Inc.
1344 Summer Street, Suite 125 Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 0A8
T: 902-421-5679
Message from the President & CEO Chris Mathis
It has been a real privilege to be in this new role in this last year. We are nearly halfway into our three year, third funded phase of Springboard Atlantic’s mandate. We have a lot to celebrate in terms of progress -and a lot of hard work ahead. Significant changes include the introduction of performance metrics, with increased focus on the actual deal flow outcomes and engagement with industry (which includes private sector, NGOs, etc.) We also changed the part-time executive management of Springboard to full-time. This along with a balanced board of industry/independent directors and academic Member directors, has allowed our corporation to take a stronger and more capable structure, with good governance and practice to support Member institutions and growing economic benefits from our R&D activities.
This year, we effectively transitioned the corporation from its role as a network manager and keeper of funds, to one which actively creates and runs programs for, and supports our network. This positions us to create programs which can sustainably contribute to maintaining the corporation independently from longer-term ACOA funding. This is a key change that reflects in part in what we see federally; there is a clear need to sustain our operations with less dependence from any one source, and hopefully over time, less dependence on our Member institutions’ operational budgets. This innovation business is a “contact sport” – you can’t address the needs of the Members and industry from afar or from a central location. Therefore, we have been on the road consistently, assessing our key regional strengths and opportunities to develop or support strong, unified programs and major projects. We are identifying barriers to increased commercialization, identifying ways to help support increased engagement and deal flow, and identifying major strategic partners to better align and associate with, complementing our offerings with theirs to improve the eco-system in the region. We do this as a team – a solid board of directors, excellent central staff and most importantly, the network ILOs and TTOs who work diligently to support pre/post business development, new technology developments, executing agreements, new spin-offs, etc. They work the double swinging door of commercialization and innovation in the region, by pushing and pulling the opportunities to engage our faculty know-how, technologies and capabilities. I look forward to our next year with anticipation of our continued cooperation, collaboration and solid socio-economic outcomes.
Message from the Chair Dr. Chris Loomis, PhD, Vice President Research, Memorial University of Newfoundland
SUCCESS STORIES 2 | SNAPSHOT 6 | SPRINGBOARD PROGRAMS 7 | MEMBERS DIRECTORY 12
As Chair of the Board of Directors of Springboard Atlantic Inc., I am pleased to acknowledge the success of the organization as we approach the midpoint of our current three-year funding cycle. This success reflects, in large measure, the committed leadership of Springboard’s President and CEO, Chris Mathis, the accomplished team he has assembled around him and, of course, the distributed network of ILOs and TTOs at our member institutions. Springboard has benefitted greatly from Chris’ past experience in technology development and the commercialization of research, as well as his understanding of both the academic and private sector communities.
Over the past year, Springboard Atlantic Inc. has implemented further enhancements to its governance, management structure, network operations, and engagement activities with industry. These include, but are not limited to the transition to a full-time President and CEO, the use of performance metrics to guide management and Board decisions, and important programming changes to better enable the bi-directional pipeline of ideas and opportunities between member institutions and industry/community partners. The organization continues to be guided by a committed Board of Directors from both the academic and private sectors, including Drs. Greg Kealey and Katherine Schultz. Both are completing their final terms as Vice-President (Research) at the University of New Brunswick and the University of Prince Edward Island, respectively, and as members and officers of Springboard’s Board of Directors. It has been a genuine privilege to work with them since the inception of Springboard Atlantic Inc. Their passion, good humour and thoughtful contributions to this organization will be missed. True to its purpose, Springboard is increasingly being recognized as an efficient, value-added enterprise propelling innovation and the commercialization of research throughout Atlantic Canada. Measures of performance continue to grow, and the organization is well positioned to report even further success in the year ahead. Our shared responsibility is to deliver on that expectation.
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“The opportunities that have come from our partnership with Acadia’s Office of Industry & Community Engagement and the Springboard network are going to be game-changing for this industry." – Janice Ruddock, Managing Director,
Winery Association of Nova Scotia
Pest Control Done Right Dr. Kirk Hiller, an entomologist and researcher at Acadia Univer-sity, is leading a $6.9M ACOA Atlantic Innovation Fund project to develop innovative insect pheromone products. This research uses insect pheromones to monitor pests and will develop non-toxic methods to control populations. The pheromones confuse the in-sects, which prevents them from breeding and can thus reduce overall management costs and pesticide use. Potential markets for these environmentally-friendly pest management products include municipal, provincial, federal, and state governments, as well as industry.
The Right Chemistry J & K Scientific has a valuable research relationship with CBU’s chemistry faculty and students, as well as the Office of Research and Graduate Studies and CBU’s Small Business Center. J & K Sci-entific selected CBU as their service provider for their $15,000 Pro-ductivity and Innovation Voucher award, which enabled further engagement with the chemistry department. J & K Scientific has developed a technology that provides a faster and cheaper way to do a chemical analysis of samples. A strong supporter of CBU stu-dents; the company currently employs two CBU graduates with plans to add another in the very near future.
A Bio-Chemical Powerhouse In addition to fostering commercialization relationships between researchers and industry, Springboard fulfills a unique role in fostering synergetic university-college collaborations. An excel-lent example of this is the pilot scale industrial fermentation re-search centre spearheaded by Springboard member, Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick (CCNB) at its Edmund-ston campus. As the only facility of its kind east of Montreal, the centre focuses on applied research, technology transfer, com-mercialization and training within the industrial biotechnology sector. The centre also has a bio-refinery capable of producing large-scale fermentation tests, something not previously accessi-ble to academic and SME researchers here in Atlantic Canada.
A Fresh Take On Spuds Even though frozen French fries come from a potato, after proc-essing, freezing and packaging, fries have lost most of the po-tato’s nutrients and freshness. When Michael Campbell at Hum-ber Valley Potato Company in NL started looking for a way to package their fries so they don’t have to be frozen, he turned to the Office of Applied Research (OAR) at the College of the North Atlantic. Working with Sharon McLennon, Industry Liaison Officer and team members Leona Raymond and Cindy Morrissey at the Centre for Agrifood Development in Carbonear, their combined efforts resulted in a Modified Atmospheric Packaging (MAP) proc-ess. The process involves vacuum sealing the French fries without freezing, or adding preservatives. This new process extended the shelf life up to four weeks longer, thus Humber Valley’s Fresh Fry™ was created.
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Sky High Opportunity Ask an engineering professor about their favorite sort of work, and many will respond that it’s projects with industrial partners – those chances to tackle real world problems and, through collaboration, produce work that makes a tangible, direct difference. Many in computer science would share the sentiment. Thanks to a new investment from Boeing, faculty and students in those disciplines are being given a huge opportunity to engage in just that sort of research. In September 2011, Dalhousie an-nounced a partnership with the international aerospace company for applied projects in advanced materials, mobile graphics and visual text analytics – each addressing specific industrial needs that will create implications not just at Boeing, but beyond.
Heating Homes For Less Scott Costain is a progressive home builder in PEI who specializes in the construction of cost-effective, energy-efficient homes. In the fall of 2011, he approached Phyllis Duffy, Holland College’s Indus-try Liaison Officer, with a question. For some time, he had been adding extra insulation to the exterior walls in his homes which definitely lowered heating costs, but was increasing construction costs. Costain wanted to know if it was cost-effective to put extra material and labour into the walls. Rod Dempsey, a professional engineer with relevant experience at Holland College worked on this project to compare five upgraded exterior wall assemblies and a standard wall assembly to deter-mine which was most cost-effective. The results confirmed that the wall assembly Costain was using had the lowest total life-cycle cost and now he has the data to prove it. The project results have already been shared with students in two construction-based pro-grams at Holland College and have been shared with the PEI Chap-ter of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association.
Tech Starts Here Memorial University’s incubator for technology businesses was named 2011 Incubator of the Year by the Canadian Association for Business Incubation (CABI). The Genesis Centre is part of Genesis
Group Inc., the university’s technology commercializa-tion arm. “The Genesis Centre has a steady record of success and has had a solid reputation across the country since its inception. It’s also a model of business incubation best practices,” says Ed Hobbs, chair of CABI. “It’s very fit-ting that it should be recog-nized in this way.” Twenty-nine companies have gradu-ated from the Genesis Cen-tre. In total, they have
raised $18.7 million in private equity, 65% of which has come from outside Newfoundland and Labrador. The centre’s clients and graduates employ almost 400 people.
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Reducing Herbicides—Saving $ Dr. Qamar Zaman has developed a new agricultural sprayer technology for use in the wild blueberries production industry, which is a highly lucrative sector in eastern Canada and Maine. It is an export crop of great value to the regional economy, in particu-lar, its rural areas. Major players in the industry came to Dr. Zaman, of NSAC’s Department of Engineering, to produce a tech-nology that could precisely apply herbicides in order to reduce their environmental impact and production cost.
His team has produced a full size, tractor-mounted prototype sprayer that uses real-time digital imaging and rapid data process-ing to determine where a weed, bare patch or blueberry plant may be, based on color and textural analysis of the image ― all done while the tractor and sprayer are moving across the field and spraying the crop. The technology has allowed a 60% savings in herbicide use saving upwards of $200 per acre in a single spray application. With up to 100,000 acres in production, the savings to the industry are enormous. NSAC has applied for a patent for the software that drives the system and further enhancements are in development. NSAC is currently seeking a partner to license and construct the sprayer for the commercial market and is also seek-ing new uses for the sensor technology and algorithm.
“The Genesis Centre has a steady record of success and has had a solid reputation across the country since its inception. It’s also a model of business incubation best practices,” -Ed Hobbs, Chair of CABI
Elemental Pesticide Shows Promise In response to a growing demand for safe pesticides, two Mount Allison University professors have been working on a solution. As consumers well know, crops grown in Canada and abroad often contain chemical pesticides that can be harmful to human health and the environment. But food producers depend on pesticides, which ultimately protect crop yields and profits. SustainaChem Solutions hopes to offer a new pesticide derived from Boron, a non-toxic, naturally occurring earth element, that's safe for human consumption and the environment. The SustainaChem start-up team includes Mount Allison com-merce students Samuel Imbeault, Nicholas Savoie, Christine Schweitzer, Ryan Smith, and Kaila Thomasson, working with re-searchers Dr. Steve Westcott (chemistry and biochemistry) and Dr. Felix Baerlocher (biology). Their product is a new pesticide derived from Boron, a non-toxic, naturally occurring earth element that's safe for human consumption and the environment.
The Power Of Waste
Biologist Dr. Gavin Kernaghan at Mount Saint Vincent University, in partnership with Dr. Zhongmin Dong at Saint Mary’s University, is studying the feasibility of anaerobic digestion of wood-derived materials for biogas production. BioGas Energy Inc. (BEI) is a full service anaerobic digestion technology company bringing the most tried and tested waste-to-energy technologies to North America. Its current demonstration facility in Centreville, Kings County can extract methane from organic wastes such as dairy manure, pig manure, food waste and energy crops. This team of highly skilled experts will determine how wood-derived waste materials can be processed to create energy in an environmentally-sound way. The results of this study will provide BEI with critical information on the chemical composition of readily available wood-derived materials and their potential for biogas production. If the data is favourable, the partnership will advance to a prototype stage using a series of custom bio-digestors that could ultimately lead to the development of a plausible solution to a significant landfill prob-lem across North America.
Greater Research Potential New Brunswick Community College (NBCC) has been granted eligi-bility to administer funds offered by the Natural Sciences and Engi-neering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). “Obtaining NSERC eligibility is a significant milestone for NBCC,” said Marilyn Lus-combe, President and CEO, NBCC. “Through this and other initia-tives aimed at building our capacity to undertake applied research, all of our stakeholders – students, staff, industry and educational partners – will benefit.” Applied research initiatives will benefit the college community in a number of ways, including: enhanced learning experiences for stu-dents, professional development and training opportunities for staff, and the opportunity to work more closely with business and industry with respect to innovation, productivity improvement and commercialization. NSERC eligibility allows NBCC to apply for fund-ing under NSERC’s College and Community Innovation (CCI) Pro-gram which provides various opportunities for collaboration be-tween colleges, companies and universities, as well as funds to assist in the development or enhancement of applied research efforts and capacity.
Higher Performance On Land In November 2011, Captain Jeff Farwell of Murphy’s: The Cable Wharf approached Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) with a problem. Due to the hills in downtown Halifax, the brakes on the Harbour Hopper were wearing out far too quickly. The Harbour Hoppers are refitted Lark V amphibious vehicles which provide tours of downtown Halifax via land and water. They were originally manufactured for the Vietnam War, so extra parts are not readily available and replacing brakes is costly, time-consuming and re-quires custom machining. A team at NSCC was able to develop an updated braking system which blends the original system with modern technology to enhance usability and reduce wear. This new system has been tested and proven extremely efficient. Murphy’s is in the process of applying this technology to all its current Harbour Hopper vehicles.
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NSCAD + ILO = Solutions Nova Scotia College of Art and Design's (NSCAD) Industry Liaison Office (ILO) was established through a partnership with Saint Mary's University. The ILO team will facilitate collaborations be-tween NSCAD researchers and industry, and carry out technology transfer activities with partners who have a vested interest in the practical applications of NSCAD-born technologies. By mixing crea-tive right-brain thinking with left-brain analytical approaches of business, science and technology, there are opportunities to gen-erate new products, services, solutions to the big problems out there and, ultimately, economic growth.
Green Minds Think Alike Two Saint Mary’s University professors whose Green Chemistry breakthroughs have shown strong potential for industrial applica-tions have signed a license with GreenCentre Canada. Drs. Robert Singer and Jason Clyburne have both attracted international atten-tion for their research on ionic liquids. Both license agreements were negotiated with GreenCentre Canada in December through the Industry Liaison Office. The agreements create a unique part-nership between Saint Mary’s scientists and GreenCentre Canada experts. Together, they will advance these technologies from labo-ratory prototypes to large scale pilot site testing. This new phase of development will examine how these technologies perform ‘in the field’, and if successful, will move them closer to the market.
Catalyst For Innovation & Entrepreneurship The University of New Brunswick received $5 million from two of its prominent alumni, Gururaj (Desh) Deshpande and Gerry Pond, to establish an entrepreneurship and innovation centre. The Pond-Deshpande Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UNB will act as a catalyst to advance innovation and entrepreneurship in New Brunswick by facilitating collaboration among entrepre-neurs, young companies, and UNB students, faculty and alumni. The centre will work with UNB’s already established innovation and entrepreneurship programs to create courses and mentorship opportunities for students that will provide them with a sound foundation in technical and social entrepreneurship, and give them the opportunity to experience the entrepreneurial process and explore their possibilities for success. “Great ideas don’t go any-where unless an entrepreneur takes it and creates a viable enter-prise from it,” said Desh Deshpande. “We hope that the centre will create lots of experiential learning opportunities for students to become those entrepreneurs.”
A Pharma Spin-Off Is Born The University of Prince Edward Island has launched a new con-tract research company based partly on UPEI technology. Bio-valuation Outsourcing Solution (BioVOS) provides services to the pharmaceutical industry to test new drugs and treatments for neuro-inflammatory, metabolic, and cardiovascular disorders, including stroke and heart disease. BioVOS has exclusive agree-ments in place to use more than one hundred in vivo and in vitro research models and techniques developed by the Atlantic Centre for Bioactive Valuation (ACBV) and other partners. The research of ACBV was made possible by generous funding from Innovation PEI and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA). Three Oaks Innovations Inc., the commercialization arm of the University of Prince Edward Island, helped navigate the partners involved in BioVOS toward this business launch.
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Sustainable Marine Harvesting Fundy Dulse, a small, family-run dulse harvesting business in Digby County, N.S., wanted to expand its business through increased harvestable dulse resources, but only in a sustainable, ecologically-sensitive way. The solution to this was found through a partnership with St. Francis Xavier University’s biology professor, Dr. David Garbary, three students, Leah Beveridge, Andrea Flynn, Katie White, and StFX math professor, Dr. Ryan Lukeman. This research will provide further insight into how to increase the harvesting of the resource, while still making it sustainable.
Celebrating Old Age
‘Aging as a Celebration’ is not the typical view of most people in society. St. Thomas University’s Canada Research Chair in Narra-tive Studies, Dr. Clive Baldwin, is passionate about the role of nar-ratives in aging. Under a valuable research relationship with the Atlantic Institute on Aging and the York Care Centre in Fredericton, a component of Dr. Baldwin’s wider research program focuses on examining the uses of narrative (life stories) in health, social care and professional education. It is hoped that findings from this and other related work will help improve stakeholders’ (aged homes, professionals, practitioners, educators etc.) understanding of ‘aging’ and how to make it a celebration. Dr. Baldwin has received support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation for lab infrastructure and research assistantships respectively.
Enhancing Truck Driver Performance The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency has funded a three-year project to research and study health issues in profes-sional truck drivers. The goal is to commercialize a suite of health sci-ence-based soft-ware applications designed to help drivers improve their overall work performance. The Healthy Driver Toolkit project is managed by Dr. Michel Johnson of Université de Moncton (U de M)'s School of Kinesiology and Recreation with the Collège Communautaire du Nouveau Brunswick (CCNB)'s Dieppe campus as key collaborator. Jean Marc Picard, executive director of the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association (APTA) said, “This is excellent news for the trucking industry in Atlantic Canada. The APTA members realized the importance of this project immediately and gave their full sup-port on the proposal from U de M and the CCNB.” The funding supports the creation and staffing of a university-based research facility at U de M, along with a CCNB-managed mobile research unit to travel throughout Atlantic Canada, in order to gather indus-try-specific data from APTA’s membership regarding health and driving performance.
412
72
322
47
Industry Engagement Activity
Workshops with Industry
Achieved Projected
$1,366,795
$950,000
Achieved Projected
Industry Engagement & Tech Transfer Activities
Revenues from Assignment, Option & Licensing Agreements
Company Institution
Scenesharp Inc. UNB
Extreme Ocean MUN
Research Avenue MUN
Enterre Solutions St.FX
BioVOS UPEI
Sustainachem Mt.A
New Spin-off Companies
6
12
16
Achieved Projected
ACOA Atlantic Innovation Fund Projects
261
189
Tech Transfer Agreements
Year 1 — Expenditures
78%
5%
9%8%
FTE Program
Central Office
Network Support
IM Program
Total $3,186,527
FTE Contribution Program
Springboard helps support 26 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions at universities and colleges throughout Atlantic Canada. The funding for these comes from ACOA’s Atlantic Innovation Fund and is matched by contributions from the participating Member institutions. Most Springboard Members receive salary and operational funding for Industry Liaison Officers (ILOs), Technology Transfer Officers (TTOs) and Intellectual Property positions under this program.
I-USRA Program (Pilot)
The Industrial Undergraduate Student Research Awards (I-USRA) Program offers support for Atlantic companies to work with undergraduate university students to conduct research activities. Springboard Atlantic, the Natural Sciences and Engineer-ing Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) have formed as a pilot, a partnership to increase regional opportunities for Atlantic companies. Springboard Atlantic will administer the reimbursements of these funds for NRC-IRAP.
Small and medium-sized Atlantic Canada companies can apply to work with undergraduate university, science and engineering students, on a 16-week research project and receive a reimbursement of up to $6,500 per student ($4,500 from NSERC and $2,000 from IRAP.) Students must be paid a minimum salary of $7,625 over the 16-week period.
Goal of 50 awards between April 2012 — March 2013
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All members receive significant benefits by participating in the network.
Springboard members share best practices and case studies, have access to Frost & Sullivan market research reports and the Innovation Atlas. Springboard’s central office provides support to all members in a variety of ways and coordinates, quarterly network meetings.
$4,500,000
$3,405,500
$4,492,354
$130,000,000 ~
$436,500
$100,000,000 ~
$3,352,567
$1,739,020
$11,796,143
$1,515,651
$1,007,473
$4,078
$607,234
$7,434,472
$7,417,912
$8,181,818
$57,428,141 ~
$1,047,119
$18,000,000
Acadia
CBU
CNorthAtl
Dal
Holland
MUN
MtA
MSVU
NSAC
NSCC
CCNB
NBCC
NSCAD
StFX
SMU
UdeM
UNB
STU
UPEI
Year 1 — Total Research Revenues ($362,365,982)
Please note: the numbers for Acadia, Dalhousie, MUN and UPEI are estimates based on forecasted amounts.
Innovation Mobilization (IM) Program
The Springboard Innovation Mobilization Program advances as many technologies as possible and mobilizes the knowledge/skill--based expertise resident in Member institutions into industry, in order to help industry engage with researchers and commercialize institutional opportunities.
This program provides service to all Springboard Members to advise and advance knowledge transfer in any form, be it a push or pull activity and supports industry engagement, and awareness.
37%
42%
18%3%
Industry Engagement
Patent & Legal
Proof of Concept
Marketing Support
Innovation Mobilization Applications (Oct. 2011—Mar. 2012)
$69,566
$148,800
$105,500
$15,000
Industry Engagement
Patent & Legal
Proof of Concept
Marketing Support
Total $338,866
56% spent of $600,000 Year 1 Budget
$ Committed — Year 1
8
0
2
4
6
8
10
38 Applications
Springboard Industry Engagement Projects
Industry Engagement funding helps Members promote the development of effective regional part-nerships with industry. A maximum project cost of up to $15,000 per project is available (including matching funds). A maximum project cost of up to $50,000 may be awarded for projects involving the majority of Springboard Members.
Acadia — Digital Developers Forum - A list
of relevant IT companies and researchers
was created; planning broader ICT event for
fall 2012.
$2,186
CCNB — NB Provincial Composites Capacity
Development -Travel supplement for ILO to
join trade mission to JEC (European Compos-
ites Industry Association) show.
$2,000
CNA/MUN — Lunch & Learn—Getting Seri-
ous About Serious Gaming - A two-day gam-
ing and simulation workshop was held in St.
John’s, NL for researchers, companies and
other partners.
$8,230
DAL — Oceans Week – Eight Springboard
member institutions partnered to host a
workshop, gala, public lectures, symposium,
school visits and the launch of the Halifax
Marine Research Institute (HMRI). A round
table on industry-academic interactions for
several regional projects was held.
$15,000
DAL/SB — Dragon’s Den with GlaxoSmith-
Kline - Opportunity for researchers and ILI to
learn more about GSK $50M Innovation
Fund and to pitch opportunities/projects to
visiting GSK representatives.
$2,700
SMU — ILO Partnership Connections &
Networking Reception - Hosted the third
annual research EXPO with over 300 partici-
pants, researchers presented their work at
the Speaker’s Corner and over a dozen part-
nering meetings were held on-site.
$2,000
UPEI — Maximizing IP Value in your IT
Company – Three Oaks Innovations
hosted Anthony De Fazekas from Miller
Thomson, to deliver a workshop to IT
researchers and companies.
$1,750
UPEI — Veterinary Quality Assurance
Program (QAP) Business Development &
Marketing - A one and a half-day meeting
was hosted with key stakeholders/clients
to explore how to expand the QAP
services available at UPEI.
$5,200
SB Central Office — New Brunswick
Innovation Forum Event Support – A
premier IT pitching event in Atlantic
Canada; Plan to participate and also
expand this model to other industry
sectors and provinces.
$2,000
SB Central Office, MUN, UPEI, UNB, StFX,
Acadia — Atlantic Association of Universi-
ties/EDAC Conference - Hosted a forum
Making the Connection: Universities and
Community Economic Development to
explore cross-institutional collaborations
and economic development.
$3,000
SB Central Office — 2011 Progress
Magazine Insert – Springboard Central
Office highlighted our collective role and
six member institutions highlighted spe-
cific academic-industry collaborations in
the R+D supplement.
$15,000
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SB Central Office — New Brunswick
Innovation Foundation R3 Gala Event
Support – Branding and networking
opportunity for Springboard members.
$10,000
SB Central Office — Nova Scotia Industry
Network Holiday Reception – Branding
and networking opportunity for members
to meet with 14 industry associations
throughout Atlantic Canada.
$500
SB Central Office — BioNova Holiday
Reception - Partnered with Dalhousie
University and NSAC to provide support
and a branding and networking
opportunity for Springboard with NS Life
Science Industry Association.
$1,000
SB Central Office — Holiday Reception &
Start-Up Basics Workshop – Reception
and networking opportunity for key
stakeholders, Springboard network and
board members. An afternoon workshop
was also held: “Kick-Starting your Start-
Up” presented by First Angel Network.
$1,000
Springboard Patent & Legal—Proof of Concept
Patent & Legal funding helps Members accelerate the pre-competitive development of promising technologies and contributes to technology validation and early market connection. A maximum project cost of up to $15,000 per project is available (including matching funds). Proof of Concept funding helps Members analyze, establish or strengthen an early IP or patent position. A maximum project cost of up to $20,000 per project is available (including matching funds).
DAL—Disposable Cartridges for Protein
Purification – Dr. Doucette is working to
improve the cartridges that are used to
filtrate and isolate proteins for accurate
separation. These one-time, disposable
cartridges are simpler, faster and easier to
use.
Patent & Legal $10,000
DAL — Reducing Radiation Exposure –
Dr. Robar is working on a technology to
more accurately deliver radiation therapy.
His work to create a more accurate, 3-D,
high-quality image, allows radiation to be
delivered to a precise area, thus sparing
the surrounding tissue.
Patent & Legal $10,000
Proof of Concept $20,000
DAL — Using the Measles Virus as a
Cancer Vaccine – Dr. Richardson has iden-
tified a biomarker found on many tumour
cells that can be targeted with the com-
mon measles virus. The measles virus
could be used to target these cancer cells
and infect them, without damaging
healthy tissue.
Patent & Legal $15,000
DAL — Manufacturing Hollow Metal
Components- Dr. Doman has developed a
method to create metal components with
confined, hollow cavities. Once heat-
treated, these components have superior
strength-to-weight properties, compared
to solid components.
Patent & Legal $6,500
Proof of Concept $20,000
MUN — TranSPAR-Marine Craft to Access
and Service Offshore Wind Turbines –
Dr. Gifford and his partners have designed
a marine craft that can approach and
connect turbine foundations safely. They
are looking to eventually license or
manufacture TranSPAR for the commercial
market.
Patent & Legal $15,000
MUN — Double Layer Permanent Magnet
Rotor for Generators and Motors –
Dr. Saleh has developed a technology to
improve the performance of generators
and motors that may be of interest to the
wind turbine market.
Patent & Legal $5,000
Proof of Concept $6,500
MUN — Gene Mutations and Heart
Disease – Dr. Young has identified a new
gene mutation that causes a lethal form of
disease in the heart muscle. This could
lead to diagnostic tests to identify patients
who could benefit from an implanted defi-
brillator to regulate normal heart rhythms.
Patent & Legal $5,000
UNB — Digital Camera Improvements –
Dr. Zhang is combining software and sen-
sors to gain a three-fold increase in the
sensitivity and resolution of digital colour
cameras, including those used in un-
manned air vehicles. In addition, the cam-
era system can detect moving objects, as
well as measure the 3-D locations of mov-
ing objects.
Patent & Legal $5,000
10
DAL —Gene Therapy to Treat Inherited
Blinding Disorders – Dr. McMaster has
identified a gene mutation that causes
blindness during childhood. His team is
working to determine if an injection of a
gene therapy vector has the potential to
cure patients of this disorder.
Patent & Legal $10,000
Proof of Concept $20,000
MUN — Scanning a Personal Genome -
Dr. Rahman is working to develop a chip
where an individual’s genome can be se-
quenced to identify if they are at risk of
genomic disorders such as cancer or learn-
ing disabilities in children.
Patent & Legal $5,000
MUN — Improving Energy Conversion -
Dr. Saleh is working on a technology which
could minimize energy loss and improve
the performance of inverters that convert
DC energy, from sources such as batteries,
to AC power when main power sources
are not available.
Patent & Legal $15,000
MUN — Extracting Images from Live
Videos – Dr. Gong is working on a technol-
ogy that allows users to extract an image
from a video in real-time, more easily,
with minimal user interaction. This work
could have practical applications in video
surveillance, TV broadcasting and/or video
conferencing.
Patent & Legal $15,000
UNB — Method and System for Computer
-Aided Analysis – Dr. Gerber has created
software to improve the speed of com-
puter-aided engineering (CAE) analysis
methods. CAE tools are used to analyze
the design and performance of compo-
nents by diverse industries. By modifying
the software architecture to efficiently use
thousands of parallel processors, calcula-
tions can be completed quickly.
Patent & Legal $7,800
UNB —Anti-Static Packaging Paper –
Dr. Ni is working to identify an economical
and environmentally-friendly replacement
for carbon black in anti-static coatings
used by the packaging industry.
Patent & Legal $8,000
Proof of Concept $19,000
UPEI — Improving Plastics – Dr. Shaver
is working on a technology which could
improve how both bio-degradable and
non-biodegradable plastics are pro-
duced; their properties, the process
time and ingredients used, thus reduc-
ing production costs.
Patent & Legal $6,500
UPEI — Drug Development for
Inflammatory and Metabolic Disorders
– Dr. Saleh has created a new, stable
molecule that holds promise due to its
anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative
properties. This compound holds poten-
tial for treating patients who have had a
stroke.
Patent & Legal $10,000
Springboard Marketing Support Projects
Marketing Support funding helps Members build and/or develop a prototype of a technology for marketing purposes. Supports marketing, market research, market demonstrations, consulting. A maximum project cost of up to $25,000 for market consulting, and $15,000 for prototypes is avail-able (including matching funds).
Acadia — Pheromones for the
Management of Insect Pests – Hiring of
a specialized consultant to do a market-
ing study for an emerald ash borer
pheromone lure. This lure effectively
catches invasive insects and poses less
risk to human health and the environ-
ment.
$15,000
11
St.FX/DAL — Glycerol-Based Surfac-
tants – Dr. Marangoni and Dr. Grindley
have been working on a glycerol-based
chemical surfactant that has “green”
potential for several industrial applica-
tions including detergents, paints and
coatings and cosmetics. Using glycerol
as a core for surfactants is more envi-
ronmentally-friendly and inexpensive,
which could lead to lowered costs for
industrial chemicals.
Proof of Concept $20,000
SARAH CONRODIndustry Liaison Officer 902-563-1842 [email protected]
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MATTHEW GRIMES Technology Commercialization Officer 709-864-3048 [email protected]
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ANDREW KENDALL Manager 902-867-3660 [email protected]
GINA FUNICELLI Director 902-491-6297 [email protected]
TANYA MOXLEY Administrator 902-420-5270 [email protected]
JOSEPHINE ADDA Proposal Support Officer 506-452-0647 [email protected]
RÉJEAN HALL Directeur 506-858-4307 [email protected]
GISÈLE LEVESQUE Agente d’innovation 506-858-4454 [email protected]
CHRIS MATHIS President & CEO 902-476-1641
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902-421-5679 [email protected]
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SOPHIE THERIAULT Director of Technology Transfer & Commercialization Coordination 902-566-6095 [email protected]
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CENTRAL OFFICE