Innovation Networks
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Innovation Opportunities
Funding: Up to $1,500,000 for a period of 3 years
Eligible Recipients: Collaboration between Academia and Industry - Canadian university must be the lead applicvant
Solution Readiness: Level: 1-6
The IDEaS Program supports the establishment of new Innovation Networks and, where appropriate, existing networks, to stimulate collaboration and the free flow of ideas critical to innovation. Academics, industry and other partners are encouraged to come together to form collaborative Innovation Networks. Areas for support of advanced research and development (R&D) will vary over time depending on Canada’s current and future defence and security Innovation Challenges.
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Advanced materials for defence & security
6 innovation micro-networks involving
21 innovators in academia and private sector
Projects involve 17 different academic institutions and 4 private institutions
Universities/Academia 80.9%
Private Companies 19.1%Autonomous systems for defence and security
6 innovation micro-networks involving
23 innovators in academia and private sector Projects involve 16 different institutions and 7 private institutions
Universities/Academia 69.5%
Private Companies 30.5%Diagram depicting the various connections and relationships between various innovation network partners, with York University being emphasized as the lead partner. Nippissing University, C3 Human Factors Consulting, Imagine 4D, Ontario Institute of Technology, Computer Research Institute of Montreal, York University #2 and Dalhousie University are all connected, both directly and indirectly.
Innovation Networks: Autonomous Systems for Defence and Security: Trust and Barriers to Adoption
The fields of autonomy, artificial intelligence and machine learning are advancing rapidly. Already, autonomous systems are being integrated into the private sector, with the advent of systems such as self-driving cars, delivery drones and medical advisory systems.
Defence and security applications of autonomous systems share much with applications in the private sector, including navigation and route planning, decision support, surveillance and reconnaissance, and search and recovery. In this context, several trends are converging to make the increased use of autonomous systems an attractive option for future capabilities. These include increased public reluctance to accept casualties during operations, a need to decrease the reaction time for complex or time-sensitive tasks, the requirement to work in physical environments where humans cannot go, the need to reduce the physical and cognitive burden on soldiers/first responders, and potentially the need to compensate for reduced numbers of soldiers/first responders due to changing demographics.
To fully benefit from the recent advances in the field of autonomous systems, an understanding of the issues involving trust and other barriers to adoption is essential.
Advanced Materials
For Defence and Security: Seeking Innovation in Detection Avoidance and Physical Protection:
Injury or damage to personnel and military platforms (e.g., penetration, overpressure and impulsive loading, and blunt impact) is a persistent challenge for the Canadian Armed Forces and Canada’s Public Security sector. Future challenges will arise from emerging battlefield technologies such as high-energy lasers and other directed energy weapons. Thus, there is an ongoing need to understand and exploit advances in materials science, specifically to increase protection against current and future threats, reduce protection system weight, and improve mission effectiveness.
When considering the potential beneficial applications of research on advanced materials, two broad areas are of critical importance in the defence and security context: Detection Avoidance and Physical Protection.
Innovation Inspiration: Cephalopod Camouflage
With thousands of years of evolution to refine its purpose, nature has a healthy head start on man-made technology. Case in point: the ability for an octopus to seamlessly blend into its surroundings. That’s why innovators are looking for inspiration from the advanced biomechanics of the octopus to design surfaces that mimic surroundings.
Researchers from three of Canada’s leading universities are working to design artificially intelligent camouflage for the Canadian Armed Forces using biomimetic metasurfaces that change to match the colours and patterns they travel through. The metasurfaces will be tested using both simple and complex patterns to see how well disguised vehicles can be from detection technology such as radar. Smart sensing networks will help power this advanced technology to help troops avoid detection from kinetic and non-kinetic threats.
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