March 31, 2006
St. John's , Newfoundland and Labrador
Researchers in Newfoundland and Labrador will be finding
new ways to protect subsea infrastructure, helping oil and
gas companies examine complicated seismic data, and
creating new methods for wireless mobile computing thanks
to significant investments from the Government of Canada.The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs
and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
(ACOA), today announced that five research and development
projects in Newfoundland and Labrador will receive up to
$13.1 million under ACOA's Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF).The Honourable Loyola Hearn, Minister of Fisheries and
Oceans, released details of the projects today in St.
John's on behalf of Minister MacKay. The selected projects
will be led by private and not-for-profit sectors and
academia, along with a number of other partners, and have a
total value of $25.6 million. The announcement comes as part of a series of announcements
today to release details on the 29 highly innovative
research and development projects throughout Atlantic
Canada receiving funding from the AIF."ACOA is making key investments in research and
development investments that support the economic future
and competitiveness of Atlantic Canada," said Minister
MacKay. "It's about finding new ways of doing things,
creating new approaches, new products and services and
bringing them to markets around the world. The Government
of Canada is committed to supporting these kinds of
projects that bring new knowledge, new jobs and new
business opportunities to the Atlantic region.""These projects build on the tremendous expertise we are
developing here in Newfoundland and Labrador in ocean and
information technology," added Minister Hearn. "These
investments from the AIF are creating partnerships that
will bring exciting opportunities for new products, create
highly skilled jobs, and position us to take advantage of
emerging industries in Atlantic Canada."Earlier today, Minister MacKay also announced the process
for accepting proposals for the next round of projects to
be funded under the Atlantic Innovation Fund. Mandatory
letters of intent must be submitted to ACOA by May 10,
2006, and complete project proposals must be submitted by
June 28, 2006. Detailed information is available on the
ACOA website at: www.acoa-apeca.gc.ca.ACOA's Atlantic Innovation Fund is a Government of Canada
initiative designed to build the economy of Atlantic Canada
by increasing the region's capacity to carry out leading-
edge R&D that contributes directly to the development of
new technology-based economic activity. The objective of
the Fund is to increase R&D carried out in Atlantic
Canadian research facilities, which will lead to the launch
of new ideas, products, processes and services. The AIF projects announced today in Newfoundland and
Labrador include:
C-CORERisk Mitigation Strategies for Subsea InfrastructureProtecting subsea infrastructure through better management
of ice hazardsC-CORE is a not-for-profit corporation with international
success in R&D, technology development and
commercialization. Its specialized engineering services
focus on technology adaptation and integration, design
recommendations and engineering and risk analyses, and it
has expertise in ice engineering, geotechnical engineering,
remote sensing and intelligent systems. Through this
project, C-CORE will work with several partners to build on
the region's existing expertise in ice hazards management.
It will develop world-class capability for the provision of
commercial engineering services. It will also facilitate
design recommendations to address the protection of, and
risk mitigation strategies for, subsea infrastructure in
ice environments. With a total cost of more than $7.6
million, this project will receive up to $3 million from
the Atlantic Innovation Fund over three years. Consilient
Development of Advanced Wireless Middleware for Future
Mobile ComputingAdvances in wireless mobile computing with new software and
data management capabilitiesConsilient is a global provider of wireless software that
delivers push email connectivity to a wide variety of
mobile phones. Widely recognized for excellence in
innovation, employment and business practices, Consilient's
customer base is comprised of Global Fortune 500 companies,
wireless network operators, service providers and
government agencies. This project will enable Consilient
to offer flexible and powerful middleware software for
handling, synchronizing, converting and combining multiple
data types to and from various data repositories and
pushing that data out to the end user to make it useable in
numerous mobile device environments. With a total cost of
$5 million, the project will receive up to $3 million from
the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a three year period. Memorial University of Newfoundland, Department of Earth
SciencesPurpose Built Computers for Seismic Modelling and InversionProviding leading-edge imagery from complicated seismic
data to help oil and gas companies examine reservoirs and
investigate new reservesMemorial University of Newfoundland will lead an
international team of experts in the seismic and computer
industries as well as academia, to build world class
technology for imaging the Earth's interior. The project
will benefit the oil and gas industry through the
development of three-dimensional, full-wave equation
modeling and inversion software, as well as purpose-built
wave equation computer hardware. This will mean better
delineation of existing reservoirs and targeted drilling
for new reserves. With total costs of more than $6
million, the project will receive up to $3 million from the
Atlantic Innovation Fund over a four year period. Memorial University of NewfoundlandOcean Network Seafloor InstrumentationOcean floor monitoring processes for earthquake and tsunami
detectionMemorial University of Newfoundland will lead the research
and development of a five-year Ocean Network Seafloor
Instrumentation project. The initiative will offer long-
term, wide-area monitoring of seabed processes, such as
geological imaging for offshore oil and gas exploration and
reservoir management, as well as earthquake and tsunami
detection. With a total cost of more than $4 million, the
project will receive up to $2.5 million from the Atlantic
Innovation Fund over a five-year period. Terra Nova Marine Company Limited
Yacht Management System
Touch screen technology for integrating electronics and
navigation equipmentTerra Nova Marine Company Limited provides custom
electrical engineering, design and manufacturing of control
panels and switchboards primarily for the commercial marine
industry. Through this project, the company will develop a
Yacht Management System to enable vessel electrical control
and monitoring through LCD touch screen panels. This
project will greatly enhance Terra Nova Marine's expansion
into the luxury yacht market and increase export sales
opportunities. With total costs of $3 million, this
initiative will receive up to $1.6 million from the
Atlantic Innovation Fund over a three-year period.
- 30 -
Comprehensive backgrounders on the Newfoundland and
Labrador projects announced today are attached. These
along with project backgrounders on all projects announced
today will be available on ACOA's website at 12:00 p.m.
(AST): www.acoa-apeca.gc.ca
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Doug Burgess
Director, Public Affairs
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (NL Office)
(709) 772-2935
Liette Lavallée
Senior Communications Officer
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (Head Office)
Office: (506) 851-3412
Cell: (506) 874-6994
