January 15, 2014 - St. John's, NL
The Honourable Rob Moore, Regional Minister for Newfoundland and Labrador and Minister of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency), today announced an investment of close to $7.3 million in support of three innovative research and development (R&D) projects in Newfoundland and Labrador under the Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF).
The Newfoundland and Labrador projects were among 17 new R&D projects in Atlantic Canada selected to receive AIF funding, as announced in May 2013 in Summerside, Prince Edward Island by the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada. In total, the Government of Canada is investing $39.9 million under the AIF to transform promising ideas into marketable innovations. The combined value of these projects is over $71.1 million.
Kelsie Corey
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable Rob Moore
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
613-941-7241
Julie Afonso
Acting Director, Public Affairs
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
709-772-2984
Newfoundland and Labrador
Memorial University of Newfoundland (St. John's)
Project: Ocean observation technology development
Investment: $2,994,408
This project, led by Memorial's Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, will create an Ice Ocean Sentinel System (IOSS) through the development of an unmanned surface craft with ice detection radar and underwater scanning sonar, and the advancement of technologies for unmanned, underwater gliders and a seafloor navigation beacon. The IOSS is a mobile ocean observatory system designed to provide critical ocean information and data products for decision-making needs in frontier, harsh and ice-prone environments. The first application is to address situational awareness needs for offshore oil and gas industry operations.
Contact :
Dr. Ralf Bachmayer
Principal Investigator
709-864-6793
bachmayer@mun.ca
Memorial University of Newfoundland (St. John's)
Project: Ultra-high speed optical transport networks
Investment: $1,978,916
In telecommunications, optical transport networks (OTNs) are the backbone for data transmission. Over the past decade, the increased demand for bandwidth has challenged the per user capacity of these networks (e.g.: high-definition video, cloud computing). Memorial's Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science will undertake this project to adapt OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing), a technique from wireless communications, to enable transmission at ultra-high speed on OTNs.
Contact:
Dr. Octavia Dobre
Principal Investigator
709-864-4045
odobre@mun.ca
Nalcor Energy (St. John's)
Project: Ramea wind-hydrogen-diesel energy solution - fuel cell integration program
Investment: $2,299,877
This project will increase the operational efficiency of the existing wind-hydrogen-diesel energy system in the isolated community of Ramea, NL. The long-term goal of the project is to make this renewable energy storage solution economically viable for 21 remote communities within Nalcor Energy's operation as well as other remote, diesel-powered communities across Canada and around the world. The project is unique in that it is the only known wind-hydrogen-diesel R&D project in the world with a focus on energy supply for remote communities that are integrated into an isolated electrical system.
Contact:
Cara Pike
Senior Communications Advisor, Nalcor
709-737-1446
carapike@nalcorenergy.com
