Government of Canada Supports Partnerships Between La Cite collegiale and Local Businesses

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Oct. 28, 2011) - Eleven businesses in southern Ontario are working with La Cité collégiale to bring new research ideas to market thanks to partnerships supported by the Government of Canada. The announcement was made today by Royal Galipeau, Member of Parliament for Ottawa-Orléans, on behalf of the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario).

"Our government is investing in innovation to create jobs and help our small businesses grow," said MP Galipeau. "The agreements between La Cité collégiale and small businesses will allow them to work together on projects that will bring new products to market."

"The Applied Research and Commercialization Initiative program created by FedDev Ontario allows La Cité collégiale to create partnerships with businesses in various sectors, such as green energy, agriculture and construction," stated Lise Bourgeois, President of La Cité collégiale. "This not only allows for the development of processes and products, but also for their improvement in order to increase the businesses' economic activity. It also contributes to the creation of new jobs and to developing a highly qualified workforce."

Last year, under the Applied Research and Commercialization Initiative, La Cité collégiale was approved for up to $475,300 from FedDev Ontario to partner with small- and medium-sized businesses on activities such as applied research, engineering design, technology development, product testing, and certification. The support provided will create new economic opportunities, help businesses in southern Ontario grow, and enable them to become even more innovative and competitive.

For more information on the Applied Research and Commercialization Initiative and La Cité collégiale's partners, please refer to the backgrounder.

Created in 2009, FedDev Ontario supports the southern Ontario economy by building on the region's strengths and creating opportunities for jobs and economic growth. The Agency has launched a number of initiatives to create a Southern Ontario Advantage and place the region in a strong position to compete in the global economy. These initiatives are designed to encourage partnerships and support projects that help the region's businesses and communities become more competitive, innovative and diversified. To learn more, please visit www.feddevontario.gc.ca or call 1-866-593-5505.

Backgrounder

Applied Research and Commercialization Initiative

The Applied Research and Commercialization Initiative addresses the unique research and innovation challenges faced by small- and medium-sized enterprises by helping post-secondary institutions to provide their applied R&D and pre-commercialization expertise to businesses that do not have the internal capacity to undertake those activities.

As the largest French-language college of applied arts and technology in Ontario, La Cité collégiale has provided training to more than 135,000 students since its inception in 1990. Now offering more than 90 programs, La Cité collégiale builds those programs based on the needs of the labour market.

FedDev Ontario is providing La Cité collégiale with up to $475,300 to partner with the following 11 small- and medium-sized enterprises on the following projects.

Accu-Lift Flooring Systems (Ottawa)

ACCU-LIFT™ Flooring Systems is an Ottawa-based commercial flooring company, with experience in all types of commercial surfacing. They specialize in the replacement of flooring in occupied offices and libraries using its patented lift technique, which allows them to lift the furniture off the floor and install new flooring without dismantling, disconnecting or moving furniture and equipment. ACCU-LIFT™ Flooring Systems is a leader in this area of furniture lift technology.

Amika mobile (Kanata)

Amika Mobile is partnering with La Cité collégiale to pilot its Amika Mobility Server and Amika Mobile expertise emergency mass notification technology with the state of the art technology at the College's 911 Building. This project will undertake sophisticated simulations of emergencies at campuses and airports or in buildings where people are in need of rescue due to natural or human-made disasters.

Artenga (Ottawa)

Artenga specializes in using microbubble and ultrasound technology to open up diseased cells and dramatically improve the effectiveness of drugs and other treatments. The project in collaboration with Artenga and La Cité collégiale consists of improving the stability of these microbubbles so that they better serve as a means of transportation for chemotherapy drugs by leading them directly to the tumor and help fight the cancer. This new therapy will provide greater efficiency and fewer side effects to patients during treatment. The stability of these microbubbles is extremely important in order for the therapeutic substances to be delivered intact.

CH-Four Biogas Inc. (Ottawa)

CH-Four Biogas Inc. is an Ottawa-based market-leading developer of biogas technology. The objective of the research collaboration with La Cité collégiale is to better understand and optimize biogas production.

Ferme Lanidrac (Ste-Anne-de-Prescott)

The Ferme Lanidrac is a dairy farm located in Ste-Anne-de-Prescott. In March 2011, Ferme Lanidrac adopted biodigester technology to increase the productivity of its commercial operations. Ferme Lanidrac is partnering with La Cité collégiale to study the potential of a variety of raw materials for use with this technology, thus potentially increasing its use in a variety of contexts.

GreenField Ethanol (Prescott)

GreenField has been producing industrial and beverage alcohol, fuel ethanol and distillers' grains for 20 years. GreenField Ethanol and La Cité collégiale are partnering to analyze the production process of its Dry Mill Ethanol production plant in order to optimize its production process and further support the company in its efforts towards commercializing high-value co-products, such as dried distiller grains with solubles (DDGS), generated as part of its main ethanol production process

Major Craig's Chutney (Ottawa)

Major Craig's is a specialty foods company specializing in the production of exceptional chutneys. The project aims to develop and test an improved and accelerated method for the fermentative production of 'Black Garlic', a highly-coveted culinary ingredient. The company is partnering with La Cité collégiale to define and optimize fermentation, transform product quality and shelf-life parameters, as well as to optimize production scale-up.

Ozile's Café, Marina and Tackle Shop (Ottawa)

In partnership with Ozile's, an Eastern Ontario company, La Cité collégiale's interior design program will work with Ozile's to finalize the design, development and production of recreational structures used for ice fishing, hunting, and other temporary outdoor activities. Prototypes will be tested in the winter of 2012 during the ice fishing season.

Minto Communities (Ottawa)

Minto Communities is a leading builder and developer in Canada and the United States. Since 1955, they have been working to create better places to live and work. They have built more than 70,000 new homes, manage 14,000 residential rentals in Ottawa and Toronto and have a commercial portfolio of more than 2 million square feet of office, retail and industrial space. The applied research and innovation team at La Cité collégiale was Minto Communities' preferred choice to find, verify and implement improved methods for producing and installing pre-constructed modules for the housing development market. Minto has asked La Cité to validate those processes in order to improve quality, efficiency and reduce the construction time that currently exists in the housing industry.

The KOTT Group (Ottawa)

In business for more than 35 years, the companies of the KOTT Group form one of the largest building supply organizations in Canada, serving residential and commercial building professionals. In response to an upcoming change of the Ontario Building Code, KOTT has developed a proprietary Insulated Structural Sheathing (ISS) building product. KOTT's ISS is an all-in-one thermal break, structural sheathing and weather barrier product that can be installed in one step. KOTT has engaged La Cité Collegiale's Applied Research Program to conduct fastener withdrawal tests on the ISS system. KOTT requires data from field tests that will help determine how easy or difficult it is to install various fastener types along with how well each fastener type performs over time with the ISS system.

Tri-County Protein Corp. (Winchester)

A producer of soybean oil and meal, Tri County Protein, also known as Tri-Pro, is working with La Cité collégiale on bio-upgrading soybean oil and meal to better manage issues such as potential toxin activity, and maximizing protein content to suit the needs of new markets. Another objective of this collaboration is to increase the rate of proteins in soybean meal to reach new markets. Taken together, these data will also allow Tri-pro to optimize its production processes to better meet market needs.