Short Report, August 14, 2019: International research, ocean analytics, smart farm

The Trade Commissioner Service has renamed its Going Global Innovation (GGI) program to CanExport Innovation (CXI). The program offers grants to support the early-stage development of international research partnerships. It is designed to minimize the cost of finalizing relationships where there has already been interest between the research partners. Through CXI, Canadian innovators can access up to 75% of eligible project costs to a maximum $75,000 in non-repayable business grants, typically for targeted trips spanning less than one week abroad. Eligible applicants include small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); universities, colleges, or other academic institutions; and non-governmental research centres. - MentorWorks

Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) has officially launched a Sensing, Engineering and Analytics-Technology Access Centre (SEA-TAC), with the help of a $1.75 million investment from the Government of Canada. Located at NSCC’s Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship (COVE), the centre will offer applied research and problem-solving services to external clients for a fee, allowing them to access capabilities like coastal mapping, subsea imaging, vessel energy audits, data analytics and big data visualization, topo-bathymetric lidar and 3D modelling. - NSCC

Science Minister Kirsty Duncan announced more than $61 million for state-of-the-art research labs and equipment through the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF). This investment will support 261 projects at 40 universities across Canada. - Newswire

Ottawa is committing nearly $7.5 million in funding for seven projects to support talent attraction, skills development, and digital innovation in Manitoba. The funding includes $2.2 million for the Information and Communication Technologies Association of Manitoba, which received $2,243,972 to establish the P-TECH (Pathways in Technology Early College High School) program in Manitoba. Other beneficiaries include Economic Development Winnipeg, New Media Manitoba, Pricerazzi Inc and Tangent Holdings. - Newswire

The federal government is taking a two-pronged approach to supporting Canadian companies, says Navdeep Bains in an interview with the Daily Hive: investing in platforms like the innovation superclusters, and investing in talent, such as by offering access to digital skills training. Bains also attested that that "companies that are really high growth – in the billions of dollars – are staying in Canada." Looking ahead, Bains is focused on digital transformation and digital transparency. - The Daily Hive

Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) is awarding $1.9 million in Regional Innovation Ecosystems (RIE) funding for the second phase of the Olds College Smart Farm (OCSF) in Alberta. The funding will enable the smart farm to acquire agricultural equipment and advanced sensor technologies to support its development, testing, validation, and scale-up of agricultural technologies. - Newswire

The Trade Commissioner Service's (TCS) cleantech director Jean-Philippe Linteau says that Canada is positioned to lead in cleantech oil and gas innovation. “A key message for you is to remember that Canada is an energy powerhouse, and that we are also a cleantech leader, and so there is no country that is better positioned to be out there leading the transition to the clean resources nexus. This is where we are going and it’s incumbent upon us as Canadians to help the world make that transition," Linteau told attendees to a Cleantech Global Workshop at the Global Petroleum Show. - JWN

APPOINTMENTS AND AWARDS

Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains named the directors on the board of Canada’s new College of Patent Agents and Trademark Agents: Jeffrey Astle (Associate General Counsel—Intellectual Property for Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp.), Karima Bawa (senior fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation), Thomas G. Conway (board chair; partner at Conway Baxter Wilson LLP), Ruth McHugh (chief operating officer at the Office of the Auditor General of Alberta) and Douglas B. Thompson (founding partner at Thompson Cooper LLP). The board is tasked with establishing the College, as well as creating a licensing system to govern the profession, which is currently regulated by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. The College will operate as an independent regulator responsible for enforcing a code of professional conduct and implementing requirements for professional development. It is one of the initiatives under Canada’s five-year, $85.3-million Intellectual Property Strategy. - Canada.ca

Data integration and analytics software provider Palantir Technologies announced the appointment of David MacNaughton as president of Palantir Canada. MacNaughton is stepping down as the Canadian Ambassador to the United States at the end of this month. He served in that position since March, 2016 and helped Canada negotiate the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement in 2017. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland attributed securing the removal of the U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to MacNaughton's leadership. MacNaughton’s new role at Palantir will be to build relationships with Canadian organizations that are looking to change how they use and leverage their data. - Financial Post