The Short Report - July 20, 2022: Another step toward a vertically-integrated EV supply chain for Ontario, an Atlantic alliance to advance ocean science, a boost for digital innovation in Canada, and more.

CLEAN ENERGY

Belgium-based electric vehicle (EV) technology company Umicore plans to invest $1.5 billion to build an industrial scale manufacturing plant in eastern Ontario that produces cathode active materials (CAM) and precursor cathode active materials (pCAM), critical components in the production of EV batteries. The plant, to be built in Loyalist Township, ON, is a step towards developing a vertically integrated battery supply chain in Ontario to support large-scale EV production in North America. Government of Ontario Queen's U

Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) is investing more than $40 million in 11 projects valued at $194 million, and which are focused on advancing Alberta's leadership in carbon capture utilization and sequestration (CCUS). The projects are being sourced through the Government of Alberta's Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) Fund and could lead to more than $20 billion in capital expenditures and a reduction of about 24 million tonnes of emissions annually. Project recipients including Heartland Generation (Calgary; ERA funding of $5 million for a project cost of $38.37 million) and Lafarge Canada (ERA funding of $5 million for a project cost of $27 million) represent power generation, cement, fertilizer, forest products, and oil and gas sectors. ERA is contributing up to 50 per cent of the project cost to a maximum of $5 million and a minimum of $1 million. ERA

Fenix Advanced Materials (Trail, BC) and investment group Next Lithium Corporation (Vancouver) are contributing $1 million over the next year to establish a facility at University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBCO) to work with pouch cell technology, an innovative battery design that employs flexible, soft packaging. This site is expected to bridge the gap between fundamental academic research and applied research in battery technologies and the creation of a local battery supply chain. UBC Okanagan

The Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) has partnered with engineering and climate consultancy group WSP (Montreal) to conduct a detailed climate analysis of its global natural resources (NR) portfolio. PSP plans to establish a baseline of its investments’ NR greenhouse gas emissions and determine the sequestration capabilities of its NR assets in different carbon pools (e.g., biomass carbon and soil organic carbon).The analysis will cover more than 3 million hectares of farmland and timberland on more than 400 individual properties across six countries and will span a wide variety of crops. PSP WSP

Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault and Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson are launching consultations on a discussion paper that outlines two options to establish the cap on emissions from the oil and gas sector: a cap-and-trade system under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act that would set regulated limits on emissions from the sector, and modifications to carbon pricing benchmark requirements for heavy emitters. The paper is part of a key commitment in the federal government's 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan. Interested parties are invited to submit responses to the paper by September 30, 2022. GOC

Transport Canada is contributing $4.4 million through the National Trade Corridors Fund on a University of Calgary-led study to identify mitigation strategies and tools related to permafrost hazards. The study comes as shifting permafrost and flooding reduce the potential for export shipments of Western Canadian crops via the port of Churchill. The study will focus on permafrost conditions along the Hudson Bay Railway corridor, a critical transportation, supply, and tourism link connecting Manitoba from North to South. GOC Real Agriculture

The Government of Canada has made a commitment to advance cooperative ocean science and ocean sustainability with its signing of the All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance (AAORIA) Declaration along with Argentina, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Morocco, South Africa, the European Union and the United States. The alliance will function as a research and innovation network and will collaborate on ocean science projects of mutual interest and benefit. Among the network's priorities are increasing understanding of the relationship between ocean and climate; monitoring, protecting and restoring marine ecosystems and biodiversity; tackling marine pollution impacts, and developing solutions to support sustainable fisheries and aquaculture. GOC AAORIA Statement

Ottawa is also contributing $4.5 million over four years to support Mexico, Peru, Chile and Colombia in strengthening their national climate measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems. The announcement was made at the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation's 29^th annual Council Session meeting in Mérida, Mexico. Cision

The Canadian Government is contributing $54 million through the Agricultural Climate Solutions (ACS) – Living Labs program to support collaborative projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen the climate resiliency of food systems. Farmers, ranchers, scientists and other stakeholders will be co-developing, testing, and monitoring new management practices and technologies to protect biodiversity on farms and improve water and soil quality. The collaborations will include the first Indigenous-led living lab by the Mistawasis Nêhiyawak and Muskeg Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. and will see projects carried out in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador. GOC

Meanwhile, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau has announced 28 additional projects under the Agricultural Clean Technology (ACT) Program to support the adoption of clean technologies by farmers across Canada. This investment — more than $8.7 million — will allow 26 new projects from ACT's Adoption Stream to acquire clean technologies such as solar panels and more efficient grain dryers, while two projects through the Research and Innovation Stream ($1.3 million to Logiag of Châteauguay to develop technology to estimate soil carbon and $162,043 to Rich Naturals of Victoria to develop a mobile produce dehydrator) will support pre-market innovation including R&D and demonstration and commercialization of agricultural clean technologies. GOC Backgrounder

FortisBC Energy is partnering with Suncor Energy  and Hazer Group to build a hydrogen pilot project in Port Moody, B.C. that will produce hydrogen from natural gas. The $11-million project will be supported with grant funding from the provincial government’s CleanBC Industry Fund. The project is currently in the engineering and design phase and a testing prototype is expected by the end of 2023. FortisBC

MEDICAL & HEALTH RESEARCH & INNOVATION

FedNor is investing more than $2 million through its Regional Economic Growth through Innovation program to support three medical technology and innovation projects in the Thunder Bay region, including more than $1 million to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC) to expand its technology for medical imaging and research and nearly $700,000 to upgrade its medical imaging suite. FedNor is also contributing more than $400,000 to the Lake Superior Centre for Regenerative Medicine (RegenMed) through FedNor’s Northern Ontario Development Program to purchase a patented acellular dermal matrix product that improves outcomes for diabetes and other chronic wound and burn patients. GOC

The Government of Canada and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador are making a combined investment of nearly $10 million over five years to support ongoing patient-oriented research through the province's SPOR SUPPORT Unit, which connects research with patient needs so that evidence-based solutions can be applied to health care. The funding is provided as part of Canada's Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)-led, pan-Canadian initiative that integrates the voices of patients in research and health care. GOC

R&D, COLLABORATIONS AND INNOVATION

Brampton-based MDA has recently secured new contracts to build antennas for satellites. In June it secured a bid to design and build antennas and antenna control electronics for Lockheed Martin as part of the US Department of Defense (DoD) Space Development Agency's (SDA) Tranche 1 Transport Layer (T1TL) program, a "mesh network of 126 optically-interconnected space vehicles (SV) that will provide a resilient, low-latency, high-volume data transport communication system, and be ready for launch starting in September 2024." MDA has also been awarded a contract to design and build antennas to support space security and communications constellations for Denver-based York Space Systems as part of the T1TL Program. The antennas for York Space will be built, assembled and tested at MDA’s satellite production facility in Montreal. MDA

India-headquartered IT consulting company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has opened Pace Port Toronto, its fifth and largest global research and co-innovation centre, to accelerate digital innovation in Canada. The 16,000-square-foot facility includes an academic research lab and an innovation showcase to drive prototyping, research, and commercialization of technology. TCS is also donating $1 million to the University of Toronto's Data Centre at the School of Cities to support the building of smart cities. TCS

The Laurentian University Faculty Association (LUFA), Laurentian University Staff Union (LUSU), and Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) are demanding accountability and transparency from Laurentian's senior administration and the Government of Ontario following 18 months of court-led restructuring caused by "the mismanagement of successive Laurentian administrations and a provincial government that was absent during their time of crisis." LUFA, LUSU, OCUFA and their members are also calling for the termination of senior administrators who forced the campus community into the Companies Creditor Arrangement Act (CCAA) process. OCUFA

VC NEWS

Ottawa-based regenerative medicine company Spiderwort has secured $17 million in Series A financing which will be used to accelerate clinical trials of the company's cellulose-based biomaterials  used to treat acute spinal cord injuries. The financing was led by Horizons Ventures and supported by K5 Global, BoxOne Ventures and Break Off Capital. Spiderwort

Meanwhile, Ottawa-based hydroponic startup Fieldless Farms has raised $17.5 million in Series A funding that will allow it to expand operations and  displace imports with local options in high-volume grocery categories. The round was led by Forage Capital Partners (Calgary). Farm Credit Canada and the Business Development Bank of Canada also contributed debt financing to the round. Fieldless Farms

REPORTS

A Statistics Canada report on R&D in Canadian industry and intellectual property shows Canadian businesses who performed and/or funded R&D activities sold $6.5 billion worth of intangible property, including IP, software and technological services in 2020 — an almost 50 per cent increase over 2019 and the largest increase since 2014, more than 75 per cent of which was made up of software sales, which increased by 81per cent. Meanwhile, intangible property purchases by companies with R&D expenditures fell by almost ten per cent to $1.7 billion in 2020, the fourth consecutive annual decrease. A 31 per cent decline in domestic purchases from Canadian companies was behind the decrease, while imports of intangible property rose by nearly 19 per cent. Stats Can

The Aerospace Industries Association of Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada's jointly-published report on the state of Canada's aerospace industry shows the sector ranked first in R&D investments in Canada in 2021, with an R&D intensity 2.5 times higher than the manufacturing average. Among the report's key findings: the Canadian aerospace industry contributed over $24 billion in GDP and close to 200,000 jobs to the Canadian economy in 2021; between 2020 and 2021 the industry’s contribution to the Canadian economy declined by $0.9 billion in GDP and 7,300 jobs, and both the Canadian and global defence sectors continued to grow, with defence activity representing 17 per cent of total Canadian aerospace revenues in 2020. AIAC

THE GRAPEVINE

Dr. Santa Ono will assume the presidency of the University of Michigan in October after six years as president and vice chancellor at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Ono is a member of the Government of Canada’s Industry Advisory Ad Hoc Roundtable on COVID-19 Testing and the boards of Fulbright Canada and MITACS. He has served as chief innovation advisor to the Province of British Columbia, and as co-chair of the Advisory Committee on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Policy for the federal government. UBC

Holly Johnson has been appointed MDA Space Mission's vice president of Robotics and Space Operations (RSO). Johnson has more than a decade of experience at MDA, including 10 years in engineering and business development and four years in corporate operations. She stepped into the role of VP of RSO in an acting capacity earlier this year. MDA

Charl Lombard has been named president of digital transformation as part of London, ON-based Info-Tech Research Group's expansion of its digital transformation services. Lombard has been a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and PwC. He joins Info-Tech from Sabre Hospitality Solutions, where he led Global Product Management. Cision