NRC Annual Report 2001-2002

N R C – F R O M D I S C O V E R Y T O I N N O V A T I O N...In Cape Breton, NRC established the nucleus of aninformation technology (IT) research groupconnected to its national IT and R&D strengths.Located at the University College of Cape Breton inSydney (UCCB), the group will help develop corecompetencies in software engineering for real-timecontrol and embedded systems for short-range,dynamically reconfigurable wireless networks. NRCand UCCB will establish an IT innovation centredesigned to support start-up companies andencourage technology transfer. NRC-IRAP recentlyinitiated an internship program with UCCB that willsee up to ten graduates per year join the NRC-IITresearch group.New Brunswick – moving into thee-Business “big leagues”NRC began construction of its new research institutedevoted to information technology ande-Business on the Fredericton campus of theUniversity of New Brunswick. Scheduled to open inthe fall of 2002, the new facility will be home to 40NRC researchers and a similar number of guestworkers, visiting scientists and industrialresearchers. It will be tied closely to NRC institutesand national facilities across Canada as well asbeing home to an NRC information centre. Work isunderway thanks to an additional $12 millioninvestment by ACOA and the Government of NewBrunswick, on satellite facilities in e-Business/IT inSaint John and Moncton, and on a broadbandresearch network to connect all NRC NewBrunswick facilities with partners.NRC and ACOA hosted a two-day forum inSaint John to identify issues and opportunities36In 2001-2002, NRC beganconstruction of its newresearch institute devotedto information technologyand e-Business on theFredericton campus ofthe University of NewBrunswick. The newfacility is scheduled toopen in the fall of 2002.Building new community innovationinfrastructure in Canada• New industry partnership facilities on the way – 10• New advanced technology facilities on the way – 6• New/enlarged institutes/satellite facilitiesand programs – 11• New/expanded NRC-IRAP and NRC-CISTIservices/presence – 11and to propose a model for development of acollaborative cluster. A steering committee laterrecommended that a new body – the NewBrunswick Knowledge Industry Leadership Network(KILN) – be formed. The governance structure isnow under discussion with the community.NRC-IRAP collaborated with local stakeholders tosupport SME e-Business projects, establish theAtlantic Ventures Group – an organization designedto attract investment and match sources of capitalwith growing companies – and support NB-SPIN, anetwork of IT professionals interested in softwareprocess improvement. NB-SPIN offers a forum forthe free exchange of software process improvementexperiences and concepts, providing SMEs withaccess to information and services that willimprove their competitive performance.