On behalf of Dale Gann, Nikki de Goey, Glynn Jones, Av Hundle, Bonny Brewer, Greg Sikora, Uwe Bartley, Darwin Fritz and Barry McLean we wish you and yours a happy holiday season and a prosperous new year!  We would like to extend a sincere thank you to our friends, companies, services providers, colleagues and partners for making VITP & MTC the "hub" for technology on Vancouver Island.  We look forward to working with you all in 2010!

We are now three clicks away from funding sources.   GFunds Online is an SME community toolkit that allows you to quickly and simply navigate all 530 Federal and Provincial technology funding support programs, and connect with other SME’s Support Service Providers, and Program Funding Providers. 

The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology), and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) today announced $59 million in support for 262 projects in 40 Canadian research institutions, allowing talented researchers to conduct cutting-edge research in world-class facilities. This investment, made under the CFI's Leaders Opportunity Fund (LOF), will benefit the work of 351 of the country's brightest minds.

 ---------------------------- LOF investment at a glance: ---------------------------- ---------------------------- - Total: $59.39 million - Institutions: 40 - Municipalities: 32 - Projects: 262 - Researchers supported: 351 ---------------------------- 

"Our government supports science and technology to create jobs, improve the quality of life of Canadians and strengthen the economy," said Minister of State Goodyear. "This investment will help develop, attract and retain the world's best researchers at universities and other institutions in Canada."

Speaking in Kingston, Minister of State Goodyear highlighted the government's support for a project at Queen's University that will research the potential impact of potassium in helping to regulate heart rates in people with certain types of heart conditions.

"Access to modern, cutting-edge equipment and facilities is imperative to research in the 21st century," said Dr. Eliot Phillipson, President and Chief Executive Officer of the CFI. "For more than a decade, the CFI has provided thousands of world-class researchers with the tools they need to do their work. Without the right infrastructure, they quite simply wouldn't be in Canada."

These investments support cutting-edge research infrastructure that helps stimulate various sectors of the economy associated with such capital projects. It is estimated that every dollar invested directly in research yields more than $7 in economic benefits, including jobs.

The LOF is designed to support Canada's quickly evolving research environment by giving Canadian universities the flexibility they need to attract and retain the world's finest researchers at a time of intense international competition for knowledge workers.

The CFI's Board of Directors approved a total investment of $59,394,902 following a rigorous merit-review process. This amount included $45,688,386 awarded under the LOF, and another $13,706,516 awarded under the Infrastructure Operating Fund, a complementary program designed to contribute to the incremental operating and maintenance costs of infrastructure projects funded by the CFI.

These investments provide researchers in Canada with the tools necessary to carry out a spectrum of innovative research, such as:

– Improving the testing environment for subjects of autism spectrum disorder research and their families. Dalhousie University, Halifax

– Employing ancient lake data to study key environmental issues, including climate change, water quality and contaminant transport. Queen's University, Kingston

– Enhancing the quality of life and health of Canadians through new consumer self-care food products and improved diagnosis of life-threatening diseases. University of Manitoba, Winnipeg

– Investigating the potential for alternative energy sources by developing new methods to safely store hydrogen for use in "green" fuels. University of Alberta, Edmonton

– Using cutting-edge imaging technologies to provide new insights into how the brain develops and changes in response to new experiences or pathology, such as stroke or diabetes. University of Victoria, Victoria

For a complete list of the funded projects, visit www.innovation.ca.

For Canadian research success stories, visit the CFI's online magazine, www.innovationcanada.ca.

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) is an independent corporation created by the Government of Canada to fund research infrastructure. The CFI's mandate is to strengthen the capacity of Canadian universities, colleges, research hospitals and non-profit research institutions to carry out world-class research and technology development that benefits Canadians. Since its creation in 1997, the CFI has committed almost $5.2 billion in support of more than 6,300 projects at 130 research institutions in 65 municipalities across Canada.

The CFI was recently named one of Canada's 50 Best Smalll and Medium Employers, 2009. 

Written by: Judith Lavoie

With the flick of a switch yesterday, the international spotlight focused on the mysterious world of the deep ocean off the coast of B.C.

After a decade of planning, research and input from scientists of all disciplines, led by the University of Victoria, NEPTUNE Canada, the world's first cabled ocean observatory taking in an entire region, came on line.

Over the next 25 years, NEPTUNE — which stands for North-East Pacific Time-series Undersea Experiments — will deliver real-time scientific data to students and scientists all over the world.

"We are truly at the start of a new era — an era of wiring the ocean," said director Chris Barnes.

The data, available free, will help develop public policy on climate change, earthquakes and tsunamis, management of fish stocks and resource development, he said. "This will transform ocean science. The socio-economic benefits are profound."

Scientists traded superlatives as they anticipated the "fire hose" of information from NEPTUNE.

"There's nothing else like it anywhere else," said Jozee Sarrazin of the French Research Institute for the Study of the Sea, who will study the effect of catastrophic disturbances such as underwater landslides on undersea fauna.

Already, the instruments have detected tsunami waves from the Samoan earthquake in September, said Richard Thomson of the Institute of Ocean Sciences.

"It will help us understand and provide warning of tsunamis in western Canada and, for that, I think we should be eternally grateful," he said.

NEPTUNE will provide information about one of the most active underwater earthquake areas in the world, but for now, will not help predict when earthquakes will strike, said Garry Rogers of the Geological Survey of Canada.

"The real answer is we don't know what we are going to find. We are moving to a new environment, and when we do that, we are bound to discover new things," he said.

The backbone of the ocean observatory is an 800-kilometre loop of powered fibre-optic cable installed on the seabed off the west coast of Vancouver Island, connecting to a shore station at Port Alberni.

Information is fed back, at the rate of 10 gigabytes a second, to NEPTUNE headquarters at UVic.

Data is gathered by 60 instruments with 280 sensors, placed at depths ranging from 17 metres to 2.7 kilometres. More instruments will be added each year, including some at volcanic Endeavour Ridge.

NEPTUNE, funded by the federal and provincial governments, cost $100 million to build. The federal Canada Foundation for Innovation has committed $24 million over the next two years to operating costs.

Iain Black, provincial Minister of Small Business, Technology and Economic Development, officially turned on the stream of data, but the University of Victoria audience, plus an online audience from around the world, did not get to see what was happening under the ocean at that second as organizers were worried about last-minute glitches.

Grade 6 students in the audience from Central middle school represent the generation that will benefit most from scientific knowledge, Black said.

"I think it is cool," said 10-year-old Scarlet Redpath, a Central student.

"It will be even more interesting when we are older and can understand it more. We are going to start learning about different extreme things like earthquakes and tsunamis."

Former federal cabinet minister David Anderson, who helped shepherd the project through its early days, said the $100-million cost is a bargain compared to the billions of dollars in damage a tsunami could do in B.C.

"Seventy per cent of the earth's surface is water and we know virtually nothing about it. This is a whole new chapter in ocean exploration and it is coming at a particularly critical time because of the impact of the oceans on climate change," he said.

For more information, go to www.neptunecanada.ca

jlavoie@tc.canwest.com

Sum-SHA-Thut, an installation by Canadian solar energy company Home Energy Solutions, has been named ‘Solar Project of the Year’ at the 2009 Canadian Solar Industries Association (CanSIA) conference. The winning project, built for Vancouver Island's T'Sou-ke Nation, is BC’s largest solar power instalment to date and the recipient of several previous awards.

“The success of this project and the leadership demonstrated by the T’Sou-ke Nation and Chief Gordon Planes show great promise for solar electric generation in Canada,” says Dave Egles, founder and president of Home Energy Solutions. Since the July 2009 installation of Sum-SHA-Thut (the Sencoten term for ‘sunshine’), energy consumption has dropped 30 percent, making T’Sou-ke Nation the most solar-intensive nation per capita on the planet.

“The T’Sou-ke Solar Community project is a great example of how BC is a leader in the alternative energy sector, and how solar can play a significant role in our future energy supply,” said Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Minister Blair Lekstrom. “Communities throughout the Province will benefit from a clean, renewable and climate-friendly source of energy. As the world embraces innovative and sustainable energy solutions, BC is at the forefront with its environmental and economic leadership.”

The timing of the CanSIA award and conference is highly significant for the Canadian solar industry, falling in the midst of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference and just two months after Ontario introduced its micro feed-in-tariff program for renewable energy technologies. “This award could not come at a better time,” says Egles. “It shows that people are starting to recognize solar electricity as a real solution for climate change – internationally and at a local level.”

About Home Energy Solutions:

Victoria, BC- and Barrie, Ontario-based Home Energy Solutions is Canada’s premier provider of renewable solar energy systems. Founder and President David Egles is one of Canada’s leading solar experts, with over 20 years experience at the helm of several prominent solar companies. Egles is also past president of the Canadian Solar Industries Association. For more information, visit www.solarforhomes.ca.

LifeSciences BC today announced that their President, Karimah Es Sabar will be leaving the organization in April of next year to pursue a new opportunity with the Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) in Vancouver.

“My tenure at LifeSciences BC has been one of the most personally and professionally rewarding of my career,” said Es Sabar. “It has offered me the opportunity to work with truly some of the brightest and most passionate people – people who have supported and inspired me,” she remarked. “The time has come however for me to work on building BC’s life sciences sector from a new vantage point.”

Es Sabar was appointed President of LifeSciences BC in April of 2005, and since that time, has led the organization to new levels of success in supporting and representing the life sciences community of British Columbia through leadership, facilitation of investment and partnering, advocacy, and promotion of our world-class science and industry. Under her leadership, she ensured that the entire life sciences community and all life sciences sectors, from biopharmaceuticals and medical devices, to bioproducts and bioenergy, forest, agricultural and marine biotech, became integrated into the organization in order to ensure that no life sciences sector is working in isolation – that all sectors were able to come together in a comprehensive, complementary and coordinated fashion.

Dr. Simon Pimstone, Chair of LifeSciences BC commented, “Although we will greatly miss having Karimah’s vision and wisdom driving  LSBC, she will still continue to be an active contributor to the organization and to our life sciences community. On behalf of the Board, I thank Karimah for so ably leading LSBC for the past five years, and we wish her the utmost success in her new role.”

From January 1^st, until her departure, Es Sabar will take on joint responsibilities with both LifeSciences BC and CDRD.  LSBC has initiated a search for a new President.