NL: Provincial projects get more than $13M in AIF funding

[ST. JOHN’S, NL] — National Defence Minister Peter MacKay recently released details for seven research and development projects in Newfoundland and Labrador that will receive up to $13.8 million from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA).

National Defence Minister Peter MacKay — Photo by Deana Stokes Sullivan/The Telegram

The projects in this province are among 30 in Atlantic Canada which will receive up to $62.4 million from ACOA’s Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF). The proponents are expected to access an additional $49.4 million in funding from private and public sector sources, bringing the total value of all the projects to almost $112 million.

The proponents and projects in this province are:

- PanGeo Subsea — acoustic zoom project — a seismic exploration tool for use on oil and gas wells to provide information on the location and size of reservoir reserves in 3-D. This project, with total estimated costs of $6 million, will receive about $3 million from AIF over a three-year period.

- C-CORE — integrity and security of critical infrastructure project — which will combine three existing technologies to create a unique space-ground-subsurface method of monitoring critical infrastructure for structural stability and security. This project, estimated to cost $5.3 million, will receive $2.2 million from AIF over four years.

- Memorial University faculty of engineering and applied science — responsive autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) location and mapping project — which will integrate sonar and advanced navigation and adaptive mission control systems for an AUV to perform high-quality seabed surveys. This project, estimated to cost $4 million, will receive about $2.1 million from AIF over four years.

- Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University — project to reduce seabed impacts of bottom trawls — The Marine Institute’s Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Resources (C-SAR) will work with its commercial partner Vonin Canada Ltd. in developing and commercializing new bottom trawl technology capable of catching commercial quantities of finfish and shellfish with reduced seabed contact. The project, with total estimated costs of $4.2 million, will receive about $1.8 million from AIF over a five-year period.

- Memorial University faculty of medicine, population therapeutics research group — the Newfoundland genealogical toolkit project — an information technology platform able to generate large sample groups (family trees) to conduct studies on the identification of genes implicated in common diseases and research on undesirable drug reactions. This project, estimated to cost $3.1 million, will receive about $1.8 million from AIF over three years.

- Memorial University of Newfoundland, faculty of engineering and applied science — high frequency radar ocean surface applications project — The faculty and industry partner Northern Radar Inc. will develop software to exploit high-frequency radar signals to monitor ocean activities such as identifying the path and speed of ships and icebergs, tracking the drift of oil spills, sediment or other pollution, assisting search and rescue planning and supporting oceanographic and climate change research. This project, estimated to cost $2.9 million, will receive about $1.7 million from AIF over four years.

- AMEC Americas Ltd. — net available wind power forecasting project — AMEC will develop a unique net available power (NAP) forecasting service that will provide forecasts of actual power supplied by a wind farm to the local energy grid. The project, estimated to cost $2.4 million, will receive about $1.3 million from AIF over three years.