Success In Action

Creating New Investment Business Models

The Centre of Excellence in Energy Efficiency (C3E) invested $348,150 in AddÉnergie through its pre-seed fund. That funding—part of a $2 million round of financing—enabled...

Read more
PDF Version

2010-11 Highlights

The 2010-11 year has seen the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) take action on several fronts to encourage greater collaboration between those who conduct science, those who put it into practice and those who reap its benefits.
Read more

Partner Participation Growing

One of the highlights of the past year has been the growing participation of partners, particularly participation of private sector partners in technology development and commercialization activities. A total of 3,163 partners, including 1455 from industry, participated in the NCE, CECR, BL-NCE and IRDI programs in 2010-11. That compares with 2,699 partners the year before, including 1202 from industry.
Read more

Renewal of ArcticNet To Support Canada’s Northern Strategy

In 2010-11, the NCE Steering Committee approved ArcticNet’s application for renewal and additional funding of $67.3 million—the largest funding renewal for the NCE program to date. The mission of this world-leading network is to help adapt the coastal Canadian Arctic to climate change and modernization.
Read more

Newest NCEs Hit Ground Running

The NCE’s newest networks launched operations in 2010 to address three areas of national importance: researching effective treatments to help children with developmental brain disorders, finding ways to lessen the impact of fossil fuels on the environment, and using social media to improve education and skills development.
Read more

A Farewell to Retiring NCEs

Four networks from the Network of Centres of Excellence program completed their activities this past year. One network, the ISIS Canada Research Network, was awarded Management Funds (2009-2011) to wrap up 14 years of research. The other three, PREVnet, the Canadian Obesity Network and The National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly, were grantees of the Networks of Centres of Excellence New Initiatives program.
Read more

Evaluating Excellence and Measuring Impact

To ensure that only the best applicants are funded and that all applicants are treated fairly, the NCE program follows a rigorous peer-review evaluation system.
Read more

2012 Competition Focuses on Solutions

The NCE received 32 eligible Letters of Intent in 2010 for its 2012 NCE networks competition. Of those, nine were invited to submit full applications.
Read more

Support for Knowledge Transfer Increases

In 2005, the NCE launched a pilot initiative to support networking among well-established researchers or research teams to encourage them to develop new partnerships with receptor communities. An evaluation of the NCE-New Initiative in 2008 found that the program added value for multidisciplinary and collaborative research involving academics and community receptors in Canada. Consequently, the NCE Steering Committee approved a follow-on initiative—NCE-Knowledge Mobilization (KM).
Read more

NCE Expands Internship Program

The Industrial R&D Internship (IRDI) program addresses Canada’s ongoing need for highly qualified workers. The program places graduate and post-doctoral students strategically in private sector organizations and provides them with the opportunity to solve critical and relevant industry problems. The IRDI program benefits both the intern by offering practical experience in his or her field, and the industry partner by providing a highly skilled intern with research knowledge and experience.
Read more

Newest Commercialization "Factories" Ramp Up Operations

The NCE completed a third CECR competition in 2010, leading to five new centres being awarded. The centres will share $61.1 million over five years to pursue major product innovations and bring those discoveries to the marketplace. Each of these new centres was selected following a rigorous peer review process involving expert panels and the Private Sector Advisory Board.
Read more

Engaging SMEs to Deliver Solutions

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are critical to Canada’s prosperity. Their success affects the well-being of the Canadian economy and society as engines of job creation, economic growth and innovation. They are also a catalyst for research and innovation.
Read more