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College Students, Researchers Prove a Valuable Resource During Tough Economic Times | March 30, 2009
$10 million infusion by provincial government will enable more Ontario businesses to tap into college innovation as a cost-effective means to stay competitive, productive and profitable when money is tight
Toronto, Ontario – March 30, 2009 – The economy may be bleak, but a range of small- to medium-sized businesses across Ontario have found a bright spot by turning to a little-known resource for help: colleges. With the support of students and researchers from colleges across the province, businesses say they’re positioning themselves well to come out ahead of the competition when the economic tide turns.
Thanks to the ongoing efforts of the Colleges Ontario Network for Industry Innovation (CONII) – a network linking 10 of the provinces top colleges along the technology corridor between Ottawa and Windsor – colleges province-wide are helping businesses to realize such projects as designing more efficient light sources, enhancing the use of laser technology in industry and revolutionizing the three-dimensional gaming experience, all while making Ontario companies more productive and profitable in the process.
Now, with a $10 million infusion by the Ontario government announced in last week’s budget, CONII is able to expand its program to include additional Ontario colleges and increase its capacity to provide more businesses with access to its unique support network of students and researchers from Algonquin College in Ottawa, Conestoga College in Kitchener, Fanshawe College in London, Niagara College in Welland, Sheridan College in Oakville, St. Clair College in Windsor, and Centennial College, George Brown College, Humber College and Seneca College in Toronto.
“Small business accounts for more than 80 per cent of Ontario’s economy and is the sector hardest hit by current difficult times so the renewed funding has come at a vital time,” says Katharine Janzen, Chair of the CONII Steering Committee and Vice-President, Research and Innovation, at Toronto’s Seneca College. “What this means is business owners and managers need to be more effective than ever in using creative resources like CONII, so they can access the applied research, development and commercialization services they need to keep their companies afloat and growing.”
Successful entrepreneur John Breakey, President and CEO of Oakville-based Unis Lumin and Chair of CONII's Industry Board, recognizes the strong value colleges provide to high-growth, entrepreneurial companies in their pursuit of new innovations and market penetration. “The research and commercialization expertise inside the CONII college network is a gold mine of benefit for private companies,” he said. “The colleges have a wealth of research, marketing and business resources through both the faculty and students that can give an entrepreneur the added advantage to create the next generation of technology or solution.”
The goal of CONII, launched in mid-2007 with a grant through the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation’s Ontario Research Commercialization Program (ORCP), is to develop research initiatives with business that make effective use of faculty expertise, provide students with real-world learning opportunities and ultimately have a positive economic impact on the province’s small business sector. According to John Goerzen, Industry Liaison Officer at Conestoga College, a recession is the perfect time for businesses to make use of the collective potential offered by CONII’s member colleges.
“Many industries are currently paralyzed by the economy; they don’t want to do anything,” says Goerzen. “But the reality is that for a very minimal cost, they can tap into college expertise as a way to gain access to the research and development they need to position their businesses for the future.”
One company benefiting from the applied research conducted with colleges is Spatial View Inc. Headquartered in Toronto, Spatial View is a pioneer in three-dimensional (3D) image processing. Through an Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) project, Spatial View Inc. has collaborated with Canada’s leading children’s broadcaster, Family Channel, and the Sheridan Visualization Design Institute to create a glasses-free 3D mini game that was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February. Spatial View worked collaboratively with the Sheridan Visualization Design Institute to improve its specialized software for 3D game developers. The software, combined with the company’s 3DeeShell – a protective iPhone case equipped with a special 3D viewing lens – makes it possible to create visually-compelling content that can be viewed naturally in 3D with no need for special glasses. The result of the collaboration is a proof-of-concept mini game designed and developed by the core Visualization Design Institute team and Sheridan students that can be played in natural 3D on an Apple iPhone.
“The college gave us a talented team that was savvy enough not only to work with our software to produce great results, but also to come back to us with suggestions at the end of the process,” said Brad Casemore, Vice-President Business Development of Spatial View, noting that in addition to designing the mini-game, called Carnival Craze, the Visualization Design Institute team also contributed refinements to the company’s software development kit and have helped to open up a whole new horizon for animated content. “They are a tremendous asset to us,” he said.
A researcher at Conestoga, for example, has worked with Virtek Vision International Inc. of Waterloo to explore ways of leveraging computer simulation software to improve the laser etching process (used by mints to stamp coins, for example). The software simulates the complicated and precise procedure of setting up a laser beam and engraving on various materials, thereby eliminating the need to use a trial-and-error approach on expensive equipment that wastes both time and money. The College is now discussing with Virtek applications of the simulation software to other process capabilities, says Goerzen, such as the use of lasers for measuring, creating templates and high-accuracy positioning in manufacturing.
Other examples of industry collaboration supported by CONII include the following:
* A joint effort between London Hydro and Fanshawe College in London has the potential to produce a greener, more efficient power grid. Up to 50 students will work with Fanshawe faculty and London Hydro engineers to investigate theories on how solar energy can be used to relieve pressure on the power grid during peak demand periods. The applied research will provide London Hydro the answers it needs about solar energy, and will open the door to additional solar applications in the future.
· At George Brown College in Toronto, students have teamed with the Toronto Zoo to raise awareness about road ecology – the study of the interactions between road systems and their surrounding natural environment. As part of the Eco-Road Challenge, students from the Advanced Digital Design and Game Design programs are designing a series of interactive kiosk displays for the zoo that host educational video games intended for children ages six through 12. In addition to promoting a better understanding of ecological issues, the interactive displays will also enable the Toronto Zoo to gather data that can be used to determine whether or not video games are a viable teaching tool.
· Students at Algonquin College in Ottawa are helping B-Con Engineering Inc. of Nepean to gain a competitive edge by designing and building innovative optical components. The students, together with their professors, designed a Fresnel Axicon (Fraxicon) lens which enhances the usefulness and efficiency of advanced light sources such as LEDs and compact halogen lamps, and can be used to engineer future optical devices and applications. The technology is expected to help Ontario compete with Germany and Japan in the production of advanced lenses, stimulating job creation in the province and enabling B-Con to bring new products to market.
· At Seneca College in Toronto, faculty and students are helping Richmond Hill, Ont.-based O’Hara Technologies Inc. make its manufacturing process leaner. Through innovative new production approaches, the company – which manufactures equipment for the food, confectionary and pharmaceutical industries – has successfully re-engineered its business processes, which is resulting in enhanced manufacturing capacity, cost and waste reductions, and a competitive market advantage.
· Also at Seneca College, an initial project with a small Ontario business looking to cash in on open source technology as a platform for its custom hardware has led to an ongoing partnership between Seneca students and Mozilla Corp. To date, more than 50 students have worked with Mozilla, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation that co-ordinates the development of Internet-related applications by open source developers. Some of the valuable programming contributions made by students include front-end fixes to Firefox and Thunderbird, as well as web tool improvements.
· At Humber College in Toronto, students from the Mechanical Engineering Technology program worked with Etobicoke-based Cable Lock Connectors Limited, a leader in the field of cable connectors to design and develop a new F-type connector. The F- type connector is used to connect drop cables that feed the television signal from a service provider to customers. For Cable Lock Connectors Limited to gain a competitive advantage in the connector market, the objective was to produce a connector that is less expensive to manufacture, easier to assemble, while meeting technical and quality specifications and standards. Faced with this challenge, the final year students succeeded with the re-design by reducing the number of parts, meeting design criteria and producing a functional prototype at Cable Locks Connector's manufacturing facility in Toronto.
With CONII’s areas of focus covering alternative energy, environmental technologies and construction, digital media, health and life sciences, hospitality and tourism, information and communication technologies, manufacturing and materials, and viticulture and agri-business, Janzen explains that "the CONII colleges collectively offer a broad range of strengths and we put together the strongest team for each particular company. There’s an incredible potential for any business to get help with the challenges that might be nagging their business, especially as they look for ways to save money.”
Each of the 10 colleges linked by CONII – Algonquin, Centennial, Conestoga, Fanshawe, George Brown, Humber, Niagara, St. Clair, Seneca and Sheridan – has established an industry innovation centre to serve as a primary contact for business owners looking for assistance. All businesses are welcome and encouraged to contact their local college for help with research, innovation and commercialization. The college will assist applicants in sourcing its most appropriate subject matter expert for their particular challenge or act as a conduit to source the required expertise from any of the other CONII colleges.
For more information about CONII and its member colleges, please visit www.conii.ca.
Toronto, Ontario – March 30, 2009 – The economy may be bleak, but a range of small- to medium-sized businesses across Ontario have found a bright spot by turning to a little-known resource for help: colleges. With the support of students and researchers from colleges across the province, businesses say they’re positioning themselves well to come out ahead of the competition when the economic tide turns.
Thanks to the ongoing efforts of the Colleges Ontario Network for Industry Innovation (CONII) – a network linking 10 of the provinces top colleges along the technology corridor between Ottawa and Windsor – colleges province-wide are helping businesses to realize such projects as designing more efficient light sources, enhancing the use of laser technology in industry and revolutionizing the three-dimensional gaming experience, all while making Ontario companies more productive and profitable in the process.
Now, with a $10 million infusion by the Ontario government announced in last week’s budget, CONII is able to expand its program to include additional Ontario colleges and increase its capacity to provide more businesses with access to its unique support network of students and researchers from Algonquin College in Ottawa, Conestoga College in Kitchener, Fanshawe College in London, Niagara College in Welland, Sheridan College in Oakville, St. Clair College in Windsor, and Centennial College, George Brown College, Humber College and Seneca College in Toronto.
“Small business accounts for more than 80 per cent of Ontario’s economy and is the sector hardest hit by current difficult times so the renewed funding has come at a vital time,” says Katharine Janzen, Chair of the CONII Steering Committee and Vice-President, Research and Innovation, at Toronto’s Seneca College. “What this means is business owners and managers need to be more effective than ever in using creative resources like CONII, so they can access the applied research, development and commercialization services they need to keep their companies afloat and growing.”
Successful entrepreneur John Breakey, President and CEO of Oakville-based Unis Lumin and Chair of CONII's Industry Board, recognizes the strong value colleges provide to high-growth, entrepreneurial companies in their pursuit of new innovations and market penetration. “The research and commercialization expertise inside the CONII college network is a gold mine of benefit for private companies,” he said. “The colleges have a wealth of research, marketing and business resources through both the faculty and students that can give an entrepreneur the added advantage to create the next generation of technology or solution.”
The goal of CONII, launched in mid-2007 with a grant through the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation’s Ontario Research Commercialization Program (ORCP), is to develop research initiatives with business that make effective use of faculty expertise, provide students with real-world learning opportunities and ultimately have a positive economic impact on the province’s small business sector. According to John Goerzen, Industry Liaison Officer at Conestoga College, a recession is the perfect time for businesses to make use of the collective potential offered by CONII’s member colleges.
“Many industries are currently paralyzed by the economy; they don’t want to do anything,” says Goerzen. “But the reality is that for a very minimal cost, they can tap into college expertise as a way to gain access to the research and development they need to position their businesses for the future.”
One company benefiting from the applied research conducted with colleges is Spatial View Inc. Headquartered in Toronto, Spatial View is a pioneer in three-dimensional (3D) image processing. Through an Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) project, Spatial View Inc. has collaborated with Canada’s leading children’s broadcaster, Family Channel, and the Sheridan Visualization Design Institute to create a glasses-free 3D mini game that was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February. Spatial View worked collaboratively with the Sheridan Visualization Design Institute to improve its specialized software for 3D game developers. The software, combined with the company’s 3DeeShell – a protective iPhone case equipped with a special 3D viewing lens – makes it possible to create visually-compelling content that can be viewed naturally in 3D with no need for special glasses. The result of the collaboration is a proof-of-concept mini game designed and developed by the core Visualization Design Institute team and Sheridan students that can be played in natural 3D on an Apple iPhone.
“The college gave us a talented team that was savvy enough not only to work with our software to produce great results, but also to come back to us with suggestions at the end of the process,” said Brad Casemore, Vice-President Business Development of Spatial View, noting that in addition to designing the mini-game, called Carnival Craze, the Visualization Design Institute team also contributed refinements to the company’s software development kit and have helped to open up a whole new horizon for animated content. “They are a tremendous asset to us,” he said.
A researcher at Conestoga, for example, has worked with Virtek Vision International Inc. of Waterloo to explore ways of leveraging computer simulation software to improve the laser etching process (used by mints to stamp coins, for example). The software simulates the complicated and precise procedure of setting up a laser beam and engraving on various materials, thereby eliminating the need to use a trial-and-error approach on expensive equipment that wastes both time and money. The College is now discussing with Virtek applications of the simulation software to other process capabilities, says Goerzen, such as the use of lasers for measuring, creating templates and high-accuracy positioning in manufacturing.
Other examples of industry collaboration supported by CONII include the following:
* A joint effort between London Hydro and Fanshawe College in London has the potential to produce a greener, more efficient power grid. Up to 50 students will work with Fanshawe faculty and London Hydro engineers to investigate theories on how solar energy can be used to relieve pressure on the power grid during peak demand periods. The applied research will provide London Hydro the answers it needs about solar energy, and will open the door to additional solar applications in the future.
· At George Brown College in Toronto, students have teamed with the Toronto Zoo to raise awareness about road ecology – the study of the interactions between road systems and their surrounding natural environment. As part of the Eco-Road Challenge, students from the Advanced Digital Design and Game Design programs are designing a series of interactive kiosk displays for the zoo that host educational video games intended for children ages six through 12. In addition to promoting a better understanding of ecological issues, the interactive displays will also enable the Toronto Zoo to gather data that can be used to determine whether or not video games are a viable teaching tool.
· Students at Algonquin College in Ottawa are helping B-Con Engineering Inc. of Nepean to gain a competitive edge by designing and building innovative optical components. The students, together with their professors, designed a Fresnel Axicon (Fraxicon) lens which enhances the usefulness and efficiency of advanced light sources such as LEDs and compact halogen lamps, and can be used to engineer future optical devices and applications. The technology is expected to help Ontario compete with Germany and Japan in the production of advanced lenses, stimulating job creation in the province and enabling B-Con to bring new products to market.
· At Seneca College in Toronto, faculty and students are helping Richmond Hill, Ont.-based O’Hara Technologies Inc. make its manufacturing process leaner. Through innovative new production approaches, the company – which manufactures equipment for the food, confectionary and pharmaceutical industries – has successfully re-engineered its business processes, which is resulting in enhanced manufacturing capacity, cost and waste reductions, and a competitive market advantage.
· Also at Seneca College, an initial project with a small Ontario business looking to cash in on open source technology as a platform for its custom hardware has led to an ongoing partnership between Seneca students and Mozilla Corp. To date, more than 50 students have worked with Mozilla, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation that co-ordinates the development of Internet-related applications by open source developers. Some of the valuable programming contributions made by students include front-end fixes to Firefox and Thunderbird, as well as web tool improvements.
· At Humber College in Toronto, students from the Mechanical Engineering Technology program worked with Etobicoke-based Cable Lock Connectors Limited, a leader in the field of cable connectors to design and develop a new F-type connector. The F- type connector is used to connect drop cables that feed the television signal from a service provider to customers. For Cable Lock Connectors Limited to gain a competitive advantage in the connector market, the objective was to produce a connector that is less expensive to manufacture, easier to assemble, while meeting technical and quality specifications and standards. Faced with this challenge, the final year students succeeded with the re-design by reducing the number of parts, meeting design criteria and producing a functional prototype at Cable Locks Connector's manufacturing facility in Toronto.
With CONII’s areas of focus covering alternative energy, environmental technologies and construction, digital media, health and life sciences, hospitality and tourism, information and communication technologies, manufacturing and materials, and viticulture and agri-business, Janzen explains that "the CONII colleges collectively offer a broad range of strengths and we put together the strongest team for each particular company. There’s an incredible potential for any business to get help with the challenges that might be nagging their business, especially as they look for ways to save money.”
Each of the 10 colleges linked by CONII – Algonquin, Centennial, Conestoga, Fanshawe, George Brown, Humber, Niagara, St. Clair, Seneca and Sheridan – has established an industry innovation centre to serve as a primary contact for business owners looking for assistance. All businesses are welcome and encouraged to contact their local college for help with research, innovation and commercialization. The college will assist applicants in sourcing its most appropriate subject matter expert for their particular challenge or act as a conduit to source the required expertise from any of the other CONII colleges.
For more information about CONII and its member colleges, please visit www.conii.ca.
