The Short Report – Nov. 18th, 2020: New stem cell bioproduction facility; new fund for female businesses, and more…

COVID-19

The Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario announced nearly $7.4 million to support 48 small and medium-sized businesses and organizations facing financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. – GoC

Automotive interior supplier CpK Interior Products (CpK) (Port Hope, ON) has developed anti-viral plastics that kill COVID-19 on hard and soft material surfaces in less than an hour. CpK contracted the Imaging Pathogens for Knowledge Translation Facility at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry in London, ON, to collaborate and perform testing. – Canadian Plastics

HEALTH

Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions announced a repayable contribution of up to $4 million to ExCellThera (Montreal), for the purchase of lab and production equipment to establish commercial stem-cell bioproduction facilities. – GoC

Toronto’s Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) and Hamilton’s McMaster Innovation Park (MIP) signed a Letter of Intent to build a biomanufacturing campus at MIP that will enable CCRM to scale operations and provide support to cell and gene therapy-focused ventures from across Canada and the world. – CCRM

INNOVATION

Mississauga-based mobility company SONI will invest US $20 million in a new aerospace division, SONI Aerospace, to focus on advanced aerial drone and robotics research. The new initiative will see a multi-year collaboration with Ryerson University to support R&D of aerial drone technology. – SONI

Washington’s Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, which formulates technological innovation with public policy, released an overview of president-elect Joe Biden’s policy positions and likely initiatives in 10 issue areas related to tech and innovation policy. – ITIF

Calgary-based investment firm The 51 has raised $3.3 million within four weeks of launching its inaugural fund for female-led businesses. In September it partnered with the University of Calgary to establish the Financial Feminism Investing Lab to create greater opportunities for women to mobilize as investors. – The 51, UCalgary

A new report from Waterloo’s Centre for International Governance Innovation calls for Canada to enhance its domestic intellectual property and digital trade strategies to respond more adequately to changes in global economic conditions. – CIGI

The Canadian Space Agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UK-based Virgin Galactic to explore using Virgin Galactic’s Spaceflight System for future CSA payloads and spaceflights. – CSA

MANUFACTURING

As part of the federal government’s Innovation Supercluster Initiative, Next Generation Manufacturing Canada is advancing four projects with approximately $3.5 million in collaborative funding applied to circuit board manufacturing, automotive plastics, aerospace component assembly and wood manufacturing. - IPPT

ENVIRONMENT

The Government of Canada, through the Increasing Knowledge on Plastic Pollution Initiative, is spending nearly $2.3 million on 16 projects to learn more about the impacts of plastic pollution on our natural environment and health. – GoC

The federal government, SWTCH Energy, Opus One Solutions, Toronto Hydro, the University of Waterloo, University of Toronto, IBI Group and PowerCharge, are investing a combined $2.6 million to reduce the cost of electric vehicle charging transactions and enhancing grid efficiency. – GoC

The National Research Council (NRC) has opened an advanced materials research facility in Mississauga to support research into clean energy materials for industrial development and commercialization. The facility was a joint initiative of the NRC and the Xerox Research Centre of Canada. – NRC

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories has issued a call for proposals for the second round of its Canadian Nuclear Research Initiative program to accelerate the deployment of small modular reactors in Canada. This year the program has grown in size and scope to incorporate all advanced reactor (AR) designs, including next-generation on-grid reactors and fusion technologies.  – CNL

AGRICULTURE

The Protein Industries Canada supercluster has joined Ingredion Plant Based Protein Specialties, Verdient Foods and others in a $27.5 million project aimed at opening new markets for pulse-based proteins by increasing their functionality in high-value ingredients. The group will commercialize new technology to improve the functionality of pulse-based ingredients. – Protein Industries Canada

THE GRAPEVINE

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research; the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council have announced the names of 18 members who will set the direction in supporting Indigenous research and research training in the newly established tri-agency Reference Group for the Appropriate Review of Indigenous Research (Reference Group). – CIHR

Vivek Goel has been appointed president and vice-chancellor of the University of Waterloo. Goel will be UWaterloo’s seventh president and vice-chancellor and begins his five-year term on July 1, 2021. – UWaterloo

Minda Suchan has been appointed VP of Geointelligence at Brampton-based space-tech firm MDA. – SpaceQ

José Azaña and Roberto Morandotti have received the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council’s Brockhouse Award for Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Engineering. – NSERC

Ryan Mooney will be the managing director for the new Calgary office of investment banking office Echelon Wealth. – Echelon

Kevin Krausert has resigned as president and CEO of Beaver Drilling and is the co-founder and chief financial officer of new energy investment firm Avatar Innovations. – Globe and Mail