Grant: Applied Research and Technology Partnership Grants

To realize the national goal of economic recovery through a sustainable Canadian economy, innovation across all aspects of carbon-intensive and waste generating industrial processes, including materials production and use, is urgently required. Currently, there is significant growth potential for Canada in the development of a materials circular economy through the advancement of materials technologies and products. Lambton College in partnership with George Brown, St. Clair, and Cegep de Saint Jerome proposes to launch the Canadian Materials and Circular Economy Syndicate (CMCES) with the target of speeding the economic growth and recovery of the Canadian's materials sector. The collaborating institutions have complementary research strengths covering the wide range of material applied research spectrum including Nano-materials, Advanced polymer and composite development, Advanced injection molding, Advanced 3D printing development, Circular Economy product development, Sustainable material production. The overall goal of the CMCES is to create a national advanced materials innovation network dedicated to commercializing value-added technologies in collaboration with Canadian companies. CMCES will support the development of new or the optimization of existing technologies and products that will be in the area of advanced material development and processing as well as industrial technologies that lead to the creation of a materials based circular economy. The circular economy focus will be in the form of recycling, re-use, waste reduction, and finally, chemical and physical re-processing of the materials. The Syndicate will work as a commercialization accelerator for SMEs through collaborative applied research projects. This will be accomplished by developing multi-institutional projects, conducting applied research projects from proof of concept, prototyping, to piloting, to full-scale production processes, providing resources and expertise to SMEs to stimulating economy, providing upskilling and re-skilling for employees, providing commercialization support post-project, and supporting training HQP and the development of new curriculum and courses focused on material subjects at all collaborating colleges.