Grant: Canada First Research Excellence Fund

Building on its demonstrated world-class research and technology development strengths in the built environment, clean energy, electrical and information technologies, Concordia aims to be the leading university in Canada in addressing the challenges to achieving decarbonized resilient communities through a transformative and integrated approach based on technological and social innovation with electrification as a key element. Examples of related achievements of Concordia that position it as a world-leading institution include leadership of two consecutive award-winning NSERC strategic research networks in smart net-zero energy buildings and related international IEA initiatives, co-leadership of a national cybersecurity network, highly-cited ground-breaking research on climate change modelling, and novel work on electrical machines and energy storage. In addition, Concordia has attracted many prestigious NSERC Industrial Research Chairs related to clean energy and a Canada Excellence Research Chair in Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Communities and Cities. A key challenge that will be addressed in the research program is the urgent need to accelerate and optimize the transition to decarbonized resilient communities – entailing design and integration of new technologies for smart carbon-neutral buildings, smart grids, energy storage, energy management, integration of distributed renewable energy resources, and electrification of transportation, while emphasizing innovation, affordability, equity, and well-being of society with consideration of the specific needs of Indigenous communities. The proposed research program, which has attracted about 140 top researchers from Concordia, and major partners such as CanmetENERGY, NRC and Hydro-Québec is built around three themes: Theme 1: Smart, sustainable and healthy built environment; Theme 2: Resilient community energy and transportation systems based on renewables; Theme 3: Planning and governance for social equity and citizen engagement. There are also three platforms that connect across the three themes: A. Electrification, B. Digitalization and IoT, C. Living Lab and knowledge mobilization. The Concordia campus will be used as a Living Lab for testing and demonstration of the cutting-edge clean energy technologies and smart building systems. Partners will have access to the Living Lab for collaborative projects with the research team, facilitating further innovation and commercialization.