From EV Batteries To Harvesting Seaweed, NBIF Event Promotes Cleantech Collaborations Between Businesses And Researchers
Researchers and business leaders are collaborating on a diverse range of solutions to climate change across the region – from a Dalhousie University team working with Tesla on innovative battery design, to University of New Brunswick researchers who have developed and commercialized seaweed products from the Bay of Fundy.
The New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF) is hosting a virtual event on November 24 to spotlight and unite these innovators and business owners in the fight against climate change – R3 Cleantech: Advancing Climate Innovation.
“The conference is an opportunity to learn about what opportunities and research is going on in the province to deal with climate change,” said Paul Thornton, the Senior Commercialization Officer with NBIF.
“It’s an opportunity to learn how people can build collaborations and potentially look for opportunities to do research projects with their businesses.”
At the day-long online event, businesses of all sizes and from a variety of sectors can learn more about the challenges of integrating cleantech and realizing its economic and environmental benefits.
It will feature updates on the region’s capacity and expertise around cleantech research – and how businesses can connect and work with universities and research institutes like Valores, CCNB, and UNB.
The event draws on the $1.5-million Climate Impact Fund launched earlier this fall in partnership with Opportunities New Brunswick (ONB), to spur the development of new green technology (cleantech) innovations in New Brunswick.
The funding, available across a swath of different sectors and research areas, supports early-stage technology development, adaptation, and research. It also supports commercialization and investment. And companies or individuals looking to get involved are encouraged to chat with NBIF team members during the event.
The event will feature two keynote speakers. Dalhousie Professor Jeff Dahn, the NSERC/Tesla Research Chair in Lithium-Ion Research, was instrumental in the early research developing Li-Ion batteries.
“His relationship with Tesla is a really great model, where it’s a partnership with industry,” said Thornton.
The second keynote will be delivered by Carol-Ann Brown with the Delphi Group, a consultancy focused on helping some of Canada’s largest businesses meet net-zero commitments.
“We’re looking forward to hearing from her perspective – she’s been working in this field for a long time and has a lot of expertise in working with businesses to achieve their climate goals.”
There will also be other researchers and companies sharing their experiences and expertise:
- Leo Cheung, Director of Minerals and Industrial Services in Process Engineering with the Research Productivity Council (RPC). Cheung is heavily involved in research projects with industries and small companies integrating cleantech in their operations. His work is integral to the series, as it involves a collaboration between the research and business communities.
- Thierry Chopin, the Scientific Director of the Canadian Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture Network at UNB. Chopin is an expert in seaweed cultivation for commercial purposes, and advocates for aquaculture that leverages the impacts of multiple species to improve crops and sustainability and the ocean’s important role in reaching sustainability goals with the help of innovation. Thierry also founded Turquoise Revolution, a firm focused on commercialized greener harvesting and the drying of kelp.
- Ryan Mitchell, Vice President of Saint John Energy, will talk about the initiatives the utility launching to make its operations greener.
- Brian McCain, the Director of Environment and Resource Efficient Operations at McCain Foods, will address sustainability in a company with global operations and supply chains.
- Loïc D’Orangeville, an Associate Professor in the UNB Forestry program, will talk about how New Brunswick’s forestry industry can adapt and what kind of management practices it should adopt to help their companies meet climate goals.
“It’s strategic, being able to meet emissions targets while still improving the bottom line,” Thornton said.
“If you’re not innovating or looking for ways to improve your operations and be more sustainable, you’re going to be in a less competitive position.”
Thornton stresses the R3 event is not sector-specific, but that the province’s traditional industries will benefit from adopting practices and technologies to meet their climate goals and grow their businesses at the same time.
“I think with New Brunswick being very much a resource-focused economy, climate change will impact our forests and agriculture and fisheries, and that’s something everyone will have to adapt to,” Thornton said. “But there are opportunities to innovate.”
In the past, the R3 event has focused on the research community, but Thornton said it’s expanded to include entrepreneurs from startups and established corporations across the province.
“This event is an opportunity for researchers to showcase their work in front of people from businesses and industry – and to get them all talking,” he said.
The series “is really building that dialogue and looking for opportunities” to create cleantech opportunities in all sectors of the economy.
You can purchase tickets for the R3 speaker series on Eventbrite.