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London, ON – Mitacs, a national non-profit research and training organization, announces its largest Accelerate research project which will see London-based Trojan Technologies, a world leader in water treatment technologies including ultraviolet (UV) and filtration, partner with seven universities across Canada.
Mitacs Accelerate connects companies, like Trojan, with research-based universities through graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, who apply their specialized expertise to business challenges. Interns transfer their skills from theory to real-world application, while the companies gain a competitive advantage by accessing high-quality research expertise.
Trojan Technologies has undertaken a comprehensive research program to apply innovative processes in water treatment to support resource recovery.
The research collaboration will be supported by 140 Mitacs Accelerate internships over three years and is valued at $2.19 million. Researchers from McMaster University, University of Alberta, University of Regina, University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, University of Windsor, and Western University will collaborate on the project.
Quotes:
Alejandro Adem, CEO and Scientific Director, Mitacs
“Through Mitacs Accelerate, university researchers are playing vital roles in helping Canadian companies solve real challenges and develop new products, services, and technologies that contribute to Canada’s economic growth and improve the lives of Canadians. Companies like Trojan are helping to develop an innovation-based economy in Canada. Mitacs is proud to support Trojan by facilitating academic knowledge transfer and by engaging students in critical industrial research efforts.”
Ted Mao, Vice-President, Research, Trojan Technologies
“Mitacs has been a very responsive partner, providing timely and efficient access to young talent across the country. Mitacs interns allow us to investigate research questions beyond our capacity and beyond our conventional knowledge base. Resulting partnerships with universities and interns have led to longer-term collaborations that have benefitted all the partners.”
Allison Sekuler, Acting Vice-President, Research, McMaster University
“Connecting university researchers — from grad students to post-doctoral fellows to faculty — with business and industry is critical to creating a more innovative and competitive Canada. Mitacs Accelerate is an ideal conduit to securing these kinds of creative partnerships from which all Canadians benefit.”
Lorne A. Babiuk, Vice-President Research, University of Alberta
“Mitacs’ Accelerate program is hugely beneficial for Canada and for Canadian industry and universities, as well as for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. This innovative program enables industry access to highly skilled and knowledgeable interns who help make their organizations more innovative and productive; and students/post docs get valuable workplace experience. In turn, Canada increases its knowledge base and competitive advantage while stimulating the economy and job growth. It is a remarkable partnership that benefits all involved.”
David Malloy, Vice-President (Research), University of Regina
“We’re proud to be a part of this impressive research team assembled by Mitacs. The University of Regina has a team of top-notch researchers, including two Canada Research Chairs (Dr. Peter Leavitt and Dr. Gordon Huang), with extensive experience in funded water-quality research. We look forward to working with our partner universities and Trojan Technologies to explore innovative water treatment technologies that will benefit people in Saskatchewan, across the country, and around the world.”
Vivek Goel, Vice-President, Research and Innovation, University of Toronto
“The Mitacs internship program helps to enrich our university-based research and training programs, while ensuring local companies increasingly benefit from the world-class talent, research, and innovations developed here at the University of Toronto.”
D. George Dixon, Vice-President, University Research, University of Waterloo
“The University of Waterloo has maintained a long-standing and beneficial relationship with Mitacs thanks to its valuable support provided for our innovative research programs and approach to industry collaborations. A shared focus of integrating graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in these research collaborations, as well as attracting international talent is key to fostering economic growth for Canada and makes partnering with Mitacs an effective long-term strategy for Waterloo.”
Michael Siu, Vice-President, Research and Innovation, University of Windsor
“At the University of Windsor, we are committed to training highly qualified personnel who will become our next-generation scholars, leaders, scientists, engineers and industrial entrepreneurs, and to fostering the community, government and industry partnerships that will enable mobilization of academic research and innovation for the betterment of society. We challenge ourselves to lead the way in research that will result in Healthy Great Lakes. Through this incredible partnership, Mitacs and Trojan Technologies are providing precisely the sort of collaboration that facilitates translation of knowledge from academia to industry, while providing real-world, hands-on training that our students and graduates need to lead the way in freshwater resources preservation and management.”
John Capone, Vice-President (Research), Western University
“Our long-standing partnership with Trojan Technologies has been based on generating new ideas and new solutions related to water and how to treat it. Mitacs has been invaluable in providing the critical support required to allow us to continue to bridge experiential learning opportunities and advanced research, while providing specialized knowledge needed to increase the global competitiveness and economic impact of Canadian companies like Trojan.”
Quick facts:
- Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit organization that has designed and delivered research and training programs in Canada for 15 years.
- Working with 60 universities, thousands of companies, and both federal and provincial governments, we build partnerships that support industrial and social innovation in Canada.
- Mitacs’ Accelerate program connects graduate students with industry partners for research internships supervised by faculty. In 2014–15, Mitacs supported almost 3,200 Accelerate internships with 700 companies.
- Open to all disciplines and all industry sectors, projects can span a wide range of areas, including manufacturing, business processes, IT, social sciences, design, and more.
Links:
For information about Mitacs and our programs, see mitacs.ca/newsroom.
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Image Gallery: Trojan Technologies facility tour and recognition event, September 10, 2015.
