Canada's colleges are helping drive innovation and economic prosperity by participating in industry-driven, product development programs and applied research projects.
"Students need to be innovation-ready when they graduate, and these partnerships give them an opportunity to get experience while working on real-world problems," says Trish Dryden, associate vice-president of applied research and corporate planning at Centennial College in Toronto. "It's a very exciting and engaging way to learn the kinds of skills that make them workforce-ready."
Recently, Centennial worked with Spongelab Interactive to improve products and processes related to immersive educational gaming applications. As well, two students from the computer science department helped the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research develop a human genome application for the iPhone.
The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) has as many as 20 partnerships on the go at any given time says Stuart Cullum, executive director of novaNAIT, the school's applied research and enterprise development centre.
"Not only does participating in these projects enhance students' educational experience," he says,
"some are graduating directly into jobs with the companies they worked with, and others are using their experiences for their own startups."
He' particularly excited about a boreal reclamation program the school has launched with Shell Canada that includes students from two separate disciplines - Forest Technology and Digitail Media and Information Technology. They are working together to develop "prescription-based" outcomes for reclaiming conventional well sites and sensitive wetland sites, and re-vegetating roads and pipelines.
The multidisciplinary approach is also a priority selection at George Brown College in Toronto, says Robert Luke, assistant vice-president of research and innovation. For example, when Mill Pond Cannery and Preserves asked George Brown's Chef School to help update an old fruit butter recipe by incorporate organic products from Ontario, the chefs cooked up the new product, design students came up with a new label and business marketing programs.
Ultimately, says Dr. Luke, these kinds of symbiotic relationships serve the economy by producing future innovators as well as potential revenue streams for the college. At George Brown, for example, industry participants are asked to repay government grant allocations if products are successful.
Globe and Mail | February 23, 2011
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