Dr. James Blatz (University of Manitoba, NSERC Council member), Ray Hoemsen (Director of Applied Research & Commercialization, RRC), the Honourable Vic Toews, Ken Webb (Vice-President, Academic & Research, RRC).

Manitobans and local businesses will benefit from a new research partnership that will bring together Red River College and industry. The partnership will support innovation and help move new discoveries, developed on campus, into the marketplace, where Canadians and people around the world can benefit from them. The initiative was celebrated at an official event at the college today by the Honourable Vic Toews, President of Treasury Board.

“Our government supports innovation because it creates jobs, improves the quality of life of Canadians and strengthens the economy,” said the President Toews. “This new partnership will provide skills training for Winnipeg, position the Red River College as a destination for international research talent and give local businesses access to the knowledge and resources they need to innovate.”

Red River College was one of nine colleges selected across Canada, following a peer reviewed competition, and will receive $2.3 million over five years. The campus project will focus on establishing a research group that will work with industry to develop improved building and construction technologies.

Funding for the partnership comes from the federal government’s College and Community Innovation Program (CCI), administered by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Established as a permanent program by the government in Budget 2007, the program enables colleges to develop or expand knowledge transfer activities in their communities through partnerships with local companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises. The program is supported as part of the government’s Science and Technology Strategy launched by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2007.

"The CCI Program builds on other initiatives that foster collaboration between industry and post-secondary institutions,” said Dr. Suzanne Fortier, President of NSERC. “The partners will be working on important, multifaceted Canadian projects with direct impact on their local communities. We look forward to helping them achieve their maximum potential and impact.”