VET & TAFE
campusreview.com.au
From beer to
aerospace
Montreal Biosphère
Canada’s applied research
model generates innovations
across a variety of sectors from
smaller businesses and students
at VET-type institutions.
By Ruth Schubert
M
ark Hoddenbagh, executive director at Algonquin College,
Ontario, says Canadian university students will work for
money, marks and food (really beer, though this is no longer
politically correct). But, more importantly, they work to innovate.
Students in Canada form a vital part of the innovation workforce
as they, in effect, become the R&D department for enterprises that
sign up to the country’s applied research model. The Canadian
experience in mobilising the head, heart and hands of students and
staff at institutions across Canada grants enterprises a powerful
and cost-effective means of driving their own product, process and
service innovation.
So what is applied research? In short, problem solving. Teams in the
classroom, lab, workshop or workplace address enterprise challenges
and issues. Some projects take a matter of months, some are longer
term, over several years. Almost universally, the resulting intellectual
property remains with the enterprise, which invests in the project by
either paying to employ the students, or for materials or both.
This model has grown in strength across Canada in the last
10 years, largely due to the support of the federal government, which
provides the majority of the funding, about $85 million annually,
under a competitive application process. Most importantly, the private
sector continues to provide significant co-funding of $78 million. Yet
the federal funding is still small beer compared with the $2.96 billion
given annually to the Canadian higher education sector for research.
Colleges and Institutes Canada is the peak body for publicly
supported institutions across Canada. It recently reported that
in the last year, more than 6300 Canadian companies – mostly
small or medium-sized enterprises – partnered with colleges and
institutes to undertake activities through the applied research
model. With 32,000 students engaged in research, this represents
a 52 per cent increase in the number of students engaged in
entrepreneurial activity since 2012–13.
All six colleges in Ontario that the Australian and UK VET
delegation visited recently have ongoing examples of fostering
innovation through the applied research model. Centennial College
has focused on energy, health and aerospace, with projects
ranging from designing new landing gear for planes and wearable
interactive clothing for healthcare workers, to hybrid street lamps.
But it’s not all small business, as Centennial is also a partner in the
Downsview Park Aerospace Campus, which is federally owned land
with bombardier facilities and an innovation centre. This aims to
allow SMEs to work with the big boys in aerospace.
Niagara College, which has expertise in wine making and boutique
brewing, developed an alcohol-free beer. The project had support
from Mothers against Drunk Driving and funding of $2.3 million over
five years. The beer is now a commercial success across Northern
America. This was one of the few projects from which some
royalties went back to the college. Algonquin College reported that
for every 100 p