Research & Innovation receives grants to help boost the local economy through energy storage technologies and advanced materials
SARNIA, April 5, 2022 – Some new funding received by Lambton College’s Research & Innovation department should help boost the local economy through collaborative efforts with SMEs. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) announced the recipients of the Applied Research Technology Partnership (ARTP) grants earlier today.
Lambton College is pleased to have been named as a recipient of both an ARTP1 and ARTP2 grant for over $1.84M. The College will also be participating as a partner for an ARTP grant that was awarded to the Southern Ontario Network for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation (SONAMI).
The new grant programs were announced by NSERC in 2021, and were made available over two years to the College and Community Innovation (CCI) program, managed by NSERC in collaboration with the Canadian Institute of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
The new grants allow post-secondary education institutions to assist small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with innovative and technical developments to boost economic growth locally and nationally. These grants also provide the opportunity for students to participate in applied research projects and gain real-life training to set them apart from their peers when entering the workforce. The ARTP program was divided to two streams: ARTP1 for single college and ARTP 2 for a group of colleges.
Lambton College was awarded $641,800 from the ARTP1 to establish the Electrical Energy Storage Research Platform (EESRP) to develop new and enhance existing energy storage and battery technologies in collaboration with industry partners. To date, the College has secured firm commitments with eight companies to carry out research on a wide range of electrical energy storage technologies.
An additional $1.24M was also awarded to Lambton for the ARTP2 to establish the Canadian Materials Circular Economy Syndicate (CMCES) to support the development of new, or the optimization of existing technologies and products in the area of advanced material development and processing as well as industrial technologies that lead to the creation of a materials based circular economy. The project will be led by Lambton and comprised of partnering institutions including St. Clair College, The Cégep de Saint-Jérôme and George Brown.
“Lambton College is thrilled to have been named as the successful recipient of both an ARTP1 and ARTP2 as a means to help SMEs and the local economy in the areas of materials circular economy and energy storage technologies.” said Dr. Mehdi Sheikhzadeh, Vice President, Research & Innovation, Lambton College. “Not only will this allow the College to continue to grow collaborative applied research projects with industry and boost our local and national economy, but it will also create a conducive teaching environment to train highly qualified personnel for growing cleantech sectors and provide College students the opportunity to gain real-life experience working with industry.”
Lambton College has also partnered with the Southern Ontario Network for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation (SONAMI) on their project to support economic recovery for SMEs through sustainability, profitability and growth. NSERC announced today that SONAMI will receive $1M per year for their project.