At a news conference today in Fredericton, the Honourable Greg Thompson, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Regional Minister for New Brunswick, released the details of the six projects in New Brunswick that will receive up to $16 million in funding under the Government of Canada’s Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF).

Today’s announcement comes as part of a series of announcements to release details on the 29 innovative research and development projects that will receive up to $67.1 million in AIF funding throughout Atlantic Canada, as announced earlier today by the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA).

“Canada’s New Government is committed to investing in research and development to help build a competitive economy in Atlantic Canada,” Minister MacKay said. “Our ability to compete is linked to our ability to innovate, to develop new products and services, and to bring them to new markets. ACOA’s Atlantic Innovation Fund helps Atlantic Canadians do just that.”

The six New Brunswick projects have a total value of approximately $29.6 million and include the effective use of biopesticides for forest protection, the efficient production of higher-value paper products, the development of a meaning-based computer search platform, the creation of a technologically advanced prosthetic hand, the discovery of biomarkers for cancer research, and the development of advanced low-maintenance exterior wood products.

The projects bring together universities, businesses and research institutions to conduct world-class research that, once commercialized, has the potential to grow Atlantic Canada’s economy.

“These projects build on the tremendous expertise we are developing here in New Brunswick in the forestry, biomedical and information and communications technologies sectors,” added Minister Thompson. “These investments will help to keep New Brunswick on the leading edge of these important sectors, generating new opportunities for trade, investment and job creation.”

ACOA’s Atlantic Innovation Fund encourages research and development in Atlantic Canada and has been an important catalyst for many Atlantic Canadian businesses, universities and research institutions. It has helped build Atlantic Canada’s reputation for innovation and, through the success of the projects it has funded, has made significant contributions to the region’s research and development and economic performance.

The six projects in New Brunswick awarded AIF funding are:

Forest Protection Limited (Lincoln, NB) Project: Research to develop new biopesticide products and more effective aerial applications

Forest Protection Limited uses research and aerial services to control forest fires and forest insect outbreaks. This project will develop a suite of biopesticides that specifically affect targeted insect pests. It will also enhance an industry-leading spray aircraft control system to maximize the effectiveness of pesticide application while reducing the associated costs and environmental risks. This project, with total estimated costs of approximately $8.2 million, will receive up to $3 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a five-year period.

Fraser Papers East Operation (Edmundston, NB) Project: Efficient development of higher-value paper products

Fraser Papers is an integrated specialty paper company which produces a broad range of technical and printing and writing papers. In collaboration with the University of New Brunswick, the company will develop new processes to produce higher value paper products and improve the efficiency of the company’s operations. The project, with total costs of approximately $3.1 million, will receive up to $1.9 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a three-year period.

Innovatia Inc. (Saint John, NB) Project: Integration and delivery of semantic knowledge- based systems

Innovatia Inc. researches, develops and provides knowledge solutions for the telecommunication industry. This project will develop a meaning-based search platform which will generate search results that match the meaning or intent of the user. This project, with total estimated costs of approximately $4.4 million, will receive up to $2.8 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a five-year period.

Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of New Brunswick (Fredericton, NB) Project: Development of a technologically advanced prosthetic hand.

The University of New Brunswick’s (UNB) Institute of Biomedical Engineering is a world leader in prosthetics research. This project will develop a commercially viable and technologically advanced prosthetic hand system. The new UNB Hand will be compact, life-like and affordable, featuring a more natural motion and incremental grip adjustment to hold objects. This project, with total estimated costs of approximately $4.3 million, will receive up to $2.9 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a five-year period.

Marwood Ltd. (Fredericton, NB) Project: Development of technologies for advanced low maintenance wood products

Marwood is one of the largest producers of value-added wood products in Atlantic Canada, producing a broad range of wood products for industrial and residential applications. In partnership with UNB’s Wood Science and Technology Centre, this project will develop new technologies to produce low maintenance or maintenance-free exterior wood products. The project, with total costs of approximately $3.4 million, will receive up to $2.5 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a three-year period.

Atlantic Cancer Research Institute (Moncton, NB) Project: Genomically guided biomarker discovery for cancer

The Atlantic Cancer Research Institute is a not-for-profit organization focused on the research and development of cancer-related medical biotechnology and biopharmaceuticals. This project will extend the Institute’s genetic research to explore possible biomarker panels for breast cancer, ovarian cancer and lung cancer. This project, with total estimated costs of approximately $6.2 million, will receive up to $3 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a three-year period.

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For more information, contact:

Patricia Field
Director of Communications
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
Fredericton, NB
506-452-4287

Diana Zandberg
Director of Communications, Policy and Programs
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
Moncton, NB
506-851-2132

Comprehensive backgrounders on the selected NB-based projects are attached.

Backgrounders:

Integrated Research, Development and Commercialization of Biological Forest Pest Control Products and Application Technologies
Forest Protection Limited

Forest Protection Limited (FPL) is a private, non-profit corporation owned jointly by the forest industry and the Province of New Brunswick. Its activities include protecting forests from fire and insect damage through research, as well as aerial application services throughout the Atlantic Provinces, Ontario, British Columbia, and the Western United States. Since increasingly stringent pesticide regulations are reducing the availability of forest pest control tools, there is a need to develop acceptable replacements. Improved aerial spray technologies are key to effective pesticide application, as existing systems sometimes result in unintended spray drift. This can result in poorer pest management, higher control costs, and potential environmental risk.

In partnership with the Canadian Forest Service, the University of New Brunswick (UNB), BioAtlantech, the BioControl Network and Sylvar Technologies Inc., this project will evaluate a number of virus-based biopesticides that affect only specific, economically significant forest pests. FPL will establish a secure bank to store and produce registered viruses, and measure the efficiency of these viruses in the field.

Working with UNB, the Canadian Forest Service and ADAPCO Inc., a Florida manufacturer of control systems for spray aircraft, FPL will also develop a unique Aerial Spray Management System to maximize on-target deposit and reduce off-target drift. New spray optimization software will be linked to aircraft guidance software and integrated into ADAPCO’s spray control system. UNB’s Protection Planning System, developed initially for managing the Spruce Budworm, will be enhanced by adding three new insect pests, and by incorporating economic and operational factors.

This project, with total estimated costs of approximately $8 million, will receive up to $3 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a five-year period.

Contact Information:

Mr. David Davies
General Manager
Forest Protection Limited
Fredericton, New Brunswick
506-446-6930

Improving Raw Material Utilization
Fraser Papers East Operations

Fraser Papers is a leading manufacturer of specialized printing, publishing and converting papers. As one of North America's largest producers of specialized paper products, the company has operations in New Brunswick, Quebec, Maine and New Hampshire.

The forestry industry faces immediate and long-term challenges with the significant increased cost of raw material. The situation is particularly severe in the pulp and paper sector, which dominates Atlantic Canada’s forestry sector.

Fraser Papers East Operations, in collaboration with the University of New Brunswick (UNB), will develop new technology and processes to provide materials for the production of paper grades. This will result in better use of the fibre resource required to produce lightweight and high bright printing grades. The project will also generate cost savings and environmental benefits by making use of materials that would otherwise be incinerated.

The project will lead to the production of higher value paper products and increased efficiency for the company’s operations. It will enhance the innovation capacity of Fraser Papers East Operations and help to strengthen relationships between industry and research centres. It will also build upon UNB’s highly regarded expertise in pulp and paper research and development.

This project, with total estimated costs of approximately $3.1 million, will receive up to $1.8 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a three-year period.

Contact Information:

Bill Manzer
Senior Vice President
Pulp & Paper Operations
Fraser Papers
Tel: 207-523-2364

Integration and Delivery of Semantic Knowledge- Based Systems
Innovatia Inc.

Innovatia Inc., a Bell Aliant company headquartered in Saint John, New Brunswick, researches, develops and provides a comprehensive suite of knowledge solutions, including e-learning, technical documentation and technical support services for the telecommunications industry. When a high tech company brings a product to market, there are numerous information requirements to support that product throughout its life cycle. In today’s world, information requirements such as technical documentation, training courseware, job aides, sales and marketing handbooks and technical support databases are usually created by separate departments within a company. This practice is time consuming, costly and often results in content inconsistencies. Improved management of costs, speed to market, currency and accuracy are critical to Innovatia’s clients.

As a key component of this project, Innovatia will develop a “single-source” Information Authoring and management model that will enable companies to capture relevant information once, configure it for all required uses and deliver it to any desired output format(Wireless, web, print, etc).. A key to this model is the creation of an information architecture that ensures information is created in a modular format and categorized though tagging. This will produce more structured information which will speed the information search, improve reuse opportunities, and allow constant improvement of the information through a feedback loop.

Existing Knowledge Management Systems use keyword or key phrase search functions (syntax search) to locate and select content information. In partnership with the University of New Brunswick, Innovatia will build a semantic (meaning based) search platform that will provide more relevant search results by interpreting the user’s meaning or intent. This will result in more intelligent access to information and provide more focused information results for the user.

This project, with total estimated costs of approximately $4.4 million, will receive up to $2.8 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a three-year period.

Contact Information:

Mr. Blair Morgan
Director of Innovation
Innovatia
Saint John, New Brunswick
506-640-4000
Blair.morgan@innovatia.net

The UNB Advanced Prosthetic Hand
University of New Brunswick Institute of Biomedical Engineering

The University of New Brunswick’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBME) has a 40-year R&D history and is a world leader in upper body prosthetics research. In the US and Canada, approximately 60,000 people are missing hands or entire arms while an additional 2,300 people undergo hand amputations each year. Currently, there is a limited range of prosthetic solutions to help these people, and what is available on the market has not advanced greatly in the last 30 years.

The IBME proposes to research and develop a commercially viable and technologically advanced prosthetic hand system. The new UNB Hand will be lightweight, compact, quiet, robust, affordable and available in a range of sizes.

In order to control the hand’s gripping motion, the IBME will develop, with the help of the Université de Moncton’s Thin Films and Photonics Research Group (Moncton, NB) and ECI Medical Technologies (Bridgewater, NS), a new sensor glove system that will incrementally adjust the grip pressure required to hold an object without dropping or crushing it. A second, highly durable and life-like outer glove will protect the sensor glove against rips, wear and stains.

Finally, in order to activate and move the new hand unit, the IBME will improve on existing myoelectric control technology. Myoelectric systems use naturally occurring muscle nerve signals that activate and control individual prosthetic components (arm, wrist, hand). The IBME will extend this functionality by better distinguishing between various nerve signals and by automating various control sequences to produce a more natural motion while reducing the wearer’s cognitive burden.

This project, with total estimated costs of approximately $4.3 million, will receive up to $2.9 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a five-year period.

Contact Information:

Dr. Bernard Hudgins
Director
Institute of Biomedical Engineering
University of New Brunswick
Fredericton, New Brunswick
506-453-4966

Development of technologies for advanced low maintenance wood products
Marwood Ltd.

Marwood Ltd. is one of the largest producers of value added wood products in Atlantic Canada. The company produces a broad range of wood products for industrial and residential applications including timber, fencing, lattice, deck lumber and accessories, backyard sheds and painted wood siding among others.

Marwood uses state of the art technologies to apply protection to its products for enhanced durability. One characteristic of outdoor wood products however, is the need for maintenance to prolong their service life. Consumers are increasingly demanding products that require minimal care. To respond to this demand, this project will develop new technologies for the production of advanced low maintenance wood products. These technologies will enable the company to produce exterior wood products that have a superior, durable and environmentally friendly protective coating requiring minimal intervention by consumers.

In partnership with UNB’s Wood Science and Technology Centre, Marwood intends to develop a two-phased approach to enhancing the durability of wood products. Phase l will investigate the use of heat treatment technologies to modify selected wood species. Phase 2 will investigate the use of advance powder coating techniques and anti-microbial polymers that can be applied to the surface of thermally modified wood. This project, with total estimated costs of over $3.3 million, will receive just over $2.5 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a three-year period.

Contact information:

Mr. Danny Goodine
Vice-President, Operations
Marwood Ltd.
Fredericton, New Brunswick
Tel.: (506) 459-7777

Genomically-Guided Biomarker Discovery for Cancer
Atlantic Cancer Research Institute

The Atlantic Cancer Research Institute is a not-for-profit organization focused on the research and development of cancer-related medical biotechnology and biopharmaceuticals. The main goal of its research is to better understand the molecular causes of cancer in order to develop new therapeutic strategies and biotechnological tools.

Prostate cancer is a leading form of disease in Canadian men while colon cancer is one of the three most prevalent cancers for both men and women. Current tests, such as the Prostate Specific Antigen Test (PSA) for prostate cancer and the Fecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT) for colon cancer, are often inaccurate and can lead to unnecessary and expensive medical procedures.

The Atlantic Cancer Research Institute, in partnership with the National Research Council Institute for Information Technology, recently patented highly accurate biomarker panels for diagnosing prostate and colon cancers using small amounts of tissue generally removed using a needle biopsy. This AIF project will extend this genetic research to explore possible biomarker panels for breast cancer, ovarian cancer and lung cancer. As well, this initiative will expand the institute’s research capacity to include proteomics research. Proteins carry out the cell’s physiological functions and their fundamental impact on health and disease is an important consideration when researching ways to detect cancer at its earliest stages of development. Proteomics research will provide a foundation for developing various biomarker screening tests to determine the presence of cancer cells in blood, urine or stool. If successful, the Atlantic Cancer Research Institute and the National Research Council will commercialize these new cancer biomarker tests as a cost- effective way to detect cancer, thus reducing the need for costly and invasive medical tests and procedures.

This project, with total estimated costs of approximately $6.2 million, will receive up to $3 million from the Atlantic Innovation Fund over a three-year period.

Contact Information:

Dr. Rodney Ouellette
CEO and Director of Discovery, Atlantic Cancer Research Institute
Hôtel-Dieu Pavilion
35 Providence Street
Moncton, NB E1C 8X3
506-862-7512
info@canceratl.ca