Colleges secure funding to network Technology Access Centres across Canada

Canadian industry will soon receive a uniform level of services and technological expertise from colleges and polytechnics with the creation of a new Technology Access Centres Network (TN) of 24 colleges and polytechnics across the country. Three years in the making, the TN aims to offer seamless services for industry in nine broad technology areas while aligning applied research capacity across the college and polytechnic sector.

The TN was recently awarded $300,000 over two years by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) to be matched by cash and in-kind from participating institutions that previously received funding from either NSERC's Technology Access Centre (TAC) program or from the Quebec government.

"This will drive best practices, services and professional development for the centres," says Dr Robert Luke, assistant VP research at innovation at George Brown College in Toronto. "Intermediate outcomes are for members to be networked, organized and offer common services for industry. The ultimate outcome is for industry to have successful experiences training the next generation of workers through our students."

Luke has spent three years developing the networking model in collaboration with Bert van den Berg, director of colleges, commercialization and portfolio planning at NSERC.

Modelled on CCTT

The TN is closely modelled on the well-established Quebec network of college commercialization centres — College Centres for Technology Transfer (CCTT) — which are networked through the provincially funded Réseau Trans-tech.

As the first truly pan-Canadian network for college and polytechnic R&D, the TN represents one more step towards full integration into the Canadian innovation system. Designed to streamline and enhance applied research capacity and integrate a suite of professional and research expertise nationwide, the TN will make it easier for companies to access commercialization, business and marketing services geared to their specific needs and sectoral characteristics.

"It's a good story for colleges and polytechnics as well as the innovation system," says Luke, noting that his college has a Food Innovation & Research Studio — one of two food product TACs in the country. "It's a franchise model that establishes service-level expectations of companies through sharing of best practices and harmonization of those practices."

Under NSERC's TAC program — a component of the College and Community Innovation Program — 11 colleges from Quebec and 14 across the rest of Canada were awarded funding to establish their own centres. Quebec colleges received top-up grants of $100,000 annually (to augment base funding from the province) while other colleges received $350,000 per annum. The TAC program was launched in 2013 at the urging of the Association of Community Colleges and Canada (now Colleges and Institutes Canada – CICan) (R$, September 26/13). Each TAC award is for five years and institutions can apply for renewed funding.

CICAN to provide support

CICan will provide the TN with space, communications and logistical support at its Ottawa offices with the aim of helping to elevate the standard and brand of college R&D and leveraging the expertise of the CCTTs.

Luke points out that the TN is beneficial for the many companies that perform R&D on an ad hoc or as-needed basis, linking them to relevant players within a specific industry cluster and helping to establish long-term partnerships

"The CCTTs have been doing it for two decades and have documented success," says Luke. "Through NSERC, college R&D is still new. So for colleges it's largely a start-up effort, capacity building."

Ontario previously attempted a college networking initiative called the Colleges Ontario Network for Industry Innovation (CONII). Started as a pilot in 2006, CONII was made permanent in 2009 with a $10-million investment from the province to link the province's 24 colleges. In 2013, it was subsumed into the Ontario Networks of Excellence program where it continues to operate as a distinct program.

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