Construction industry forms research & innovation institute

The Canadian Construction Association is establishing a new research institute to stimulate more industrial R&D in a sector that has traditionally spent little of its revenue on developing and commercializing new products and processes. Canadian Construction Innovations (CCI) has struck a steering committee that will be holding roundtable discussions across the country in August to seek input for operationalizing its conceptual business model. The steering committee (chaired by Don Whitmore), will also consult with the National Research Council, the Industrial Research Assistance Program and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. R&D in the construction sector has hovered above $100 million for the past several years and is projected to spend $105 million in 2011, according to the latest Statistics Canada data. The CCI's objectives include boosting industry competitiveness, monitoring and reporting on national goals underpinning innovation, developing a broad R&D agenda, disseminating and adopting new innovations and technologies, establishing a system for selecting and pursuing new R&D projects and programs and identifying the best ways for commercializing new products and services....