Dr Ian McWalter, President & CEO, CMC Microsystems.

Hardware innovation is alive and well in Canada

By Dr Ian McWalter

Is there a future for Canada in developing hardware-based products using advanced technology? For innovators in Canada's National Design Network (NDN), that future is already taking shape. One example is RANOVUS Inc, an Ottawa startup company. Founded by Canadian serial entrepreneur Hamid Arabzadeh in 2012, the company is developing optical interconnect technologies capable of addressing the growing demand for speed, power efficiency and cost savings by data centres — the drivers of our Internet-of-Everything world.

Arabzadeh estimates that his company's silicon photonics-based technology is one-tenth the cost and uses one-quarter of the power of current connectivity solutions. The game-changing potential of the product has already attracted $35 million in investment from Canada, the US and Germany.

Another recent example is Vancouver's Aspect Biosystems, a Univ of British Columbia startup focused on 3D bioprinting of human tissue. Like RANOVUS, the company is exciting interest from investors, recently closing an "oversubscribed" seed financing round with Vancouver angels. It has also attracted the attention of at least one pharmaceutical firm that is now doing business with the company.

Aspect Biosystems' first product, 3D printed tissue for pharmaceutical drug testing, addresses an unmet need for more efficient and accurate in vitro testing of drug candidates without the complications and costs of animal testing. In the long-term, company founder and electrical engineering professor Konrad Walus sees the technology capable of even more sophisticated tasks, such as eventually printing organs for transplantation.

Mature companies are also venturing into advanced manufacturing. Optical components manufacturer TeraXion of Quebec City began exploring silicon photonics well before the promise of this light-based technology had been proven. Their timely entry into an emerging technology field resulted in design and manufacturing expertise with a competitive edge and has generated global markets for their silicon photonics products.

Many other examples can be found across Canada. GaN Systems of Ottawa, initially leveraging technology developed by the National Research Council, has taken the lead in developing transistors made of gallium nitride, a novel material with growing promise in many applications, including alternative energy, automotive and transportation, aerospace, and power-efficient consumer products. The company is doing very well, recently closing on a $20-million Series C financing with investments from Canada, the US and China.

And LuxMux Technology, a startup company founded by University of Calgary graduate Yonathan Dattner, and University of Calgary professor Orly Yadid-Pecht, is exploiting silicon nano-photonics to develop sensors for enhancing the efficiency of heavy oil recovery — work that is being backed with more than $5 million in private and public sector investments.

These examples show that there is opportunity for companies exploring new materials and processes, and accessing global supply chains to make new technologies that not only address unmet needs, but do so by being smaller, faster, cleaner, and global in their applications.

But there are other lessons to be learned as well, and for these lessons I return to my first two examples above.

Leveraging CMC expertise

RANOVUS came into being because of the talents of a University of Waterloo graduate who earned his entrepreneurial reputation during 15 years of global optics experience, but was ultimately drawn back to Canada because of its innovation ecosystem.

Hamid Arabzadeh says his company is successful because of access to advanced silicon photonics expertise at McMaster University, and because he was able to de-risk his technology through prototyping services available through CMC Microsystems' NDN. Today, he continues the circle of innovation by providing internships to graduate students trained in silicon photonics at Canadian universities, and by hiring highly qualified grads.

Aspect Biosystems' Konrad Walus also acknowledges the importance of this ecosystem, which provided equipment, expertise, and support to manufacture the chips used in his innovative bioprinter. Creating a sophisticated tissue manufacturing technology from a humble ink jet printer requires resources beyond most research budgets. It's not a business that can be started in a garage, he says bluntly, and the assistance he received made the difference in getting his company off the ground.

As these examples show, all of the major elements of Canada's innovation ecosystem — large and small companies, universities and colleges, and government funding agencies — must be working well together for this activity to continue and grow. By linking research excellence to manufacturing and commercialization, the NDN— managed by CMC Microsystems for the last 30 years — provides a proven vehicle for this type of collaborative endeavour.

In response to the growing interactions between universities and industry in advanced materials and value-added manufacturing, we at CMC have begun building capability to enable more of these productive relationships. Just beginning is the recent $19.3-million CFI-funded initiative, the Platform for Advanced Design Leading to Manufacturing in Micro-Nano Technologies (ADEPT). This project connects 800 professors at 32 Canadian universities with advanced design platforms and leading commercial design tools that will be accessible from the desktop. A noteworthy (and to our knowledge, unique) aspect of this infrastructure will be its explorations of cybersecure operations across the R&D continuum, from research to software suppliers and hardware manufacturers.

Existing nanofabrication laboratory infrastructure also holds great potential, and we are exploring a new service model for Canada's extensive network to create capabilities that seamlessly integrate manufacturing considerations into early stage designs and prototypes, shortening the path to commercialization. These facilities also offer the prospect of a decentralized, virtual manufacturing model that would create process flows ultimately leading to pilot and small-scale manufacturing.

Talent, equipment, expertise, and manufacturing capability. With these critical enablers in play, Canada's innovators are well positioned to drive our country's advanced manufacturing future.

Dr Ian McWalter is President & CEO of CMC Microsystems.