MetroPhotonics launches project with TPC support

Ottawa-based MetroPhotonics Inc has launched a $22.1-million project to further refine its nano-photonic integrated circuits (PICs) for the telecommunications sector. The privately held firm — spun off in 2000 from the National Research Council’s Institute for Microstructural Sciences — received $7.7 million from Technology Partnerships Canada (TPC) to support the pre-commercialization project, with the balance coming from internal resources. MetroPhotonics is developing a product line that integrates multiple applications within a single PIC. The project targets three product areas to enhance the functionality of telecom networks. A key objective of the project is to increase the speed and capacity of its PICs while decreasing their size and cost. PICs are viewed as successor technology to the electronic microchip by bridging the photon-electron boundary. MetroPhotonics is part of a growing photonics cluster in the Ottawa region, which has been hard hit by the ongoing downturn in the telecommunications industry….

TPC supports Honeywell ASCa pulp & paper project

Honeywell ASCa Inc has received $8.7 million from Technology Partnerships Canada to support a $29-million R&D project aimed at reducing the cost and environmental impacts of pulp and paper production. The project will be taken by Honeywell ASCa’s Vancouver Development Centre, the firm’s centre of excellence for its automation and control systems business, focussing on reducing the amount of raw materials required to produce pulp and paper. The project will also explore the feasibility of using the technologies for non-paper, flat-sheet industries….