Developing locally for a global market
Micro-electronics and micro-engineering are industry sectors which are emerging as major resources for innovation and progression for the electronics industry. Be it at research stage right thought to market adoption there is an exhaustive resource of opportunities available. On a visit to Edmonton, Alberta in Canada, Michelle Winny of EuroAsia Semiconductor reports on the work being undertaken by the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation (EEDC) to develop local microelectronics and bio-sciences infrastructure
Living and working in an economy that is stable and self-sufficient sounds like the ideal climate to set up business and home to sustain a comfortable living. It is exactly to this sentiment that the Edmonton, Economic, Development, Corporation (EEDC) in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada is aspiring to encourage citizens to take up residence in the town, building towards a growing economy and hub of technological excellence.
The driving force and representative body behind this mission is The EEDC’s Economic Development division, supporting 10 industry clusters as a means of progressing and sustaining regional development. The EEDC acts as a catalyst and co-ordinator for regional cluster development, with the aim to help facilitate a wide range of growth initiatives taking place in key industry sectors.
The black gold rush
Edmonton, the capital Alberta, is 150 miles north of Calgary and 150 miles east of the Canadian Rockies in Canada. Burgeoning with opportunity and prosperity the town’s beginnings date back to 1892 where a boom in gold mining created the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897. The prospect of gold to be found bought a frenzy of immigrants to the shores of the river Klondike jostling to make their fortune from the natural, precious metal.
Gold is not the only natural resource Edmonton has; its landscape is worth a veritable fortune. Aptly dubbed ‘black gold’, the valuable reserve of bitumen is still in plentiful supply at Canada’s oil capital, Leduc, just south of Edmonton.
Edmonton is the gateway to Alberta’s oil sands and gas region. The oil reserve is known to be the second largest in the world. The oil sands are a compound mixture of sand or clay, water, and extremely heavy crude oil. Although mining oil sands is costly and a huge energy consuming operation, the drilling for this substance is still carried out on a huge scale. The deposit is then converted into synthetic oil, or refined directly into petroleum products by specialised refineries and continues to be a major source of revenue for the economy.The land above is just as valuable as the earth below, as Edmonton has some of the most agriculturally fertile terrain in the area making ideal farming conditions for crops and livestock.
Not only do these resources bring revenue to the economy but they also create a huge vehicle for employment. Edmonton has a disproportionate ratio of work opportunities versus demographics and sadly many positions remain unfilled due to the sheer lack of people.
Alberta Nano tech strategy
It is owing to this shortage of human resources, in an environment where native younger generations are not taking up on the baby boom that the EEDC is striving to generate widespread knowledge and drive traffic to Edmonton.
This is so the town can progress and become a bustling centre of technological innovation and scientific excellence drawing in people power through immigration on an international scale as well as locally. The EEDC is offering many development opportunities for businesses of all sizes to grow and help drive regional economic success and diversification.
Edmonton has the facilities to cultivate its own work force of people organically as the population increases, with over 150,00 students in post-secondary education across its colleges and universities. Included in this figure is 35,000 students enrolled at the University of Alberta.
This institution has a major influence in scientific and medical research and nanotechnology offering 100 principal nanotechnology researchers in 12 departments across four faculties. Research projects led by the University have a particular focus on nano-materials at the hard-soft materials interface.
The University has been the subject of significant financial investment establishing new facilities and equipment which has aided the development of the NRC National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) in 2006. NINT is a partnership between the National Research Council, the University of Alberta, and the Government of Alberta. NINT combines research strengths of the University and the National Research Council.
Over $600 million has already been invested in micronano technologies at the University of Alberta, NINT and other Alberta institutions. This is clearing the way to seeing Alberta become a centre of micronanotechnology excellence and commercial integration.
The Nanomems Edmonton vision is a programme designed to promote local industry recognition for the acceleration in the Alberta MNT industry. The programme also takes a sensitive view to encouraging emerging local start-ups and service companies related to the MNT industry.
A strategy for nanomems has been set in place to provide “A comprehensive innovation centre that bridges the gap between prototype and commercial markets.”
The ACAMP (Alberta Centre for Advanced Micro-Nano Product development is a programme with four key components by which it takes advantage of Edmonton and Alberta’s emerging capabilities in MNT, mixed with existing entities it provides the resources needed to transition product development companies from technology creation to economic integration.
The ACAMP strategy has been created by MNT industrial players for the MNT industry and aims to create the infrastructure and resources for Edmonton to become a global centre in research and product development. It is attributed to these elements that Edmonton is aspiring to centralise its commercial district in emerging microelectronic technologies, life sciences and bio-medical applications.
Tech teaching
The city has a well-funded infrastructure for technology commercialisation. Involved in this is the TEC Edmonton and Edmonton Research Park. TEC Edmonton is a joint venture between the University of Alberta and the EEDC bringing the resources together to allow companies to develop in the technological sector. One of the key functions of TEC Edmonton is to assist the University of Alberta in research evaluation to identify innovation for commercial integration and business potential.
The TEC programme actively encourages student facilitation for a post-secondary MBA. The programme is designed to offer students the opportunity to experience a hands on approach to the industry to establish contacts by way of assisting them to launch technology based companies.
It is an enlightening experience to see and learn of the work being undertaken by the EEC and all its cluster divisions.
The amount of time, money and effort being invested into the projects being carried out is with the utmost dedication and commitment by every single participant.
It is a breath of fresh air to know that set apart from all the over urbanised metropolises, there is a generative haven of non-corruptive development that is setting about making something good for the future.
