MP Fuhr celebrates IDEaS funding to Canadian universities in the domain of advanced materials
News release
September 04, 2019 – Ottawa, Ontario – National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces
In August 2018, the Government of Canada launched the first Innovation Network call for proposals under the Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program. With a goal of bringing academics and innovators together to collaborate in the research and development of revolutionary advances in materials for defence and security applications, the call focused on emerging and advanced materials, including advanced manufacturing methods.
Member of Parliament Stephen Fuhr, on behalf of Defence Minister Harjt S. Sajjan, visited UBC Okanagan to celebrate the award of a $1.5 million contribution agreement to the university under the IDEaS program. A total of $7.5 million is being awarded to four Canadian universities for five different projects under this call for proposals. Contribution agreement recipients are:
- Carleton University: Artificially intelligent biomimetic metasurfaces for electromagnetic camouflage;
- Polytechnique Montréal: Flexible, stretchable and self-healable optoelectronic materials for detection avoidance and physical protection; and Terahertz to mid-infrared compact photonic platform on scalable semiconductor technology;
- University of British Columbia: The Comfort-Optimized Materials for Operational Resilience, Thermal-transport, and Survivability (COMFORTS) micro-net; and
- University of Manitoba: Development of advanced materials for improved protection against ballistic impact, wear and corrosion damage with additive manufacturing and cold spraying.
Quotes
“The IDEaS program is, at its root, about collaboration and access to innovative thinkers. Through these networks, Canadian academics and innovators will be able to work together to understand and exploit the advances in materials science, and increase the knowledge and research in areas critical in importance for our defence and security community.”
- Minister of National Defence, Harjit S. Sajjan
“It is an honour to celebrate this funding award with UBC Okanagan. The truly innovative research the university is undertaking right now has the potential to not only better protect our military members, but can also contribute to the safety of our first responders who also rely on wearable protective gear. I look forward to seeing the progress they make as their research develops.”
-Member of Parliament Stephen Fuhr
Quick facts
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IDEaS Innovation Networks are collaborations between Canadian universities, industry and other partners to help stimulate the free flow of ideas critical to solving modern defence and security challenges.
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Innovation Networks are university-led and include researchers from at least three distinct organizations who will work together to propose interdisciplinary research projects which address one or several aspects of the identified challenge.
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To date, the IDEaS program has awarded almost $45 million to 33 defence and security challenges. This includes 48 new contracts valued at a total of $9.2 million under the second call for proposals for Competitive Projects. Recipients of these contracts will address challenges in domains such as detection of concealed explosives, alternative recruitment models, verification of full motion video integrity, understanding cyber intent, and full spectrum communications in the Arctic.
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Contacts
Media Relations
Department of National Defence
Phone: 613-996-2353
Email: mlo-blm@forces.gc.ca
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