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Knowledge Economy is Growing

14 October 2011

In darkness, it is a bright light that shows the way. This morning's announcement of a Canadian Innovation Leader Certificate to Energate, Inc., by federal Minister of State for Science & Technology Gary Goodyear is a "bright light" and underscores Canada's strengths in a world confronted by fiscal uncertainty.

Nigel S. Lockyer, director of TRIUMF, commented, "This is the type of success that illustrates how new technologies drive the creation of new jobs and new businesses that make and sell those new products to the world." Energate developed a home-energy management suite of tools and software that has been successfully marketed in the U.S. and Canada.

This type of economic growth is often called the knowledge economy, where new ideas and new inventions move into the marketplace to not only enhance people's standard of living but also to create new businesses that generate revenue. Research and development is a crucial starting ingredient, for it is on the benches of research laboratories, on the blackboards of university offices, and on the whiteboards of small companies that inventions and innovations are born. To grow, Canada needs mechanisms that bring inventors into contact with investors for strong, long-term relationships. A federal report to be released this Monday aims to outline new strategies for enabling Canada to take better advantage of its R&D strengths to further grow the knowledge economy.

"The first one to commercialize a technology, no matter where it starts, is typically the one with the potential to reap the most rewards by establishing a dominant market position," said Lockyer. Part of the bigger challenge is to keep Canadian entrepreneurs and businesses engaged at the cutting edge of research and development---so that the next Energate is formed in Canada, as well as the next one after that and the one after that. "That's why we have a place like TRIUMF, to keep Canada working alongside the best teams in the world, just like we're doing with ARIEL," added Lockyer.

TRIUMF's new flagship facility, the Advanced Rare Isotope Laboratory (ARIEL), uses a next-generation advanced superconducting technology to produce isotopes for science and medicine. By partnering with PAVAC Industries, Inc., TRIUMF developed Canadian industrial capacity in this sector. With this technology and through the global exposure of TRIUMF's research projects, PAVAC doubled in size, opened offices in the U.S., and is selling its core products to TRIUMF's collaboration partners in India. PAVAC is now exploring products tailored for the Chinese market.

Successfully navigating the path from lab bench or blackboard to store shelf or online catalog can be quite challenging. Energate's success indicates that the right ingredients are available. Canada's global competitiveness will depend on strategies to increase the number of such successes in the country.

Colin H.W. Jones, CEO and president of Advanced Applied Physics Solutions (AAPS) said, "We salute Energate for their success; it takes a strong team and a real commitment to move a good idea from someone's head into the marketplace. This company helps prove that Canadians have what it takes to compete globally." AAPS, Inc., is a TRIUMF spin-off company formed in 2008 under the federal Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research program that focuses on bridging the gap between innovation and commercialization. 

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--Based on a TRIUMF press release