Integrated research themes highlight new India-Canada research centre

UBC, U of A & U of T win competition

A triumvirate of Canada's largest universities has secured funding to establish a research centre for conducting projects between Canadian and Indian researchers using a unique collaborative model. The joint proposal from Univ of British Columbia, Univ of Alberta and Univ of Toronto were the winners in the Canada-India Research Centre of Excellence (CIRCE) competition held by the Networks of Centres of Excellence program, receiving a total of $30 million over five years from the NCE and a wide range of partners.

The CIRCE competition result was one of several S&T-related announcements made by prime minister Stephen Harper during a recent six-day visit to India. Announcements were also made in the areas of defence R&D, space and information and communication technology.

The competition was first announced in the 2011 Budget and drew 19 letters of intent and four full proposals vying for $15 million in NCE funding. The winner was granted authority to establish an India-Canada Centre for Innovative Multidisciplinary Partnerships to Accelerate Transformation and Sustainability (IC-IMPACTS). It features three interconnected research programs for sustainable and safe infrastructure, integrated water management and public health disease prevention and treatment. The launch of the research programs is set for January.

Training is the largest component of the program but there will also be a strong commercialization thrust which has attracted a large number of corporate partners from both countries.

A key element of the centre is the integration of its three broad research themes at the project demonstration level.

"It's a completely new paradigm and the international component is also unique. We're seeking holistic solutions to problems where integration occurs at the level of partner communities," says Dr Nemkumar (Nemy) Banthia, a professor with UBC's department of civil engineering, a Canada Research Chair in Infrastructure, Rehabilitation and Sustainability and IC-IMPACT's scientific director. "The model is that of numerous contact points within the country of collaboration. In the past, international collaborations have occurred between academic institutions. In this case, in addition to academic institutions, we have involved community leadership, NGOs, government bodies and the private sector in both countries. Research, tech-transfer and HQP training remain at the heart of what we'll do, but we'll go farther and create multi-faced partnership to ensure tangible ‘on the ground' benefits within five years."

select communities

Seven communities are on board to participate in the research projects. The Canadian communities are: Pangnirtung, Nunavut; Lytton Creek First Nations, BC; Thorsby, AB; and, Munsee-Delaware ON. The Indian communities are: Banga, Punjab; Roorkee, Uttarakhand; and, Nagpur, Maharashtra. The Indian communities have populations of 20,000, 200,000 and 5,000,00 respectively and Banthia says that each community faces its own set of challenges.

"India is rapidly urbanizing but it's still a country of villages and mid-sized towns. We're hoping the three research themes will work together in terms of applying the research findings into the three sizes of communities," he says. "The problems each faces and the size of governments are all different. For example, one has no water treatment and one has only rudimentary water treatment. The solutions should be scalable and represent the requirements of India at large. The themes will come together for demonstration projects."

One example of the intended research integration is water. Breaches in infrastructure can lead to water-borne diseases and Banthia says IC-IMPACTS may explore the viability of using concrete with microbial coating to mitigate the risk of disease.

"There's no precedent for health researchers working with construction people," he says. "The greatest challenge is to admit what you don't know. People tend to remain in the comfort zone of the areas they work in. Our multi-disciplinary approach is a completely new paradigm for this kind of research. The international component is also unique."

While the research themes of IC-IMPACTS are broad and have a considerable "social good" component, they have attracted considerable private sector interest. Banthia says India's centre-right government is pro-business and is urging private sector participation in areas such as water, infrastructure and health.

"The government is getting out of these things," says Banthia. "There's big commercialization potential in all the areas we're working in. In India, services are being farmed out, often as public-private partnerships."

The most likely forms of commercialization are through the sharing of intellectual property by the participating companies, first by first right of refusal and then licensing.

Of the $30 million in funding, the vast majority of cash comes from Canadian sources. Surprisingly, the Indian national government did not provide assistance. Banthia says any cash IC-IMPACTS secured from Indian sources was secured through the grassroots efforts of his organization. That includes $900,000 from a large manufacturing association located in Nagpur.

defence MOU

In addition to IC-IMPACTS, other research S&T-related initiatives announced during the prime minister's state visit include a memorandum of understanding between York Univ and India's Defence Research and Development Organisation and four other organizations. The MOU covers nanotechnology, advanced materials, bioinformatics and public safety technology and may eventually involve a consortium of universities.

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