The Short Report – Nov. 4th, 2020: Tracking international travellers for COVID-19; $26 million for doctoral researchers, and more…

COVID-19

Health Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research awarded $2.5 million to McMaster HealthLabs to support the ongoing Canadian International COVID-19 Surveillance Border Study at Toronto Pearson International Airport, a partnership with Air Canada and the Greater Toronto Airports Authority.The study looks at rates of COVID-19 among incoming international travellers, whether COVID-19 testing is effective and if the 14-day quarantine for international travellers should be changed. – GoC

The Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health (CanPath), Canada’s largest population health cohort study (330,000 volunteer participants), is examining COVID-19 seroprevalence across Canada with a focus on populations that are at higher risk of infection. The government has invested $1.9 million through its COVID-19 Immunity Task Force (CITF) to fund the study, which builds on a previous investment of $2.6 million awarded to CanPath by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the CITF. – COVID-19 Immunity Task Force

The National Research Council of Canada announced $796,000 through its Pandemic Response Challenge program to identify COVID-19 gaps and challenges. The recipients are: University of British Columbia (contactless sensors for COVID-19 patients); Ontario College of Art and Design (virtual care software); the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (mobile application modules); University of Toronto (agglutination tests for diagnostics in saliva and reagent combinations for the visual detection of SARS-CoV-2), and LFAnt Medical (molecular assay for instrument-less SARS-CoV-2 rapid diagnostic from saliva). – GoC

Edmonton-based biotech company Entos Pharmaceuticals is working with University of Alberta-hosted Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation (API) to enhance Entos’ Alberta-based vaccine production capacity. API is providing space for Entos to develop its Fusogenix DNA vaccine candidates for SARS-CoV-2 with a 3716 square metre manufacturing plant in Edmonton. – Entos

McMaster University and the Canadian Celiac Association (CCA) have conducted the first large-scale global study of its kind on COVID-19 and celiac disease, results of which have been published in the journal of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. – CCA

HEALTH RESEARCH

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has signed the World Health Organization’s Joint Statement on Public Disclosure of Results from Clinical Trials, which mandates new elements for CIHR-funded researchers including a 12-month period for clinical trial registration and disclosure of results, inclusion of a trial ID in publications of results, and provision of results of previous trials and reporting status when applying for funding. The new mandates ensure full compliance with all WHO Joint Statement requirements. – CIHR

The Public Health Agency of Canada is providing the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences with $1.46 million to lead consultations with the provinces, territories and stakeholders for the development of the National Autism Strategy. – GoC

TRAINING

The federal government will invest $26 million over the next four years to support 540 doctoral researchers across Canada through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s Doctoral Fellowships competition. Research will focus on the effects of climate change; the development of sustainable food systems; Indigenous languages; law and environmental revitalization; the impacts of chronic and recreational cannabis use and psychological resilience from past traumas. – GoC

Ottawa aerospace firm Saab Canada and Mitacs signed an MOU to advance new technologies through R&D at Canadian universities. Both will share the financial cost to support applied research and innovation internships. – Saab

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The Government of Alberta has earmarked up to $280 million to fund three emission reduction programs that will come from the province’s Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction System and Low Carbon Economy Leadership funds. The funding will support projects for small, medium and large industries across all sectors in Alberta and will include carbon capture technologies, utilization and storage, industrial energy efficiency and geothermal technology. – Government of Alberta

The University of Regina’s International CCS Knowledge Centre and RCM Canada (Toronto) have released a White Paper, Incentivizing Large-Scale CCS in Canada, which identifies areas within the Canadian tax and grant systems to incentivize large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. The report recommends three policy options in the form of tax credits to scale up production of CCS deployment and production. – CCS Knowledge Centre

The Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment at Cape Breton University has been incorporated into the Verschuren Centre, Inc., a not-for-profit, stand-alone research centre for the commercialization of technology and business. – The Telegram

AEROSPACE

The Canadian Space Agency, in collaboration with Global Affairs Canada and Natural Resources Canada, has begun a consultation process to establish a framework for how Canada will contribute to  future space exploration activities. Canada signed the Artemis Accords on October 13, 2020 as a first step to the framework. Consultation with Canadians on the Accord principles is open until January 31^st. – CSA

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is contributing $3.3 million from its Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program to support the demonstration of two lunar technology payloads and their launch to the Moon – the first time Canada will conduct a technology demonstration in lunar orbit and on the Moon's surface. The funding goes to Ontario’s Canadensys Aerospace Corp. and Quebec’s NGC Aerospace Ltd.. – CSA

INDUSTRIAL COMPETITIVENESS

The National Research Council has awarded $44.5 million for 201 projects that support research collaborations between its scientists and partners in academia and industry. Funding will flow through the NRC’s Ideation Fund initiatives, challenge programs and the Supercluster support programs. Funded projects cover a wide range of social and technology challenges, including: expanding broadband Internet service in rural and remote areas; developing clean and sustainable sources of energy; and developing precision-engineered cell and gene therapies for chronic diseases and rare genetic disorders. Federal funding for NRC collaborations was initially announced in Budget 2018. – GoC

Invest Ottawa has launched Area X.O to accelerate development, testing and application of next-generation technologies for telecom, smart agriculture, defence, security and public safety, unmanned aerial vehicles and smart cities. The investment includes $7 million from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario and nearly $10 million in in-kind contributions from industry partners. - Invest Ottawa

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has published a charter for its new Office of Economic Growth and Innovation, which will be fully operational by March 2021. The innovation office will engage with stakeholders, and publish research and position papers on how to affect change, and support innovative processes in capital markets. It will also test and implement methods to reduce regulatory barriers, encourage accessibility to data that assist businesses in providing new products and services, and consider how regulatory technology can benefit market participants and the OSC. – OSC

The OSC, Alberta Securities Commission and Autorité des marchés financiers are inviting businesses in respective markets to apply to test products, services and business models across international borders, an initiative supported by 23 regulators across five continents.The initiative is led by the Global Financial Innovation Network. – OSC

The Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada is funding an Industrial Research Chair partnership between l’Université de Sherbrooke and Teledyne DALSA (Waterloo) through the CRSNG-Teledyne DALSA Industrial Research Chair for MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) and next generation microphotonics. The five-year chair will receive nearly $4.5 million in funding. – USherbrooke

The Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN) has announced $15 million worth of proposals for automation and digital technology that will advance the agrifood sector in Canada. CAAIN was created under the government’s Strategic Innovation Fund collaborations and networks competition, which contributed a total of $49.5 million to eight core partners across five provinces to create technological solutions for problems facing Canada’s agrifood sector. – CAAIN

Toronto’s Centennial College received more than $3.5 million from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to fund three grants that will support multiple applied research projects in the development of health technologies, renewable energy, and bringing digital health innovations to market. – Centennial College

The CIO Strategy Council (CIOSC) and the Data Collaboration Alliance  signed an MOU to advance new research and standards for data ownership and governance in Canada. “Our shared goal is to make owner-defined controls an operational reality and to massively reduce the tax on innovation represented by traditional integration,” Dan Demers, president of the Data Collaboration Alliance, said in a news release. – CIOSC

THE GRAPEVINE

Suzy Basile has been appointed Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Women's Issues at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT). The position has a $500,000 award funded through the Canada Research Chair program as well as a five-year contribution of $100,000 from the UQAT Foundation dedicated to scholarship. - UQAT, Newswire

Dr. Misheck Mwaba is the new president and CEO of Bow Valley College, effective November 2, 2020. Mwaba sits on the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and has served as vice president, academic at the college since 2017.