New national aerospace consortium will work to gain nation-wide participation

Based on CRIAQ model

After 15 years and several failed attempts, Canada has a national consortium for aerospace research. Modelled on the highly effective Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Quebec (CRIAQ), the Canada-wide Consortium for Aerospace Research and Innovation in Canada (CARIC) was launched April 17th in Montreal, bringing together several federal funding partners and industry with the intention of bringing the provinces to the table.

The latest impetus for creating a national aerospace R&D consortium came from the influential review of Canada's aerospace and space sectors by the Aerospace Advisory Council chaired by David Emerson (R$, December 6/12). Among its recommendations was a call to form a national consortium linking academic expertise to industry needs.

CARIC was spearheaded by CRIAQ and the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC). Launched at CRIAQ's seventh forum, the operating budget is set at $3.75 million annually and it's expected the value of projects could quickly exceed $20 million.

Lucie Boily, AIAC's VP policy and competitiveness and CARIC's interim CEO, says CARIC's focus will be "a little further to the right on the TRL" (Technology Readiness Level) scale generating to technology development that can lead to larger technology demonstration projects. CARIC will support projects with TRL 4-5 levels and must include at least two academic and two industrial partners.

"Innovation has to happen at every level — small companies working with intermediate-sized firms working with the large firms and enriching the technology developed in Canada," says Boily. "We're relying on CRIAQ's administration right now, sharing CRIAQ staff and resources and working smarter. There's a constant transfer of energy between the organizations."

Boily says there are already seven potential projects ready for assessment by CARIC that could leverage Industry Canada funding by as much as 8 to 1. Other potential funding partners are the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council through its Collaborative R&D grants program as well as provincial governments.

Funding successful projects beyond CARIC could come from the recently established Aerospace Technology Demonstration Program. ATDP was announced in the 2013 Budget with $110 million over four years, beginning in FY14-15 and achieving a steady state of $55 million annually. Funding will be provided through re-allocation of funding to the Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative which was the focus of several Emerson Report recommendations.

Sector dominated by Quebec and Ontario

Dr Hany Moustapha, one of the pioneers of CRIAQ, says there are several challenges facing CARIC, the most significant being the necessity of establishing a national footprint when the aerospace research and industry is primarily located in Quebec and Ontario.

"You can't exclude the regions but only time will tell how they will participate … My prediction is that CARIC will be dominated by Quebec and Ontario and we'll see what the rest of the provinces will do," says Moustapha, a professor of mechanical engineering at École de technologie supérieure, holder of an industrial research chair in propulsion system integration and optimization and former manager of Pratt & Whitney Canada's technology programs. "We need a big reach-out. This is university-based and the money goes to them but it also needs to be industry-driven."

"Extending a CRIAQ-based model to the Canadian aerospace sector would offer a competitive advantage to participating organizations and stimulate activity beneficial to the economy as a whole. This recommendation could be achieved in one of several ways: CRIAQ could be provided with the resources and operational expenses to extend its

activities across the country; the mandate of existing initiatives like GARDN could be expanded; or a separate program could be created to complement CRIAQ in other parts of the country."

— Emerson Report recommendation

Moustapha says there's nothing wrong with Quebec dominating CARIC activities, just as Ontario dominates the national AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence. It's a position shared by Dr Christophe Guy, CEO of Polytechnique Montréal and co-chair of CRIAQ's board of directors. He noted that Quebec is home to at least 60% of aerospace R&D, and nearly half of all manufacturing conducted by Canada's four aerospace original equipment manufacturers —Pratt & Whitney Canada, CAE Inc, Bombardier and Bell Helicopter Textron Canada. Polytechnique Montréal is a key academic player in the aerospace sector and Guy sees plenty of upside to CARIC and its impact on both the university and regional economy.

"The new consortium means a continuation of the aerospace programs Polytechnique Montréal has. We will attract more students and produce more aerospace PhDs, creating more innovation and commercialization. Industry will continue to thrive," says Guy.

Boily says convincing provinces outside of central Canada to participate is a key priority for CARIC as it prepares for the first meeting of its permanent board of directors in early June.

"Every province has looked at CARIC with interest and is willing to participate. We will not refuse projects from provinces if there's no money," she says, adding that in such an instance, contributions from industry and federal sources will have to be higher. "I'm hopeful the provinces will contribute and I'm confident some of them will. We will have people on the ground in each region."

Another challenge facing CARIC is the proliferation of aerospace-focused consortia. Moustapha says the Emerson report recommended a streamling of application and reporting procedures with consideration of a one-stop internet portal linking programs.

"We need to streamline all these sandboxes," he says. "People spend too much time attending board meetings for consortia and each has their own terms and conditions and boards of directors."

Boils says the consortia proliferation issue is top-of-mind at CARIC, and it intends to play a leading role in simplifying procedures for industry and academia alike

"We'll take the lead on alignment. I see this as part of the AIAC mandate," she says.

CARIC will also manage a coordinated call this year for Canada-EU projects, building on workshops held under the auspices of the Canadian Networking Aeronautics Project for Europe (CANNAPE), which was formed to gain access to and leverage funding under the Horizon 2020 initiative.

"The aim is to increase work under Horizon 2020 and CANNAPE. We held a number of workshops but it kept hitting a wall. The EU had access to a pool of funds and we didn't," says Boily. "A coordinated call is a way to pre-agree on research themes and CARIC will manage it with a small pot of funding. Operating funds will come mostly from Industry Canada as well as industry."

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