The Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS) is inviting companies from the geomatics and geoscience sectors to work side-by-side with government scientists to bring new products to market faster. Nine companies have already begun working at the CCRS’s new Innovation Acceleration Centre (IAC), in Ottawa. That number is expected to rise to 15 within a couple of months.

The idea is being touted as a new business model between private and public research. It brings government scientists together with industry early in the innovation cycle to help facilitate the technology transfer process. Companies can work on-site, using the centre’s offices, lab facilities and equipment, or collaborate online. Other services include technical development support and expert advice, technical exchanges, access to other experts in the Earth Sciences Sector at Natural Resources Canada, and, visibility on the CCRS web site. Services will be provided at no charge to industry.

“This is an opportunity to have collaborative research done by both the private and public sectors in one office location,” says Ed Kennedy, president, Geomatics Industry Association of Canada. “The end result is that transfer of technology and expertise will be accelerated through that direct, day-to-day contact.”

Geomatics is one of Canada’s fastest growing industries, with more than 2,100 companies working in areas such as surveying, aerial photography, mapping and remote sensing. The applications are used in disaster management, environmental protection, climate change and resource management. Some projects under development at IAC include:

• PCI Geomatics: commercializing the CCRS Imaging Spectrometer Data Analysis System,

• Alcan International Ltd: exploration mapping using integrated remote sensing

• Resource GIS and Imaging: satellite image processing development, and

• MacDonald Dettwiler and Associated Ltd.: digital surface model extraction from highly overlapped airborne digital camera images

For more information on the IAC, visit their web site at: www.ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca/ccrs/comvnts/business/iac/iace.html.