Red River College’s commitment to social development was recognized today with an International Award of Excellence from the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP).
The bronze award, presented at the WFCP’s World Congress in Beijing, China, recognizes colleges and polytechnics from around the world for their commitment to community engagement, diversity and sustainability — with an emphasis on international campus collaboration, best practices and technologies, and advancing institutional diversity.
“This is another outstanding achievement for the College,” says David Rew, RRC’s interim President and CEO. “Sustainability, international collaboration and diversity are  key focus areas for the College. Our staff and students make substantial investments in these areas, so it is very satisfying to receive this type of recognition.”
The College’s award application focused on international applied research collaborations relating to the Zero Emissions Transit Bus, the Science of Early Child Development (pictured above), sustainable infrastructure, and clean water technologies.
In 2013, RRC marked a decade of applied research, and in recent weeks was ranked one of the Top 10 Canadian Research Colleges for the second year in a row.
“From day one, we have been very engaged in sustainable infrastructure research in response to local industry demand and community needs,” says Ray Hoemsen, Director of Applied Research & Commercialization at RRC. “Social development is a key strategic heme for the College and related research initiatives have been advancing rapidly. We are also seeing the results of our relationship-building efforts with international partners.”

PITCH. VALIDATE. CONNECT.
Pitch’Day is Manitoba’s foremost quick pitch competition, where hustling entrepreneurs, academic innovators, and businesses with innovative new ideas come to pitch, validate, connect, and win awesome prizes!

Date:               November 12, 2014
Time:               4:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Location:         RBC Convention Centre
Register/Enter: Online | Competitor deadline is: Oct. 31, 2014
Pitch’Day 2012 and 2013 participants have gone on to accelerate their growth at Launch’Pad and Venture’Challenge, as well as raise angel investments and earn local and international recognition!
Who Should Attend?

• Entrepreneurs looking to kick-start their ventures.
• Anyone interested in entrepreneurship, innovation, or new business and investment opportunities!

By taking part in Pitch’Day you can:

• Participate in a fun and interactive event
• Network and build relationships
• Witness an exciting competition as entrepreneurs present their business ideas in two minutes or less to an expert panel
• Enjoy pre- and post-event networking receptions with delicious food

How do I Register?
Registration is open! Enter to compete or purchase a ticket to enjoy the competition!
 

For the second year in a row, Red River College has ranked among the top Canadian research colleges and polytechnics, climbing to sixth place on the list of Canada’s Top 50 Research Colleges, released this month by Research Infosource Inc.

The College posted $5.82 million in research income during the 2013 fiscal year, an increase over the previous year, when it ranked seventh with $4.37 million.

“Red River College has been a leader in applied research over the last decade, and we’ve seen a steady increase in research income each year,” says David Rew, Interim President at RRC. “Applied research is an integral part of our overall strategy — it contributes in a very productive way to our communities and the experience of our students.”

RRC remains best known for applied research capabilities relating to extreme climate and cold weather technologies and applications, but a number of other research thrusts are rapidly emerging.

“We have built our applied research enterprise in response to community needs, especially our partners in industry.” says Ray Hoemsen, RRC’s Director of Applied Research & Commercialization. “With the support of both the federal and provincial governments we’ve been further developing capacity based upon our core capabilities within the schools and their respective faculty, staff and students.”

International collaboration emerged as an evolving theme over the year, with two efforts standing out: the Zero Emissions Transit Bus project — a partnership that includes Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Japan) — and the Science of Early Child Development (SECD), developed with multiple partners and funders, including the Aga Khan Foundation, the World Bank, and others.

Earlier this year, a prototype electric bus developed in partnership with Mitsubishi, New Flyer Industries, the province and Manitoba Hydro successfully completed its field testing stage during one of the coldest winters on record.

SECD, meanwhile, continues to strengthen its reputation as a “living” online resource that helps educators, students and child care professionals better understand the impact of children’s early years on longterm development, often replacing expensive and unattainable textbooks in countries around the world.

Both projects give Hoemsen reason to be excited about the year ahead.

“In an increasingly connected world, there has never been more reason to collaborate on an international level. These are exciting projects that will not only benefit our local communities and students, but communities and learners the world over.”

“Green to Gold: Environmental to Financial Benefits of Composites”
CANCOM2015 has a focus on the development and commercialization of composite materials and technologies. This technical forum facilitates the sharing of information and ideas about composite materials, process technologies and structures by bringing together international participants from industry, government and academia. The event will commence with a one day special symposium (Aug 17) that will consist of industrial presentations and an exhibition combined with industrial tours of companies that produce composite parts for aerospace, ground transportation and civil infrastructure markets. A three day technical conference (Aug 18-20) will follow featuring a variety of international keynote speakers and technical presentations.
Call for Papers – EXTENDED DEADLINE IS OCT. 17, 2014

Cancom 2015 has a focus on research, technology and product development in emerging and growth sectors, in addition to the traditional fields of composites application – aerospace and transportation. This technical forum facilitates the sharing of information and ideas about composite materials, process technologies and structures by bringing together international participants from industry, government and academia. The event will commence with industry focused events on August 17. During this day, industry presentations, workshops and tours are planned. A three-day technical conference (Aug. 18-20) will follow featuring a variety of international keynote speakers and technical presentations.
The following session topic areas are being considered for CANCOM 2015:

• Aerospace
• Bio-Materials: Natural Fiber and Resin Composites
• Civil Infrastructure
• Ground Transportation
• Marine
• Nano-Materials and Technologies
• Renewable Energy
• Smart Structures
• Automated Processes
• Bonding and Joining Methods
• Fiber Materials
• Liquid Molding Processes
• Inspection Methods
• Materials Characterization and Testing
• Process Modelling
• Repair Methods
• Resin Systems: Thermoset and Thermoplastic
• Structural Design and Analysis Methods
• Composite Design and Analysis – Case Studies
• Durability, Fatigue And Damage Tolerance – Methods and Case Studies
• Product Certification: Approach and Case Studies

LEARN MORE ABOUT SUBMITTING ABSTRACTS
Conference Outline:

• Monday, August 17:
  Committee and sponsor meetings, industry focused workshops, tours to companies
• Tuesday-Thursday, Aug.18-20:
  Technical conference interspersed with keynote addresses and additional technology demonstrations/tours
• Tuesday:
  Reception combined with student competition, Executive/keynote speaker dinner
• Wednesday:
  Banquet at conference venue
• Thursday:
  End of conference at lunch time

Susan Crawford-Young, instructor and CARD-funded researcher explores answers to the question “How does an embryo grow and develop?”  This presentation shares what she has discovered about how physics relates to embryology through research regarding the characteristics of salamander embryo tissue.
Check out her presentation!
Want to attend presentations like this in person? Interested in delivering a presentation yourself? Have any content suggestions? Please contact:
Claudius Soodeen | csoodeen@rrc.ca | 204.632.2147

This article is the second article in the College Applied Research Series by Ray Hoemsen, Director, Applied Research & Commercialization, Red River College.

• Economic development as a mandate of the college, often explicitly stated in the Vision or Mission.
• Strong community connections, especially with fourth pillar organizations (such as the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program), SMEs, economic development agencies, and Program Advisory Committees (typically one for EVERY academic program offered by a college).
• Government policy which has encouraged/driven the academic community to undertake more industry-relevant research and development, especially with SMEs; resulting in new initiatives like NSERC’s well-received “ARD” (college) and “ENGAGE” (university) programs which have helped to catalyze industry partnerships. A Social Innovation pilot program for colleges was just announced.
• Strong desire by colleges to see research results used for economic benefit in the community, rather than as a source of royalty revenue; coupled with minimal interest in patenting by the institution, hence little need to negotiate licenses or royalties, which can be a very time consuming (and often irritating) exercise for little (potential) return.
• Industry-experienced faculty who broaden/deepen their experience/knowledge with applied research.
• Student engagement through class projects, capstone courses, business and entrepreneurship case studies, cooperative and term employment as well as internships (NSERC’s I-USRA program is now open to college students enrolled in degree programs), and integration of research into curriculum.
• Flexible and nimble approaches to applied research, which can be inter-disciplinary in nature and often utilize a team or group approach with a relatively fast turnaround time.
• Mutual needs and benefits – which are the key to successful partnerships.
• Applied research offices are a “one-stop-shop” for industry liaison, research services, technology diffusion and knowledge transfer – and can offer practical, timely and cost-effective solutions.n Industry-experienced faculty who broaden/deepen their experience/knowledge with applied research.

This Wednesday, June 18th the most dynamic business event of the year takes place at Winnipeg’s Fort Gary Hotel.
It’s called Lift’Off and it is being hosted by Innovate Manitoba, Manitoba’s innovation accelerator.
The three-part, all-day event will help launch startups in the morning via the VentureChallenge, celebrate entrepreneurship at the Entrepreneur Power Lunch, and share best practices at the afternoon’s Entrepreneur IQ Forum.
The full schedule goes as follows:
8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Six companies selected through the Launchpad Startup Skills Bootcamp compete in an investor pitch competition in front of a panel of expert judges and the VentureChallenge audience for over $100,000 in cash and in-kind prizes, including opportunities to present and expense-paid trips to some of the the most renown angel and venture capital events in North America.
The VentureChallenge competitors are:

• Element Life Science: A medical device company specializing in patented RF coil technology for 2nd generation MRI use.
• Exigence Technologies: A platform antimicrobial technology that can be applied to new and used textiles and polymer-based medical devices, to protect them for the lifetime of the product against antibiotic resistant bacteria.
• Kindoma: Makes video chat services that let families do things like read and draw, even when apart.
• Konex Wake Parks: A manufacturer and international supplier of cable wakeboarding systems and obstacles.
• PermissionClick: A platform that allows educators to collect web-based permission slips and fees from parents in a timely and transparent way.
• Shut Ur Pie Hole: Shut Ur Pie Hole sells made from-scratch pies made with fresh, local ingredients served in full-size and single-serving jars.

12:00 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.
Break bread with innovators and investors at the Entrepreneur Power Lunch Hear short pitches from the six VentureChallenge competitors, discover the award-winners and get smart advice from our keynote speaker, Wade Barnes.
Wade is a globally recognized expert on the impact of technology on agribusiness, a TedX speaker, and Founder of Manitoba’s Farmers Edge Inc.. He will share the company’s journey from a two-person operation in 2006 to a global business with over $10 million in revenues and more than 80 employees worldwide. Wade will speak about the roller coaster ride that is the life of a high-growth startup, including raising capital from Canadian and US venture capital firms.
2:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Tap into the brain trust of entrepreneurs, angel investors, and guest speakers. The Entrepreneur IQ Forum features two Expert Panels (listed bellow) followed by a networking reception.
From The Trenches – Raising Capital For Early Stage Businesses
Some of Manitoba’s early stage companies have raised millions in risk capital, but it has not been easy. Is this challenge unique to Manitoba or is it a problem all Canadian startups face? Join this interactive panel for lots of insights, and ask your own questions of the panelists.
Startup Sales – A Hard Nut to Crack
The lifeblood of any new business is sales, yet entrepreneurs often fail in their initial sales attempts. Founders may avoid sales and give away equity to find that person who will magically bring sales in the door. But Founders need to learn how to sell. These entrepreneurs figured it out. Hear their perspectives on sales, building a sales methodology and a sales team. Come. Ask questions. Gain some pointers.
You can register here while for additional information, including if you would like to become a sponsor, you can contact Brent Wennekes.

Chemist Michael Judge beside one of the College’s high-performance liquid chromatographs

“The idea is that someone takes an anti-depressant or birth control pill or any number other pharmaceutical whose active ingredients eventually get excreted from the body. These chemical substances are not fully metabolized by the body, so a lot of those ingredients go right into the sewer system and end up in our wastewater treatment processes.
And while wastewater treatments are designed to remove certain things that we don’t want going into the river, they aren’t designed to remove these nano-pollutants,” Judge continued.
Research done in this field, like those at Northwestern Ontario’s Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), have indicated that nano-pollutants, including surfactants found in detergents, antibacterials in hand soaps, psychoactive ingredients from pharmaceuticals, and estrogen from “the pill”, can bioaccumulate over time in species that live in these waters – and thereby make their way up the food chain.
“One of the main problems is that a lot of these compounds are what are known as endocrine disruptors; they mimic the actions of natural hormones and you tend to get odd things happening to various amphibians and fish like increased rates of cancer and changes in fertility and so forth,” said Judge.
“So there are concerns about long-term environmental consequences and about scenarios where this water may get repurposed as drinking water.”
To address this wastewater problem from our water treatment plants, Judge came up with a study to see if these nano-pollutants could be detected and removed.
After thoroughly exploring the literature on the subject, Judge and a summer student from the Chemical and Biosciences Technology diploma program decided on utilizing activated carbon (or charcoal) – which has a very high affinity for organic molecules – in lab-scale tests.
Using acetaminophen as a model nano-pollutant, Judge was able to confirm that finely powdered activated carbon could remove the compound. This was an encouraging start to the study and serves as an indication that the College has the ability to assess nano-pollutant removal on a lab-scale; an important first step in optimizing the process.
Detecting nano-pollutants
To further detect nano-pollutants in wastewater on a more precise scale, work was contracted out to the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals to utilize their advanced high-performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC). HPLCs are common in labs around the world, being an essential piece of instrumentation used to separate components in a chemical mixture.

Judge at work in the College’s pharmaceutical training lab

Solvatochromism uses the colour of a dye to compare the relative polarities of solvents. These coloured solvents were used to establish how similar ethyl lactate was to common solvents

Red River College’s Applied Research & Commercialization (AR&C) officially celebrates its 10th anniversary today!
We are proud of what the growing AR&C team has accomplished over the last 10 years, and we are celebrating accordingly in 2014!
Here is what we have done so far in recognition of this special occasion, and a little of what you can look forward to later this year:

A Decade of Innovation
10 Years of Partnerships

To celebrate 10 years of applied research at Red River College and recognize many of the relationships that have made it all possible, we created this professionally designed publication with the support of our partners and distributed in the Winnipeg Free Press on Feb. 22, 2014. Click below to read about some of our more engaging and important initiatives that are happening now.

Applied Research Videos

Zero Emissions Electric Transit Bus

This video shares information about North America’s first all-electric transit bus prototype and rapid charging system, which recently passed the the test of phase one: real-world in-transit testing and demonstration in the coldest winter that Manitoba has seen in over a century.  Learn more about the project and its international consortium of partners by checking out this professional video (produced with the support of NSERC).

The Sustainable Infrastructure Technologies Research Group (SITRG)

Over the last five years, SITRG has been assisting local businesses in conducting applied research towards enhancing the performance of large commercial and institutional buildings, while engaging RRC faculty, staff, and students in the process.  Hear about it from a few of our partners in the video (produced with the support of NSERC):

Technology Access Centre for Aerospace & Manufacturing

This video highlights the technology, capabilities, focus areas, and resources offered by Red River College to industry via the Technology Access Centre for Aerspace & Manufacturing.  Check out the video (created with the support of NSERC) to learn all about it:

Team WINNISPEED

Last year, JOE JUSTICE of Team WIKISPEED came to Winnipeg to lead 200 participants in the building of a car during the first workshop of its kind ever held in Canada: WINNISPEED. The 100+ mile-per-gallon prototype car that Team WIKISPEED created in just three months was built from scratch during the workshop. Here are two of the videos that were made as a result:

Happening Today

AR&C Director, Ray Hoemsen is in Normandy, France as part of Manitoba Trade and Investment’s Manitoba Mission to Normandy, where he will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with ESITC Caen to conduct collaborative applied research on building materials and initiate student exchanges with Red River College.

Looking Ahead

Later this year, among other workshops in development, Red River College will host its inaugural Applied Research Day, where we highlight student applied research projects happening at the College.  We plan on bringing industry in to witness what RRC students are capable of.  As part of this event, we will celebrate a decade of applied research at RRC by recruiting an exciting international keynote as well as a local industry leader.  Stay tuned for more info on this!