Solar Trough located at Red River College’s Notre Dame Campus

Red River College has been ranked seventh out of 50 Canadian research colleges and polytechnics, having posted $4.37 million in research income during the 2012 fiscal year. The ranking is based on the inaugural Canada’s Top 50 Research Colleges List, released Oct. 23 by Research Infosource Inc.

“This is excellent validation for the College,” said Stephanie Forsyth, President and CEO of RRC. “Colleges and polytechnics play a key role in research and innovation in our country. Today’s announcement demonstrates our growth and ever-increasing engagement with industry, while further establishing us as a top-performing Canadian college and polytechnic and a strategic research partner for businesses.”

Major areas and initiatives supported by the research funding included improvements to the energy performance of commercial and industrial buildings, technology and training for Manitoba’s aerospace and manufacturing industries, and testing and demonstration of electric vehicles.

Much of the research leverages the province’s harsh climate to conduct practical research and testing to solve real-world problems faced by Manitoba industries and communities, while also producing innovative solutions that can have an impact on the lives of all Canadians.

“We are working on several cutting-edge projects, such as solar trough evaluation, electric vehicle technology development and demonstration, and various projects focused in the aerospace and manufacturing sectors, but that’s only a sampling of the breadth of our research,” said Ray Hoemsen, Director, Applied Research & Commercialization at RRC.

“We started out with about $50,000 in research funding in 2004 and with the support of our faculty, staff and students have seen steady growth. There have been many successful partnerships with industry that have positively impacted our partners, provided our students exceptional applied learning opportunities, and made contributions to economic development in Manitoba.”

Some of the aforementioned partners include the Province of Manitoba, Manitoba Hydro, New Flyer Industries, the University of Manitoba, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Granny’s Poultry.

One example of a significant project is the development of a zero-emission all-electric transit bus prototype (shown above), for which RRC served as a partner in an international consortium. As well, integration of equipment to support food technology research and development at the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute has been a significant progression in the College’s applied research resources and capabilities.

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Western Diversification, and the National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) have all provided funding to support applied research projects, programs and/or infrastructure.

Click here to learn more about applied research at Red River College.