Atlantic Innovation Fund

Newfoundland and Labrador is on the brink of an exciting future. As the province's only university, Memorial is uniquely equipped to prepare us for that future. Starting now.

In 2002 six forward-thinking Memorial projects received $28 million in funding from the Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF). Our Ocean Sciences Centre received two AIF nods for studies into cod and Atlantic salmon aquaculture. The Pan Atlantic Petroleum Systems Consortium, which includes Memorial, received funding for its industry-driven offshore oil research.

AIF will help The Electronic Rural Medicine Strategy develop online training tools and resources for rural/remote physicians. It will also support the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation and its eight-part fisheries research project on harvesting, processing and aquaculture.

These are the disciplines we excel in… and the industries which will define our future.

They are the very essence of innovation. And they make Memorial University, its researchers, faculty, students, alumni and staff the ones to watch.

	Ocean Sciences Centre

"These awards will enable us to build new internationally competitive enterprises based on research and development - something for which we never had the resources before," said President Axel Meisen.

A project led by Dr. Joseph Brown, associate director, Ocean Sciences Centre, will provide essential research to enhance the establishment of a commercial Atlantic cod aquaculture industry in Newfoundland and assist in the continued development of the Atlantic halibut aquaculture industry in Atlantic Canada.

The Pan-Atlantic Petroleum Systems Consortium (PPSC), including Memorial, Dalhousie University, and the University of New Brunswick, intends to harness the physical and human resources of member universities to provide an integrated and comprehensive response to the research and specialized skill requirements of the petroleum industry in Atlantic Canada.

The Electronic Rural Medicine Strategy (TERMS) is a project of the Office of Professional Development (OPD) at Memorial's Faculty of Medicine. OPD will work with development partner, ZeddComm, to complete the design, development, and delivery of online professional development training tools and resources for physicians. These online courses and an accompanying web portal are intended to address the professional development needs of rural/remote physicians and specialists throughout Canada.

C-CORE has developed significant expertise in providing industry relevant technical solutions to the challenges of working in cold oceans and other harsh environments. C-CORE will receive $6 million to migrate its expertise and technology to develop technical solutions to industry-identified problems in other natural resource sectors such as mining, forest products and terrestrial gas pipelines.

The Ocean Sciences Centre will undertake a project designed to use bio-technology to improve the brood-stock characteristics of key aquaculture finfish species, notably Atlantic salmon. The project team, under the direction of Dr. Garth Fletcher of the Ocean Sciences Centre, will use innovative biotechnology to investigate and improve the mechanisms of disease resistance in Atlantic salmon.

The Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation (CCFI) will receive up to $6 million from the Government of Canada's Atlantic Innovation Fund for an eight-part fisheries research project focusing on harvesting, processing and aquaculture. The four-year project, which CCFI will undertake in collaboration with university researchers and private industry, will contribute to the sustainability and growth of the fisheries and aquaculture industries in the Atlantic region by studying select problems and opportunities. The research initiatives to be undertaken by CCFI include areas such as: environmentally sustainable fishing technologies and methods; improved fishing platforms (vessels); food safety systems; feasibility of using fish waste for products such as animal feed, pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals; overcoming impediments to new types of finfish and shellfish culturing; and the environmental impact of aquaculture on the ocean habitat and environment.