Dr. Eliot Phillipson, president and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), will be visiting Memorial University of Newfoundland on Wednesday, Oct. 24, as part of a nation-wide celebration of the CFI’s 10th anniversary.

            Since its creation in 1997, the CFI has committed more than $3.75 billion in support of 5,400 projects at 128 research institutions in 64 municipalities across Canada, leading to breakthroughs in areas such as health, natural resources, information and communications technology, energy, and the environment. At Memorial University alone, the CFI has invested over $31 million in 91 projects, helping the university gain an international reputation for excellence thanks to projects such as the Atlantic Computational Excellence Network, Landmark Graphics Visualization Laboratory, Digital Research Centre for Qualitative Fieldwork, Ocean Observatory at Bonne Bay Marine Station and the Dr. Joe Brown Aquatic Research Building. “Canada’s continuing social and economic prosperity in the 21st century is increasingly dependent on competitiveness in the global knowledge economy,” said Dr. Phillipson.

 “Key to this competitiveness is the ability to generate new knowledge and understanding, and to translate these into new products, services, processes and policies for the well-being of Canadians for generations to come.

Of equal importance is the training of the highly qualified personnel who are critical to the transfer of knowledge from the academic to the private and public sectors.”

Dr. Phillipson and Dr. Christopher Loomis, vice-president (research), Memorial University, will be available for media interviews at 4 p.m. prior to a tour of the Landmark Graphics Visualization Laboratory in the Earth Sciences Building, 300 Prince Philip Drive (Arctic Street Entrance). This laboratory provides researchers with access to a variety of computing engines for imaging, modeling and simulation, together with a 3-D immersive large-screen visualization room. The lab contains a wrap-around screen and special glasses which trick the viewer's eyes and brain into “4-D” perception. Simulation research depends on visualization, the process where numerical data is used to create a multi-dimensional image. This new technology will revolutionize how offshore oil and gas reservoirs are studied and understood, allowing researchers at Memorial to analyze images of large volumes of data and conduct detailed simulations.

A high-performance computer powers the imaging technology by sending graphics data to three digital projection cameras which superimpose them to a large, curved screen to produce the three-dimensional effect. The $20-million futuristic lab was built with support from Landmark Graphics, IBM Canada and Panoram Technologies Inc., along with the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) through the Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF).

For more information, contact Deborah Inkpen, communications co-ordinator (research), Memorial University of Newfoundland, at 737-4073 or inkpend@mun.ca; or Angus McKinnon, media relations co-ordinator, Canada Foundation for Innovation, at (613) 447-1723, or angus.mckinnon@innovation.ca.